Traditions
The ceremony that we celebrate today to inaugurate the academic year is a highly symbolic and institutional moment, but it also preserves the light-hearted side given to it by the goliards in the post-war period, who came to make such a noise in the classroom as to overwhelm the voice of the lecturer who held the lecture.
Today this does not happen, but a moment is dedicated to them, at the end of the ceremony, in which they sing the Gaudeamus igitur, pay homage to the rector of a Paduan hen and the main guest of a playful or mocking gift.
For the University of Padua, February 8 is a special day, in which we remember the heroism, sacrifice and commitment of the students of the University of Padua who in 1848 became the protagonists of the fight against the foreign regime and thus also of a real season of renewal. A revolution that preceded not only the Five Days of Milan, but also the revolts in the great capitals such as Paris (22-24 February) and Vienna (13 March).
This very day was symbolically adopted by the Tribunate for the election of the Tribune.
The Justinian Feast
It is a day off from classes and in which the University of Padova remains closed. The peculiarity is that it is a moveable feast, that is, it is not associated with a precise date. It is up to the university bodies to decide on which day to place this holiday, so it often happens that this is used to give Unipd students and staff a long weekend. Its name probably recalls the sixth-century Justinian Code, which in the thirtieth book speaks of jurydic days and feast days.
The first trace of this festival dates back to 1817, during the Austrian occupation of the city, when a general reform of university studies had been underway for about two years. In 1866 Veneto became part of the Kingdom of Italy and the tradition remained active: the festival, not marked on the academic calendar, was called a few days in advance, at the discretion of the Rector. Since the post-war period, the festival has been established by the Academic Senate, when the calendar for the following year is approved.
Today it emits its sound for the election of the tribune and for the rite of the raising of the coffin, but in the past its tolls signaled the beginning of lessons. It rang in some historical moments, such as February 8, 1848, and for a short period the bell was used to ring at noon the first notes of the Vispa Teresa, a goliardic song par excellence.
The goliards also had a serious task, on the occasion of the death of a professor: the coffin was carried to the Ancient Courtyard and, after the memory of a colleague, the goliards themselves paid the honors by raising the coffin three times and accompanying the coffin outside the walls of the Palazzo del Bo, while the bell of the tower rang in mourning. In recent years, the ceremony has accentuated the institutional aspect and the participation of goliards is less.
Until 1951, the tribune, the highest rank in the Paduan hierarchy, was chosen from among third-year medical students who wore beards and had not yet taken the anatomy exam. Shortly before 11 a.m., a "battle" was held in the Anatomy Room: the one who reached the chair was elected tribune, facing pushes and brawls, and was seated there when the professor arrived. The rector intervened by no longer granting the hall, and later the tribune was chosen by election, on February 8 of each year.
