These days, in Sweden, the first day of school is nothing special. Admittedly they do teambuilding activities instead of ordinary lessons, and there’s paperwork, and going through the schedule and such. But it feels mundane and administrative.

The fact that it happens on some random Wednesday in the middle of August doesn’t help. In Estonia, the school year always starts on the 1st of September. That date is almost as much of an institution as Christmas Eve. You say “1st of September” and everybody knows what you’re talking about.

The first day of school was special and festive. I remember dressing up for it. Even the parents taking their children to school dressed up.

We wore a school uniform. These were later abolished, but I wore a uniform up to grade four or five. In the lower grades, girls wore a knee-length dark blue pinafore dress over a lighter blue shirt. On festive occasions, the blue shirt was replaced by a white one with ruffles.

The first day of school started with a ceremony in the school’s assembly hall. There were speeches of welcome by the principal, performances by the school choirs, etc. After that each class split off to their own classroom and the day probably shifted into a more mundane and administrative mode like today.

Here’s a photo of me on the first day of 2nd grade. Wooden clogs were cool back then.

Praegusel ajal siin Rootsis on esimene koolipäev üsna tavaline. Õppetundide asemel on küll muud tegemised, nagu üksteisega taas sõbraks saamine, mitmesugune paberiasjandus, tunniplaani läbivõtmine jne. Aga üldiselt igapäevane ja administratiivne.

Ei aita seda sündmust erilisemaks teha ka see, et kool algab suvalisel kolmapäeval keset augustikuud. Eestis algab kool alati esimesel septembril. See kuupäev on sama tuntud kui jõuluõhtu. Räägid esimesest septembrist ja kõik teavad, millest jutt käib.

Esimene koolipäev oli eriline ja pidulik. Mäletan, kuidas selleks puhuks pidulikud riided selga pandi. Isegi lapsevanemad, kes lapsed kooli tõid, riietusid pidulikult.

Koolis kanti koolivormi. Hiljem kaotati see ära, aga mina kandsin koolivormi vist neljanda või viienda klassini. Algklassides kandsid tüdrukud tumesinist pihikseelikut ja heledamat sinist pluusi. Pidupäevadel asendas sinist pluusi valge, volangikestega.

Esimene koolipäev algas aktusega kooli aulas. Kooli direktor pidas tervituskõne, esinesid kooli koorid, jne. Pärast seda läksid klassid laiali oma klassiruumidesse ja eks siis vist järgnesid igapäevasem paberimajandus nagu tänapäevalgi.

Pilt on minu esimesest koolipäevast teises klassis. Puukingad olid tol ajal popid.