The story of Scarlet Sails is a very romantic story about hope, being true to one's dreams and first love. There's nothing in the book Scarlet Sails by the writer Alexander Grin about school days, graduation and things like that, but when Scarlet Sails became the symbol of the school-leaving holiday, it was perceived as the perfect choice. It was perceived on some deeper level than simple logic.
I graduated from high school during the Soviet era, and back then the main celebration for graduates was the school ball. A ball is probably too strong a word for it... Young girls wore beautiful dresses instead of school uniforms, and the solemnity of the event was limited to that. After the ball, groups of young people would go out onto the streets of the town and walk around, sometimes until dawn. Meeting the dawn of a new life together - perhaps that too could be considered a tradition of my youth. This part of the festivities was informal and optional, but beautiful.
The idea of holding a city-wide celebration for graduates came to someone's bright mind in 2005. Some sources say that similar celebrations were held in Leningrad (in Soviet times St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad) in the late 1960s, but my parents have no recollection of such events. Perhaps something was organised on a modest scale, for graduates of a few schools.
Joint festive celebrations were not common in Soviet times, so I think my parents are a more accurate source of information in this matter than references on the internet. Only the demonstrations on 1 May and 7 November and the traditional spring subbotniks (subbotniks - i mean teamwork day) could be classified as "joint festive celebrations".
All the other celebrations took place differently. The main part of the holiday was the dinner table, covered with a snow-white tablecloth and stacked with a variety of dishes: several salads, homemade preserved vegetables and mushrooms, a pot of steaming boiled potatoes, meat baked in the oven... Russian vodka for the men, red wine for the ladies. And a second course of dishes: homemade pies with apples or cottage cheese, cake from a nearby pastry shop or from the legendary "North" café, and plenty of tea. The table-side gatherings were long, and no one ever suggested that we leave the warm and cosy house and go for a walk along the night streets. Our parents still remembered the hunger of the post-war years, and a tasty, varied meal was seen at the time as the main attribute of the holiday.
It is strange to remember now that there used to be no town festivities of ordinary citizens, no fireworks or concerts on City Day, and on New Year's Eve the main town square was as desolate and deserted as it was on other cold winter nights.
It changed imperceptibly, gradually. Perhaps the best period was when all these joint celebrations were just beginning to gain in popularity. At that time there were enough people on the streets to create a joyful festive atmosphere, but too few to impede free movement and cause problems with public transport.
Somehow I got carried away and strayed far from the subject of my story... The idea of having a big common celebration for school graduates originated in 2005. The high point of this holiday was a pyrotechnical show in the waters of the Neva River.
A sailing ship with scarlet sails rises from the mouth of the Neva River to the main city square, solemn music is played, fireworks fly up and light the whole action. The White Nights in June in St. Petersburg is the time when the sun goes behind the horizon briefly and shallowly, so that the real darkness does not come, such nights are more like evening twilight. So for the climax of the celebration the darkest time of the day is chosen, shortly after midnight.
I can only judge how beautiful it is by looking at video and photos. You can only enter the festival grounds by using special invitation cards, which are issued to school leavers and their relatives. The graduates of the last two pandemic years were very unlucky: the show was organised online, so they only had to watch the festivities on TV, just like the rest of the townsfolk. Last year there was an entire theatrical production involving a boat, and it was a very interesting spectacle - but TV is still TV, the emotions are not the same, there is no involvement and strength of experience.
This year the graduation party was again held on the embankments of the Neva, and before the celebration several rehearsals were held. I learned about one of these rehearsals from the city newspaper. This rehearsal was held in the daytime, the bridge had to be opened for the boat to pass, and there was information in the newspaper about traffic restrictions.
When I arrived on the embankment, the bridge was still drawn down, but all the spots near the granite parapet of the Neva River were occupied by those wishing to watch the passage of the sailboat. I went to the opposite side of the street and found a comfortable place on a high porch. Soon the bridge wings began to rise slowly, and the scarlet sails appeared in the distance. As the sailboat passed on I was able to get closer to the parapet to get a few close-up shots. But mostly my story captured the whole atmosphere: the people who came to see the sailboat with the scarlet sails, the people who were late to the start and rushed to join in, and the cars that soon had no room left at all on the promenade.
| ○ | ○ |
|---|---|
| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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Awesome great to see the festivities on the other side of the planet.
Thank you so much!
Yay! 🤗
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I've never heard of such a festival before but I'm sure it's a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing :)
This is a really beautiful festival! Thank you very much!
That Scarlet sail boat looks nice and it sure attracts a lot of attention.
Thank you very much!
Looks exciting!!!
Thank you!