Agenda Magazine

In Sweden the feast, called Valborg, is more marked in the south, in the universities cities such as Lundt and Uppsala. In Uppsala, place of the oldest university in Scandinavia, the students gather at seven in the morning in the park for a casual breakfast, but by all means with champagne and strawberries. At 10, students compete on the river in funny self made and decorates rafts, then run down the hill near the highly respected Carolina University library, spraying champagne all around. So much, that the bottom of the century old buildings are protected in plastic sheets. Follow performances of old Swedish songs, picnics with salted herring, camp fires and grilling until late into the night.

While in Sweden the party is Friday all day, in Finland the kick-off party is at 6 pm on Friday – there starts Vappu, as it's called the festival that will continue all weekend.

Regardless of age, all high school graduates put their white cap on, dress in bright colors and flock by thousands to the capital’s downtown to witness the all over washing and coronation with a clean white hat of the naked statue of Havis Amanda, a lady that became the symbol of the city. The party continues with champagne and balloons in parks and bars all night. Saturday morning at seven Finnish and Swedish choirs give concerts in various parks, then, regardless of weather, people look for spots in the central park, for the traditional champagne picnic with the compulsory potato salad.

It is a weekend full of glee and energy, where telephone lines are blocked by the crowd’s calls, where police patrols are multiplied and the state monopoly of alcohol very satisfied with the sales. A deserved awakening to life after long and dark winter, that usually happens without major headaches nor for the police, neither for the crowd- except from too much bubbly.