The last bell (russian: Последний звонок, ''Posledniy zvonok'') is a traditional ceremony in the schools of Russia and some other
post-Soviet countries. The celebration is carried out just after all the studies are finished, but before the final exams. The date usually falls on 25 May. The pupils that are about to leave the school don the classic school uniform or formal dress; for the girls it has become customary since the 1990s to attire in the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
-style school uniform with white aprons and white bows in the hair. A symbolic last school bell is rung, usually by a first-grader.
[Children's World: Growing Up in Russia, 1890-1991](_blank)
Catriona Kelly, pp. 515, Yale University Press, 2007, , ''... In the course of time, the occasion, known as 'The Last Bell', become associated with numerous other rituals ... particularly concentrated on one group of pupils, in this case those who had just completed their ten-year stint of education and were about to sit their examinations. An important part of the ceremony was the ringing of the bell itself, which in some schools was done by the smallest female pupil, who was carried to the bell in the arms, or on the shoulder, of the tallest school-leaver ...''
See also
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School bell
*
Knowledge day
References
External links
{{Commons category, Last bell ceremonies, Last bell
Education in Russia
May observances
Observances in Russia
Spring (season) events in Russia