Fascinating & unique graduation traditions around the world

1. Female Chinese graduates have started a new trend of renting wedding gowns to wear to graduation. Traditional ceremonies usually don’t take place, and the students may set their own style of celebration without parents and relatives attending

2. In Sweden, high school graduations are celebrated as well as university graduations.Instead of a mortarboard hat, the students wear a round cap with a black bill called astudentmössa. The cap has evolved over the years, and for engineering graduates, the main color of the cap indicates which school of technology they attended.

3. In South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, commencement celebrations are very formal – the procession is made up of the entire faculty.

4. In the Philippines, students have graduation ceremonies for each level of education completed. The processional includes the parents, who walk alongside the student. When each student approaches the stage, he is required to turn and bow to the audience. Having received their diploma, they are honored with a garland placed around their necks

5. Japanese students enter into a coordinated march and sing as they line up for diplomas. They wear their school uniforms – dark blazers and slacks with a white shirt and red tie for the men; dark blazers, a plaid skirt, white shirt and red tie, along with dark knee socks and black shoes for the women. The school year begins in March and the lower grades return to school immediately after the short ceremony

6. Russian women usually wear black dresses with white aprons while attending graduation ceremonies that are similar to those celebrated in the United States. Ceremonies are only held for University-level students in the UK. The British wear gowns but not mortarboard hats.

7. The visual effect of so many hats in the air at once is an inspiring sight. Marine Corps boot camp graduation is usually held at Parris Island in North Carolina or San Diego, California. It coincides with Family Day, in which the graduating Marines may invite as many people as they wish to attend family activities sponsored by the Marine Corps.

8. In Thailand, diplomas are given out to students by members of the Royal family. No one is permitted entrance to the hall except the graduates, and they must be dressed in traditional gowns over their student uniforms. Women are allowed no hair decoration and must wear stockings with plain black shoes.

9. In Argentina, after the ceremony is complete students have food, especially sticky things like ketchup and syrup, thrown at them. Italian graduates are also subject to food being thrown at them by friends and family, and they often wear costumes. Students in Germany usually don’t have any ceremonies when they graduate and are more focused on taking the final exam, called the Abitur, which grants them entrance to apprenticeships and universities.

10. The United States has many types of graduations, depending on the school attended. Formerly, only high school seniors and college graduates participated in these ceremonies, but a more recent trend adds ceremonies for kindergarten, elementary schools, and middle schools. Traditional caps and gowns in school colors are worn, and commencements are usually held in stadiums, large halls, or amphitheaters, depending on the size of the graduating class.

11. Military schools such as the US Air Force Academy in Colorado hold their ceremonies in football stadiums and require dress uniforms. They started the tradition of graduates throwing their hats into the air as the ceremony concludes with a jet flyby