Valborg

Every year on the last day of April, Swedes celebrate Valborg - a celebration that began in honor of Saint Walpurgis (probably forgotten by many now) and welcomes the arrival of spring. Valborg celebrations include champagne breakfasts, singing Swedish songs about spring, eating picnic lunches with herring, bonfires, and wearing white student hats. In Uppsala, Valborg is a very special event for students and the thousands of other Swedes that come for the celebration. Along with spring songs, picnics, and student hats, Uppsala hosts a boat competition, the nations have champagne races and parties, and people consume a lot of alcohol! Its amazing how different Uppsala normally is compared to Valborg with all of the festivities and people!

The day began very early... out the door before 830am for a champagne breakfast near the Fyris river to get a prime spot for the boat races. At 10am, the boat races started...

For lunch, we had a picnic in the park with more champagne!

At 3pm, we headed to Uppsala University's library, Carolina Rediviva, for the mösspåtagningen with the huge crowd. The mösspåtagningen is a type of cereony where students (current and former) wave their prestigous white caps they receive upon graduation. I wanted my own hat so badly!

More on Valborg to follow...