Sittning

A sittning ("sitting", often shortened to sits or sitz,Finnish: sitsit) is in Sweden and Finland a seated meal held within a set time frame. In restaurants it may refer to a seating, i.e. the time given for a crowd to have their meal. The term is also used to denote the part of a party that is a seated meal. Though it can refer to any kind of meal, it is often used to refer to a student sittning.

A student sittning in Sweden or Finland is usually a dinner had at the student union's or nation's property, usually a pub room, or banquet hall if the student union is fortunate enough to have one. In academic environments some of the tradition is carried on even after one is no longer a student.

The dress code is different depending on the occasion, everything from white tie to student boilersuit can be the evening's dress code. Sittnings often have themes, and the guests are encouraged to dress to match the theme.

The meal is prepared and served by students who often spend some time working at their union or nation. The number of dishes vary, but three courses is common, and alcohol is usually included in the price (beer or cider and snaps along with Punsch). If snaps or punsch is not included, there will often be tickets for sale.

A vital part of a sittning is singing. The guests are usually given a booklet with songs that will be sung during the sittning. Everyone sings when a song is brought up, and songs are often related to the current progress of the sitting. Sittnings often begin with a certain song and end with another, songs are sung when drinking snaps, and there is often a song to honor the students serving and cooking. These songs differ depending on student union or nation. In some locations, such as Uppsala or Stockholm, it is common for a sittning to end with the song "O gamla klang och jubeltid". During the last verse of the song, the guests stand on their chairs and after the song is finished you are no longer supposed to sit down.

During Finnish-language sitsit, many of the classic Swedish drinking songs are also sung in Swedish or in translated versions. In more formal sitsit, academic and patriotic songs, such as De Brevitate Vitae, Finlandia Hymn and the Jäger March are sung.

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Wikipedia