Publish Date: 01.04.2015
Category: News from the University
The Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering of the University of Ljubljana and the Apron Jump organising committee are organising the 44th Apron Jump, which will take place on Saturday, 11 April, at 19.00 at the Grand Hotel Union in Ljubljana. The Apron Jump is a fellowship event where we welcome newcomers into the midst of the mining engineers. Candidates for graduation and final year students on all the mining engineering courses will be the ones doing the jumping (geology, geotechnology and mining and materials and metallurgy).
Each candidate jumps over the apron to their mentor. The mentors need to be members of the fellowship and vouch for the newcomers. As in the old days, mentors today are supposed to pass their experience on the younger generation and be good life companions to their protégés and guide them in their professional work. The newcomers pledge to honour the fellowship’s traditions and to perform the profession with care and integrity. The Presidium, the highest Apron Jump authority, then announces their acceptance into the fellowship of mining engineers.
Today, this biannual event with a long tradition is a symbol of the once-challenging tasks that miners used to test a newcomer to see if they were suitable to work with them and live in their community. According to Saxon sources dating back to the 16th century, the miner’s apron is mentioned as part of the mining equipment. The apron served as protection against damp and cold for seated work and for sliding down inclined parts of the mine. As the apron was a specific piece of equipment used only in mining, it soon became the miners’ trademark, honorary symbol and part of their traditional gear.
The first Apron Jump was organised in Ljubljana in 1923. The tradition was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. In 1951, the tradition was revived with the 12th Apron Jump.
Photo: Apron Jump Archive