Figure 1.--Many Finish children take off their shoes also at school. This photo was taken in Suomusjärvi, a village about 90 km west of Helsinki about 2005.

We do not yet have a large enough Finish archive to develop detailed information on Finish school garments. We have only limited information at this time. We know thatvsome boys wore unifiorms during the Tsarist era. We think this may have been mostly secondary students, but we do not yet have details. We are not sure what happened after Finland became independent (1917). We mostly see children wearing their own clothes, but we have very little information about secondary schools. Given Finland's northerly location, cold weather clothes like coats and sweaters were important school garments. One interesting aspect of Finish schools is the custom of taking shoes off before entering the home. This ciustom was also adopted at school, although we are not entirely sure when this became widespread. It appears to be the standard procedure, at least in primary schools.

Created: 3:07 AM 9/15/2009
Last updated: 3:07 AM 9/15/2009