Walpurgis Night is celebrated in many European countries on night of 30 April and the day of 1 May. For example, in Estonia, Volbriöö is an important and widespread celebration of the arrival of spring in the country. It is celebrated throughout the night of 30 April, and 1 May is a public holiday called “Spring Day” (Kevadpüha). In Finland, Walpurgis night (Vappu) is one of the four biggest holidays along with Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Walpurgis witnesses the biggest carnival-style festival held in Finland’s cities and towns. In Czech Republic huge bonfires are built and burnt in the evening, preferably on top of hills to celebrate coming spring.
Valborg, as this celebration is called in Swedish, also marks the arrival of spring. The forms of celebration vary in different parts of the country and between different cities. Walpurgis celebrations are not a family occasion but rather a public event. Celebrations normally include lighting the bonfire, choral singing and a speech to honour the arrival of the spring season, often held by a local celebrity.
IMFSE students also joined evening celebration in Lund and we were feeling as we are a part of the big friendly community, participating in the huge gathering in Stadsparken. That day park was visited by around 30,000 people. The police and the municipality have been working on the preparations since the turn of the year. People were celebrating coming spring from the early morning, and the festivity epically finished in the evening by the huge bonfire.
In one of her blogs, Farah has already told that though fire can be a source of joy and celebration, we as Fire Safety Engineers know about the danger of it. So usually we are always highly concerned about fire safety in the public places, and and this time we also paid a lot of attention to adherence of safety rules. Discovered that everything is fine, everyone is standing at the good distance from fire, and fire extinguishers are on their place, we started celebration of our first Valborg in Sweden!
IMFSE 