Teekkari Culture
‘Teekkari’ is a distinctive term used in Finland to refer to university students enrolled in institutes of technology. The title of Teekkari is officially bestowed upon students once they have successfully completed their first year and participated in the Wappu eve baptism.
The path towards becoming a Teekkari
Teekkari: This title is earned after completing the fresher slip, undergoing the fresher baptism & the Teekkari baptism, and singing the Teekkari hymn at midnight on Wappu eve.
The fresher slip
The fresher slip is given to all newcomers during the orientation week. It contains a set of tasks that must be accomplished throughout their first year, starting from orientation week until Wappu eve.
Only those who fulfill the requirements on the slip become eligible to receive the Teekkari cap on Wappu eve, 31.4. Others will get it on Flower Day 13.5
Fresher baptism
A very important event held after the Fresher weeks, the Fresher Baptism is held to promote mere students to Freshers, A.K.A. Freshmen! (fuksi) During it you walk into Lahti’s Vesijärvi, recite the Fresher Oath, and get baptized by your Fresher Captain.
Teekkaris wear their iconic white teekkari cap with pride, and you’ll
spot plenty of older students rocking theirs during the orientation days.
Teekkari baptism
Teekkari Baptism is another CRUCIAL event held during your first year, though this time, during Wappu Eve. After sliding down a slide into Vesijärvi, Freshers become Teekkaris A.K.A. proper engineering students, and at midnight all new Teekkaris are allowed to put on their
Teekkari Caps for the first time!
Teekkari Culture
Teekkari Hymn: Holds a unique meaning as it is the most important song for Teekkari.
“A Teekkari sings rather than well.”
The title of Teekkari is officially bestowed upon students once they have successfully completed their first year and participated in the Wappu eve baptism.
Teekkari ABC
Teekkari: This means we study technology at the University level in Finland, celebrate Wappu enthusiastically, and wear the Teekkari cap as our signature.
Freshers: First-year students who undergo the fresher promotion.
EXCURSIO or XQ: During an XQ, you usually visit a field-relevant company, or another city where you can meet Teekkari people of that city.
SITSIT (ACADEMIC TABLE PARTY, SITZ): Possibly the most common type of party held by Teekkari people, a Sitsit or Sitz, is an “academic table party” that is more casual than an annual ball.
IKITEEKKARI: Teekkari who “has considered it necessary to qualify as a practitioner of science so deeply, that they have not had the time or remembered to graduate as an engineer”
TEKNIIKAN AKATEEMISET TEK: TEK is the trade union for those studying at, or graduated from, a university degree in technology or architecture, as well as related scientific fields such as computer science and maths.
KILTA (GUILD) : A student association of a degree program or department.
KERHO (CLUB): Teekkari culture has hundreds of different clubs, organisations and associations. They usually focus on a specific hobby, professional subject, or other interest.
Kerhot on our campus
Lahden Akateeminen Viiniseura Rypäle ry (Wine Club)
LahtiES (Entrepreneurship society)
Lahden Polytekninen Pöytälaatikkoyhdistys ry (Sauna Culture – organizes weekly sauna on Tuesday)
LASTU ry (Student hobby club association)
SALASEURA (SECRET SOCIETY)
Recruitment to secret societies happen usually through invitations rather than applications.
Yearly membership numbers depend on each society and its traditions.
Purposes vary, such as organizing events or groups through distinctive clothing.
Alongside these traditions, the societies remain a visible part of Teekkari culture.
Lately, they have faced criticism regarding unequal traditions.
Efforts are now being made to improve and modernize these practices each year.
Teekkari cap
Teekkari lakki is worn by students after the first year of their studies from May Day onwards. The cap is used in Finland and Sweden. In Finland, the cap is white and has a tasseled string attached to the right side. The string and tassel are made of black silk.
Rules in nutshell
The period of wearing the cap begins with the “breaking of the Wappu treaty”, which takes place in connection with the cap-laying of the Marjatta Statue (April 30 at 15 noon), and ends with the cap-laying ceremonies held in the autumn (30 of September). At other times, the cap may be worn with special permission from the Student Union.
Other
The Lappeenranta Teekkari cap (Our Teekkari cap) is heptagonal, and its lining is Karelian red and black. Otherwise, it resembles the Otaniemi cap. The cockade uses the student union’s emblem, the letter aleph, surrounded by a circle of teeth. The cap is issued by our Student Union LTKY.
Jäynä Culture
A Jäynä is a harmless practical joke, made with a sense of humour, and often featuring technology. It has the purpose of amusing not only its creator, but also the target audience and the general public. Jäynä traditions form an integral part of Teekkari culture.
The most famous Jäynä of all time was carried out in 1961. At that time, the wreck of the Vasa ship was raised to the surface in Stockholm. When it was lifted, a statue of Paavo Nurmi was unexpectedly found on the deck of the ship. At first, the discovery confused even Swedish maritime archaeologists, and it quickly became a news item in the local press. The designers of Jäynä eventually held their own press conference where they explained the course of events: the engineers had gone to attach the statue to the deck of the Vasa ship a day before it was lifted.
In our guild, it has been tradition to do a couple of harmless Jäynä in the Lahti area, mostly by older students of the guild. You can ask more about these in the guild room.
Kyykkä
History
Kyykkä is an old Karelian village game that has been played in various parts of Karelia and its surrounding areas since the 1800s. After the 1950s, the game is practiced especially in academic contexts at universities, where the game is played several times during studies. In University contexts there are multiple national contests to take part in during a year.
Rules in nutshell
Traditionally, the Kyykkä is a scrimmage between the teams. It requires a playing field with two demarcated playing kyykkä at a distance of ten meters from each other. Wooden game pieces, or Kyykät, are placed in a row at the front borders of the squares, always two on top of each other. The game is played in such a way that each team tries to use throwing sticks to get the opposite side’s Kyykät out of the square over its side or back boundaries.
Detailed rules in English can be found here.
Other
PoWi organizes the PoWiCup Kyykkä tournament in the spring, which is one of the highlights of the spring. The tournament will be held in Lappeenranta in the immediate vicinity of the other campus. Kapital plans to send a team representing the guild each year that this event is held.
KAP (Kapital or Kapital Magic)
This is our guild’s offical team that has been playing in Powicup and MM-kyykkä several times.
