Most students studying in Finnish high schools participate in a very traditional ball on their second year - Wanhat Tanssit ('The Old Dances'). It began as a celebration of becoming the oldest students in the school, when the abit - third year students, that is - leave the school to study for the finals. People used to actually wear old, kinda ugly stuff and have fun with it, but nowadays its really just an imitation of prom and a contest of who spends the most money on their hair. For girls, that is. Instead of bitching about the event tho, we're gonna be discussing all the connections between wanhat and food.
Before the actual event, many girls have to constantly make sure that the dress they bought 6 months in advance still fits them, which forces them to constantly either diet or eat donuts until they feel like throwing up. The latter, of course is more desirable of the two, but equally more rare; most people buy a dress thats too small for them cause "im planning on losing enough weight so that its gonna fit". Dresses with zippers cause the most trouble cause they have to be just right. Some people choose to, as extreme as it does sound, leave chocolate completely out of their diets for the last few weeks in order to "minimize the risk of getting pimples". Others simply dont eat on the week of wanhat at all; even at the risk of fainting in the middle of WIIIIIENER waltz.
Now when the day comes, there is a very high risk of being without food for a grand total of 6 hours, because some people arrive as early as 3 pm and dinner is not until 9 pm. So we are advised to bring some healthy, keep-me-thin snacks such as bananas and water. We're kinda planning on ordering chinese tho. (chinaman.com) They're gonna be selling buns and coffee during the intermission but heaven forbid if we have any; u really cant pee with the goddamn dress and that one bun might just make everything fall apart. After dancing for our parents, we head to a restaurant.
The wanhat dinner I mentioned earlier (which as a concept of course is totally ridiculous because you are once again wearing the dress so actual eating is not going to take place) is another way to make this event ever-the-more rememberable for us. We get to pay a lot of money for a very high class, supreme, one might even say luxurious dinner; no, not a five course dinner but a buffet (eat as much as you like = guys, its all yours).
After this we head home, fall asleep and wake up in the morning, only to wear that dress again. This time we dance for the younger students and noone really gives a fuck anymore so everyone basically just wants to get it over and done with. Now, this is over at about 11 o'clock and this is when the weakest ones head to Tapiola for a pizza and some make-me-happy-chocolate. The ones that have gone absolutely crazy, however, continue the strive for perfection until the after party.
Now the after party itself is a whole new chapter, food wise. When people head home around 3-4 AM, there might be some angry phone calls made to 020202 or 118 asking for pizza. We bagels, however, have already thought this through and are planning on buying some frozen pizzas beforehand.
Ahh so we really cant wait for all this to happen, and we hope u enjoyed reading this wanhat special.
Sincerely yours,
beygels (apparently thats how they used to spell it, back in the day)
ps. if fitting into ur dress really worries u, you can always do what CSB did; eat all u like, buy a corset and not breathe for one night
