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DANISH TRADITIONS

EXPLAINED: Why do Danish school leavers wear white caps?

During the month of June, you will start to notice a huge number of young people wearing white caps, probably while celebrating and partying with their friends. These are Denmark's school leavers and the caps they are wearing are far more than fancy dress.

EXPLAINED: Why do Danish school leavers wear white caps?
Newly graduated students party at Storkespringvandet in Copenhagen in June 2022. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Denmark’s latest class of upper secondary school graduates or studenter are not hard to spot. They are often found riding in open-backed trucks blaring horns and music, jumping into water or drinking beers in cafés or parks, all while wearing a white cap (studenterhue).

The students spend up to two weeks celebrating the end of high school (gymnasium) and their final exams by taking a studenterkørsel: a trip around town on a colourfully-decorated truck, often emblazoned with innuendo-themed wordplays. The trucks stop at the homes of each class member, where parents provide food and drinks.

The party trucks may end after two weeks but the cap- wearing is something that carries on far into the summer.

Studenterkørsel

Newly graduated students party on a Studenterkørsel in Copenhagen. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The history of the white cap

The original cap, which was black with a white rope band, emerged in the mid-19th century. From the 1880s onwards, the design changed to become the white silk cap of today, with a burgundy-coloured ribbon.

School graduation caps

Measurements for the studenterhuer. Photo: Hakon Nielsen/Ritzau Scanpix

Female students started wearing the caps during the 1930s. At that time, the number of young Danes graduating from gymnasium was relatively low so the cap was seen as a status symbol and the young studenter would continue to wear the cap for the entire summer, prior to starting their university studies.

This still happens today, which is why you’ll spend the whole summer spotting young people and their white caps. However it is considered unlucky to wear the cap before the final exam is over.

Why are there numbers inside the caps?

The number inside the graduation cap is the grade the student got for their final exam.

Denmark uses a 7-point grade system. The grades range from -3, 00, 02, 4, 7, 10, 12 with 12 being the highest, equivalent to an A and -3 being the lowest, equivalent to am F.  02 is the minimum grade for passing an exam.

Students with the highest grade on their last exam have to run after the party truck until the first stop.

What do the coloured ribbons mean?

The variety of cap styles has increased over the decades and now there are different emblems and ribbons. The traditional emblem was a cross but many students change the cross for a different symbol depending on their beliefs, or some decide to change it to show a particular talent, such as a treble clef for someone musical or Olympic torch for a student who excels in sport.

The ribbons around the bottom of the cap show what kind of education the teenagers have completed. For example:

Burgundy ribbon: Three years of traditional high school education (gymnasium)

Sky blue ribbon: Two years of traditional gymnasium education

Royal blue ribbon: Trade education

Marine blue ribbon: Technical education

National flags on the ribbon: International education

School graduation cap

A traditional studenterhue, with a cross emblem and burgundy ribbon. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Why are the caps so special to the students? 

The caps record a rite of passage. Dares, challenges and party-related mishaps are all recorded on the inside of the caps during the celebrations of the summer. 

School graduation caps

Newly graduated students party at Storkespringvandet in Copenhagen, June 2022. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Jumping into the sea wearing nothing but the cap can earn the student a wave-shaped cut in its inner lining, for example. A cut into the peak might mean that the wearer stayed up partying until sunrise.

The hat is also waterproof, meaning it is often used as a drinking cup and students can get at least one free drink in bars and clubs while wearing their hat.

Traditions for marking hats with reminders of holiday revelry may vary locally and change over time, but one thing is constant and that is the messages inside. Friends and teachers write their good luck wishes on the linings of the caps, so the school leavers remember each other when, years later, they look back at their worn-out caps, found on bookcases or shelves in many a Danish home. 

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DANISH TRADITIONS

What is Denmark doing to mark the 175th anniversary of its constitution?

Denmark celebrates the 175th anniversary of its Constitution on June 5th. A series of special events and celebrations are taking place across the country.

What is Denmark doing to mark the 175th anniversary of its constitution?

What’s the background to the Danish Constitution? 

