#59 Valborg i Uppsala (or a Swedish festival)

Walpurgis Night (aka Walpurgisnacht, or Valborg in Swedish) is a celebration at the end of April in some European countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden. It marks 6 months from All-Hallows Eve and is usually celebrated with bonfires etc. In Sweden, it is celebrated most in the college towns of Lund in Southern Sweden, and Uppsala which is only an hour north of Stockholm.

So I went to Uppsala to see what the craze was about! The weather was pretty bad, it was very windy and although there were patches of blue skies, it rained heavily twice, which really put a damper on the festival atmosphere. Traditionally, students would engage in strawberry eating and champagne showers in the halls of the college, but now it is more or less like any other festival with young people - lots of alcohol!

 Marching band

 The streets lined with people!

To enter most of the parties, you needed a Nation card (Nations are basically like American fraternity houses) which we didn't have. We walked by some of these parties (at 3pm in the day) and they looked wild, but there were lots of people having fun outside too. 

This one was pretty crazy

One of the traditions we saw is the waving of the sailor hats you earn on graduation from the Carolina Redviva buidling. They had a big countdown timer, and a huge crowd gathered when it hit zero - but it was terribly disappointing! All they did was wave hats from the balcony for a few seconds - everyone cheered, and then it was kind of awkward. . .maybe it is something you have to be Swedish to enjoy?

 Hat waving time!

There was a huge party in the Economics park, it was basically young people everywhere sitting on rugs and drinking and having picnics. It was a pity the weather wasn't so nice, but people were still having a lot of fun. People had brought big speakers with them, so you could hear different music as you walked around the park. The only bad thing was how dirty it got - the place was disgusting by the time it hit 6pm! There were lots of police around checking nothing got too crazy, and also looking after the drunk people too which was nice. 

 Check out the party!

 What a mess...

My biggest surprise about Uppsala was that there was no bonfire! I thought it was a big part of the celebrations, but there was none in central Uppsala which was disappointing. Luckily some of my neighbours had built a small one right outside my house, so I still got to experience it when I got home!

Mini bonfire!