End of School

Here is a picture of one of our youth dressed in her end of school year outfit which is very typical of what is worn the last day of school.  The boys are all in ties.  As we went to the park that day there were hundreds of kids dressed like this - busloads, in fact.  It was awesome.  Here is a little history of the outfit.

Young Russians celebrate their graduation from high-school in quite a unique way, and mark the occasion with an event called Последний звонок (The Last Bell).

If you were to travel to Russia around May 25, and it was your first visit to this grand nation, you may be inclined to think that Russian teenagers are quite eccentric! You'll see young girls wearing short dark dresses with white lacy aprons, together with fluffy white bows in their hair, white knee-high socks and black shoes, and teenage guys wearing business suits adorned with a colourful, shoulder-to-hip diagonal sash, somewhat reminiscent of a Miss Universe competition!

But the outfits are all part of a long standing tradition, with black and white uniforms representing the standard attire of school students supposedly in pre-Soviet times, in the period of the Tsars. It should be noted that Russian teenagers are in fact very fashionable, but for this one special day they put away their designer clothes and embrace tradition.