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Apparently not everybody is familiar with the concept of Walpurgisnacht; let me hasten to remedy this situation in three easy lessons.

Walpurgis (or Walburga, or Valborgsmäss as we say) is the day we celebrate spring. Living in a country with a long, dark and cold winter makes you rather partial to the time of year when the days get longer and warmer and the world starts living again. On Walpurgisnacht this is celebrated throughout Sweden by the lighting of bonfires in the evening; in Uppsala however the whole day is a feast-day, mostly for the students but the rest of us get to join in as well.

There are several traditional components in a Real Walpurgis Celebration. Many of them I haven't done personally... you can pick the ones you fancy. The day starts with breakfast at early o'clock; this is supposed to contain porridge and champagne, and sometimes also herring. The porridge is there because it is an alcohol-fuelled day and you really need a good breakfast... At 10am, the silly boat parade down the river Fyris commences. Students have built boats, rafts and other floatation devices and go down the two waterfalls to the cheering of the masses -- people line the river five or six deep on both sides and from every window hang bunches of onlookers. I used to watch this religiously every year but haven't made much of an effort to do so these last few years despite the fact that we lived very close to the river; waiting for an hour in that sort of crowd is not all that fun after all, and when you've seen 30 boats capsize in the waterfall by the old mill, you've really seen them all.

Thus endeth the first lesson. Tomorrow: Singing for the herring, waving the cap and running down the hill. . .

Labels: Swedish stuff