For some people, a new year begins with the calendar. January first comes around and they get their fresh start, their second (or third or fourth) chance to do things over. I’ve never really identified with these people. January is a pretty boring month leading directly into the crappiest of all months, February. I can’t fathom how in the middle of winter, when the sun sets at 4pm, I will ever have a second chance at anything. For me, the excitement of a new year begins in August. I feel the anticipation of a new school year as the blazing hot days no longer last until 9:30 at night and the nights require much more clothing than the day asked for. My affinity for buying every single school supply item possible is renewed and I start to organize notebooks for the coming school year. I drag my feet towards the beginning of September, knowing that my summer is about to come to an end. I live for my summers. But September holds out new hopes and fresh starts, and I follow knowing that I can still have weekends to go swimming and the evenings will still be warm enough to sit outside for at least another month.
The school year begins in Ukraine with a holiday. September 1st is known as “First Bell.” The day begins with all of the students meeting outside of the school. They’re dressed up – wearing either traditional Ukrainian costumes, or in a rendition of the school uniform. The girls wear giant tulle scrunchies in their hair and none of the children have had time to dirty their clothes. At my school, the director gave a welcome speech and then the first graders were led throughout the crowd. This day is for them primarily – it is their first ever day of school. The parents took lots of pictures as the elementary school teachers led the lines of students around the courtyard. An eleventh-grader dressed up as “Autumn” sang a song about the changing of the seasons and the beginning of the school year. (In Ukraine, Fall begins on September 1st, not with the Autumn Equinox as in the U.S.) Some of the younger students read poems about school subjects, followed by speeches from school alumni encouraging students to study hard and apply themselves. Then one boy and one girl from the first grade were handed large hand bells. They ran through the courtyard, holding the bells over their heads with two hands ringing them and grinning from ear to ear. It was the First Bell.
A little belated, but here’s to a new school year full of learning and adventures.
