▲ One of the various faces of graduation day (Left) and students scattering flour powder to celebrate their graduation (Right)
As you know, the school semesters start in March in Korea. Therefore, the graduation ceremony takes place in February. On that special day, graduates are congratulated with flowers from their family and friends, take photos, and celebrate a fine closure as well as a new start. This is just normal and familiar, but here comes the unusual part. In Korea, middle and high school students are all supposed to wear a school uniform at any time in school hours. When the graduation day comes, students say goodbye not only to just their school life but to those school uniforms, by getting their uniforms dirty. Flour scattering, generally, or soda shower. It can be read as a ritual of freedom, as they treat graduation like liberation from an education system which is thought to be suppressing and banal. Of course most of the graduates celebrate their big day very decently, and some donate their uniforms to juniors. However, some cheeky students make huge scene spraying vinegar, throwing eggs, even tearing their uniforms off. This has become a headache to Korean society. If you see some students on the streets wearing totally messy uniforms in February, do not be shocked, it is the graduation month.
