The ’ambling’ ceremony involves decorating the classrooms with flowers, writing farewell messages on the blackboard, junior students presenting a farewell satchel with a pogácsa (savoury scone) and a coin in it, singing farewell songs reserved for this occasion, moving slowly from classroom to classroom and finally gathering in the school courtyard to listen to elevated speeches the essence of which is ”and now you enter real life” – as if until then they had lived in a virtual life.

The word BALLAG is a bit funny, it means to walk slowly, i.e. to amble or saunter, referring to the slow and sentimental way of leaving the institution which was their home for 4 years.

So, if you see people rushing with bunches of flowers on this day, it’s either relatives of the ambling students or the students themselves.

Source: http://fungarian.hu/ambling-students/

Republished with permission