I’m still not really sure what Valborg celebrates (I’ve heard it’s the beginning of Spring, that Valborg was a female saint, etc.) but I’m gonna promote it a lot when I go back to the US. It will be among one of the greatest and biggest parties I’ve been too, especially nice because it’s outdoors after a long winter.
The main party took place in Lund’s Stadspark (city park) yesterday (Saturday), and me and my friends were LATE enough to NOT get a sunny spot at 9:45 AM!!! The grass was covered with blankets and people drinking. We were sandwiched in a good place, between the nearby band shell now DJ pavilion, and equidistant from the bonfire pile and the porto-potties.
Maybe it was because I had started off with too many mimosas, but around noon I was getting bored since people weren’t doing much, just drinking and sitting around. Once again, I had that feeling that maybe I am getting too old for ridiculous partying like this. That feeling soon passed, however, when my friends dragged me to the massive dance party which was trampling cans, bottles, and plastic lawn furniture. When Swedes dance they usually push a lot, at least more than they do in the US and in the Netherlands (so says my Dutch friends), and it was even worse around 3pm.
Maybe it’s sad that the drinking doesn’t shock me, but the peeing in public did. Some guys were so drunk that they turned around to face the pic-nic area while peeing and I saw a girl to drunk that she was peeing right on a main path holding onto two friends’ legs so she wouldn’t fall in her own piss. This is really disgusting and I wished I had a Shenis to give her (they’re cups/funnels designed to allow women pee standing up, yay!). The atmosphere was generally friendly and peaceful but a Swedish friend told me last year that there were lots of fights and rapes! It’s always disturbing when drinking or partying is used as an excuse for violence. Overall the day was fun, but exhausting!
