By now you’ve been at JU for a good minute and I assume you’ve made yourself familiar with the beloved overall culture we’ve got going on here. But what I’m sure you haven’t made yourself so familiar with are the rules that surround our Wednesday staples.
And I’ll get to that in a second but first let’s recap “oves” in general. The overall tradition has been a strong part of student life in Swedish universities since the 1960s, starting originally as a fun and practical way to get through messy student parties without ruining your regular clothes. Over time it’s become a little more than that, a symbol of community that shows where you study as well as all your memories you’ve made along the way.
At JU we have 5 main ove colours:
Blue – HLK (Media and Communication, Human Resources and Global Studies)
Red – HLK (Teacher Programs)
Green – JIBS
Yellow – JTH
White – Hälsohögskolan
So now that we’ve got that out of the way, onto the “rules” of the ove:
- Never wash your ove in a washing machine; the only way to “correctly” wash your Ove is by swimming in the lake, rolling in the snow or diving into the sea.
- “On Wednesdays we wear oves”; Oves are meant specifically for parties and events, not for class.
- Patches are supposed to be sewn on.
- Patch placement matters; everything to do with YOU goes on your left leg (eg. Program, events you went to, hobbies etc). All your social stuff (associations, organizations etc) goes on your right leg. Arms are for trades patches only. And your back is specifically for the patches you want to flex the most. All this in mind your most important patches go as close to your crotch as possible.
- Event patches you never attended are supposed to be attached upside down.
These are a few of the “rules” of the ove and you will FOR SURE hear tons more during your time at JU and even after (I purposely left out the less PG ones so feel free to do your own research). Take all these with a grain of salt though because at the end of the day the purpose of the ove is to be able to wear it proudly and in a way that you best feel represents you and who you are in your community. Just have fun with it!
Writer: Loreleigh Mostert
