Every fourth year, thousands of students come together to create the most spectacular event Lund has to offer: Lundakarnevalen. It is everything a carnival is, unlimited cotton candy, lots of music, and show, but in the spirit of the student curiosity. In other words, you must expect the most unexpected and be prepared to be surprised. You never know what is coming during Lundakarnevalen, and luckily enough, it is just around the corner!
This year, nearly 8000 students in Lund volunteered to be a part of the carnival. Never before have so many people been involved in the history of Lundakarnevalen. In a matter of fact, the Lundakarneval is the second-largest co-current non-profit event in the world after the Olympics. This proves all the effort and energy that goes into organizing this major event. The question remaining is, why? Why do so many people dedicate so much time to this event? Let’s take it from the beginning!
Lundakarnevalen originates from a spring festival that was held in May during the 19th century, but the first official Lundakarnevalen was in 1849 when students from Smålandsnation walked, dressed to resemble a farmer’s wedding, all the way from Lund to Lilla Råby. This can be considered the predecessor of the train, which is one of the main events of the carnival today. Since then, the carnival has developed to what we know the carnival to be today! But interesting enough, the reason why we only organize this event every fourth year and not every year, is that in 1892 the carnival degenerated when too many people drank a bit too much, and the festivities were canceled the following four years.
The first-ever carnival theme to be introduced was “Grekiska thronens försäljning” in 1863, directly translated to “the Greek thrones market”. Ever since then, new creative themes have embossed the festivities, such as Skandalkarneval, Bergochdalkarneval, and Kriminalkarneval. This year’s theme is “catastrophe”, which is a rather fitting theme if one thinks of the turbulence of the latest couple of years, but also because of the chaotic and unpredictable events and obstacles that the sections already have faced; surly the phrase “Well, it is the Katastrofalkarneval after all” has been used smoothly.
So, prepare yourselves for a wild and fun weekend between the 20th and 22nd of May this year! Visit the tents and games and cheer on the train passing through the streets of Lund. Sign up for all the fun activities such as the Circus, Revyn and Spexet, if you want to laugh, and dance to the famous Swedish artist Måns Zelmelöw. And do not forget to buy karnedaler that are used to play games in the tombolas and tents, you can already buy them at Stortorget. Let’s make sure that this catastrophic carnival is unforgettable and write new pages in the history book. The year 1863 does not stand a chance against 2022!
