Oulu - an engineering students' city
In Finnish, an engineer” is “teekkari”. The University of Oulu offers many study programmes, but to be a teekkari, you need to be studying in one of the engineering degree programmes. This includes both national and international programmess.
Each field has its own guild, for example I study Electronics and Communications Engineering, I belong to Sähköinsinöörikilta or the Guild of Electrical Engineering. Each guild has its own overalls, which come in a variety of colours. There is an engineer’s house called “Teekkaritalo”, where most of the events are held.
The Teekkari culture of Oulu is unique and unlike anything I have heard about before.
Fuksi events
Oulun Teekkariyhdistys ry or OTY is an organisation that connects students to engineering and architecture guilds at the University of Oulu. They organize the events for the freshmen, who are called “fuksis”.
Every fuksi gets a fuksipassi which a type of checklist of events. Each event attended gives you points. If you wish to get the Teekkari cap, you need a minimum of 36 of fuksi points.
The first fuksi event of the year is the “fuksisuunnistus” or Freshman orienteering. In this event, students get around checkpoints with a team and collect as many points as possible from each checkpoint. The theme changes every year and fuksis must dress up in costume accordingly.
Then comes Freshman Capping, where all freshmen receive a freshman cap. This cap is used as practice for the rules related to the Teekkari cap. Next, we have the snow sculpture competition, where each guild builds its own snow sculpture, and the best one wins a prize.
Wappu
Wappu is an auspicious holiday of the Finnish students. It revolves around the celebration of the concluding school year as well as a way of celebrating the graduates of the upper-secondary schools. This tradition is kept throughout Finland, and as a good start off to summer, introduces a festive feeling throughout all the youth across the country.
A notable characteristic of Wappu in Oulu is the “May 1st” Market down in the Oulu city centre, where both countryside and city-oriented farmers and sellers set up markets and fun activities to take part in. The beautiful nature of Oulu in the summer and the incredibly positive vibes makes Wappu in Oulu a day not worth missing!
My first Wappu experience was a memorable one. I remember walking to Åstrominpuisto from the city centre and the whole park is filled with students in colourful overalls.
According to tradition, Wappu is the day a fuksi spiritually "die" and are reborn as Teekkari.
There are a lot of events that take place around Wappu:
- Wappu suunnistus or Wappu orienteering
- Waatto which is Wappu eve, where students are baptised to get their “Teekkarilakkis” or Teekkari caps.
- It ends with students burning their freshmen caps at Teekkaritalo followed by a barbeque.
Teekkarilakki
A Teekkarilakki is something very special to the engineering students of Oulu. It is a white cap with a drop on the side and has a tassel rope. It was inspired by the Sámi hat of four winds. There are rules that need to be followed to wear the cap. There are special days on which students have permission to wear the cap.
Every Wappu spent in Oulu is signified by a knot on the tasselled rope on the cap. You can figure out how many Wappus a student has survived by looking at the number of knots in the rope on their cap. The tasselled rope on each cap can hold only up to four knots, after the fifth knot, a slipknot is tied. After that, the years aren’t counted. The only time the knots are opened is when a Teekkari in Oulu graduates. This tradition is special to engineering students in Oulu.
The goal of a fuksi is to meet all the necessary criteria to get a Teekkari cap, which is handed to them on the day of Wappu. There is a capping ceremony, where the Teekkari hymn is sung and then the students put their caps on for the first time.
If you would like to learn more about the Teekkari culture in Oulu, you can visit OTY’s website.
About the author
Hey everyone! I’m Arya from India. I’m currently in my second year of bachelor’s in Electronics and Communications Engineering. I love socialising, attending various student events and hanging out with my friends at the university.