Why is the graduation celebration in St. Petersburg called ‘Scarlet Sails’?

It’s the end of June. White Nights season. We are in St. Petersburg. Late in the evening, when dusk finally settles in the city, an elegant brig enters the Neva River under scarlet sails. It moves along the Palace Embankment through the drawn bridges, engulfed in glowing firework volleys, while thousands of gleeful school graduates watch and cheer the scene from the shore.

That’s how St. Petersburg celebrates one of the most spectacular events of the year – the ‘The Scarlet Sails’ graduation celebration… But how did it come about and why does it bear this name?

The novel and the movie ‘Scarlet Sails’

In 1923, a fairy tale novella by Soviet author Alexander Grin called ‘Scarlet Sails’ was published. According to the plot, a dreamy girl named Assol lives with her sailor father near the sea in a fictional country. One day, she meets a wandering storyteller, who tells her that a day will come, when, from the shore, she’ll see a beautiful ship under scarlet sails. A beautiful prince will arrive on it and take her to wonderful lands beyond the seas.

Anastasia Vertinskaya as Assol in the ‘Scarlet Sails’ movie, 1961

From that moment on, the girl believes in this story. She and her father live in poverty and everyone pokes fun at her and her naive faith. But she keeps true to herself.

Many years later, a rich, young man known as ‘Grey’, who escaped his home and became a ship captain, notices a girl of a heavenly beauty and falls in love with her at first sight. In a local tavern, he learns of the mockingly-told story about the scarlet sails. So, he purchases two thousand square meters of bright-red cloth and orders it to be hoisted as sails on his ship.

In the early morning, Assol sees a ship in the sea sailing under scarlet sails. From it, that very same young man approaches the shore in it. And he sweeps Assol off her feet and takes her with him.

This novella suggests that cherished dreams will come true, no matter what if you really believe in them. It also suggests that a loving heart is capable of great deeds for a loved one.

A still from the ‘Scarlet Sails’ movie, 1961

In 1961, ‘Scarlet Sails’ hit the big screen and it conquered the Soviet audience, becoming a leader at the box office. Beautiful Anastasiya Vertinskaya played Assol, while Grey was played by Vasily Lanovoy. The movie was so popular that newborn Soviet girls were even given the rare name Assol.

The ‘Scarlet Sails’ celebration

Soviet children, who were enchanted by fairy tale novellas, binge-reading books about journeys to faraway lands, simply loved the story of ‘Scarlet Sails’.

In 1968, enterprising schoolchildren from graduating classes in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) proposed to hold a celebration with the same title as the book and movie. On June 28, more than 25,000 schoolchildren gathered at the broad part of the Neva River, where the noble schooner ‘Nadezhda’ (‘Hope’) sailed (in Soviet times, the boat was called ‘Leningrad’). 

‘Scarlet Sails’ celebration in Leningrad, 1971

The tradition stuck and the celebration began to be held on a large scale every year. Its meaning was that, after finishing school, the graduates step into their new life and their every dream may come true, leading to a bright future ahead of them. The celebration motto was: “All the paths are open to the young.”

But, in 1979, in the middle of the ‘Era of Stagnation’, city authorities canceled such mass youth events. The celebration was, instead, moved to a stadium. After the dissolution of the USSR, private yachts began sailing the Neva River on the graduation night, adorned with scarlet sails, in memory of the celebration.

‘Scarlet Sails’ in 2023

Vladimir Putin proposed to revive the celebration in 2005. He graduated from a school in Leningrad in 1970 and personally witnessed the widespread ‘Scarlet Sails’ celebrations. Since then, this mass event, which includes a concert, magnificent fireworks and millions of spectators, has been held annually. The two-decked brig ‘Rossiya’ (‘Russia’) serves as its symbol, specifically purchased and rebuilt for the ‘Scarlet Sails’.