Post by Grubb.
While we were slurping up our fish stew in a restaurant off a central plaza in downtown Malmo, it was invaded by a mob of teenagers in white captain’s caps. At first I thought the young crew to a cruise liner had docked and were celebrating a port of call. Then I found out from the bartender that it’s a Swedish custom for students graduating from gymnasium to don white captain’s caps and get festive. Looking closer I noticed that the name of each student was inscribed on the rim of the cap.
Moira knew about this ceremony from the time she was in Norway visiting a pen pal at the age of 17. We’ve seen graduation “ceremonies” in Italy, and freshman initiation in Spain… I wonder if the freshman initiation, which is a mild form of hazing, is going to die out, if it hasn’t already.