Dutch student Paula Dubbink is not fond of large crowds and she never drinks more than a moderate amount of alcohol. Does that work with celebrating Valborg? A small personal impression.
My alarm clock goes off at the inhuman time of 6.50 in the morning. While snoozing once more, I cannot help but noting the irony: on a normal day, I usually stay in bed at least an hour longer. But today, on an apparent feast day, I actually have to get up earlier than usual and this all to celebrate some strange Swedish tradition. While making breakfast, I hear several alarms go off in my corridor.
My poor housemates have planned to go to Stadsparken as well.
When leaving from the meeting place – Parentesen – with a group of (friends of) friends to the park, one of the girls is dressed in shorts and a sleeveless top. It’s half past eight, but she reassures me that she’s not feeling cold at all, though. “I took seven shots at seven AM this morning.”
Oh well. So Valborg is indeed this infamous bacchanal only centered around getting and staying drunk? And indeed, I am almost immediately offered champagne. At 9 AM. But, I have to admit, this thing doesn’t seem to be focused on drinking alone. With strawberries and chocolate cake, it gives more the impression of a well-prepared luxurious picnic. Even if some people combine the food with a continuous flood of cheap beer or wine, straight from the bottle.
Around noon, the situation hasn’t changed too much, except that the amount of picnic cloths has doubled. In a peaceful atmosphere, thousands of people are frying sausages, eating self-made pasta salad or having tipsy conversations. For the rest, nothing ‘happens’, to my surprise. Where is the amusement? No live musicians, no flee market, no Swedish folk dancing and hardly any places to buy food. The biggest entertainment seems to be our dear sun: the crowd starts cheering whenever she manages to shine through the cloudy sky. Which is not too often.
To my surprise, most people don’t seem overly drunk, ignoring a few exceptions of course. The policemen and their volunteers seem to be bored most of the time and even the toilets still smell fresh at 2 PM. Is then really everything perfect in Sweden?
Nope, even in Sweden 25.000 picnicking students cannot avoid creating a mess. Water bottles, cans, food leftovers and plastic are shattered all over the paths and the grass. Poor cleaning people. And most of all: poor park.
A Dutch friend rounds it up nicely: “It’s actually more or less the same as the Dutch Queensday, everything is just less orange.”
And I cannot but agree.
