From Russia with love...

It’s a tradition to celebrate this day on the 25th of May in every school of the Russian Federation. On the 24th of May the graduates visited their last classes and now a difficult period of taking exams lies ahead.
All the schools existing more than a year celebrate the holiday. There is no strict order of celebrating, some schools follow one way every year but other schools choose to celebrate this holiday in a different way, trying to invent something new.
Traditionally there is a ceremonial line in the morning when graduates and first-former are gathered in front of their school or in the stadium. The teachers tell a summing-up, give advices to the graduates who enter a grown-up life. Then by tradition the graduates lead first-former to school by hand. After that the graduates, their parents and teachers come to the assembly hall. The children usually make a concert; it is a funny and merry part of the holiday. The hall is nicely decorated.
The graduates usually look pretty good on the day. There is funny tradition that they wear a school form looking like small children. Girls make tails, tie white bows. Sometimes they hang up little bells with a red bow.
When the ceremony is over, children usually go home, change their clothes and go to have fun. It is really nice to spend time going along the river by boat. It is usually prepared beforehand. Some people rent a café or a cruiser. The graduates get presents, but they also try to make presents to their schools. For example, some pupils plant trees near the school in the autumn and in spring when they leave the school, they will hear the rustle of leaves in The Graduates Alley.