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark (Danmarks Riges Grundlov) was signed by King Frederick VII on June 5th 1849 and marked the end of the absolute hereditary monarchy under which Denmark had been ruled since 1661.

After it was signed Frederick VII reportedly declared, with wonderful Danish bathos, “that was nice, now I can sleep in late in the mornings”. 

Before 1661, Denmark had in theory been an elective monarchy, with the new king elected by the country’s nobility. In practice, the crown was normally inherited, but the nobility could and frequently did, use the election process to demand concessions.   

The shift to a constitutional monarchy was put in motion by Frederick VII’s father, Christian VIII, as a way of protecting the monarchy from the wave of revolutions then sweeping Europe. 

In March 1848, following Christian’s death and Frederick’s coronation, there was a march on Christiansborg Palace led by the National Liberals, Denmark’s first political party, demanding a constitutional monarchy.

READ ALSO: How is Constitution Day celebrated in Denmark?

Frederick agreed to their demands and included many of the party’s leaders in a new cabinet, which appointed a Constitutional Assembly to work on the country’s first constitution, which was signed that June.

Under the constituion, Danes gained freedom of association, freedom of belief, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and property rights. 

Only men over 30 who owned their own home initially had the right to vote – about 15 percent of the population. Women did not get the right to vote until 1915 and 18-year-olds had to wait until 1974. 

Why is this year’s celebration special? 

The 50th, 100th and 150th anniversaries of the Constution were all major national events in Denmark.The 150th in 1999 featured a Children’s Parliament Day when 178 pupils from 60 primary schools met at the main hall in the Christiansborg parliament and had to agree on on ministers, discuss and vote through nine laws, which were passed to the then Social Democrat Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

The 200th anniversary in 2049 will also presumably be a very big deal.

But the 175th anniversary is nonetheless more significant than a normal year, and there’s quite a bit planned. 

What’s happening in parliament for the celebrations in 2024? 

King Frederik X and Queen Mary attended celebrations at the parliament in Christiansborg on Tuesday, starting with a church service at 8am at the The Holmen Church just across the canal from the parliament. 

When the service finished at 9.40am, the Royal Couple and others who attending the service crossed over to the parliament where an event was held at the Landstingsalen, where the Landstinget, Denmark’s upper house of parliament, used to hold its debates until it was abolished in 1953. 

At the event, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen gave a speech alongside the Speaker of the Parliament, Søren Gade, and the President of the Supreme Court, Jens Peter Christensen. The three represent the executive, legislative and judicial functions of the state.  

What’s happening outside parliament? 

Podcast

The parliament has produced a six-part podcast together with the Royal Family, which will run through the history of the Constitution. You can find that here.  

Ultraforslag

In an update on the Children’s Parliament from 1999, DR Ultra, the public broadcaster’s channel for young people, has been working with schools on a digital platform where they can propose changes to the law in Denmark, and then vote on the proposals which have been made. One of the proposals with the most votes will then be presented to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. 

Anyone under 18 can vote, and according to DR, “one of the proposals with the most votes will be presented to the Prime Minister”.

This seems to give the channel some leeway to select which proposal will be put forward, as, predictably, many of the most popular proposals at the moment involve reinstating “Great Prayer Day” or Store bededag as a public holiday. 

A proposal to allow students to “come to school later” appeared to have the edge in the early stages of voting. 

Celebrations at DR Byen

Denmark’s public broadcaster DR is holding a celebration at the DR Byen, its headquarters in Ørestad, on Constitution Day itself, working together with the parliament. The event will feature speeches, music and debate panels, and finishes at 7pm on Tuesday. 

According to DR, Denmark’s Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye will be present, as will Emma Holten, the Danish-Swedish human rights activist and celebrity debater, and Knud Romer, the novelist and advertising executive.

There will be an event featuring Børste, the hedgehog that is the star of one of the channel’s most popular children’s cartoons, there will be democratic children’s theatre, the presentation of an award for ‘The New Voice of the Year’, or Årets Nye Stemme, and even more group singing. 

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