Last bell

The last bell is a traditional ceremony in the schools of some Eastern European countries (especially Ukraine, Belarus, Russia). 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. A symbolic last school bell is rung, usually by a first-grader.^[1]

^ Children's World: Growing Up in Russia, 1890-1991, Catriona Kelly, pp. 515, Yale University Press, 2007, ISBN 9780300112269, ... 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 ...

[ref17xagey-1] Children's World: Growing Up in Russia, 1890-1991, Catriona Kelly, pp. 515, Yale University Press, 2007, ISBN 9780300112269, ... 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 ...

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