What is Valborg and why do they celebrate it in Sweden?

What is Valborg? Valborgsmassafton a.k.a Walpurgis Night – in English, falls on the 30th of April (last day). All major cities within Sweden celebrate Valborg annually. It is one of the look-forward-to days on the Swedish calendar. If the city has a University then at a 99% confident interval, it will have a special event for it.

Written by Joseph Mukama

Why do they celebrate Valborg in Sweden? 

Like with many other ‘big’ days, Valborg in Sweden is the evening before that counts most. For students in Sweden, April 30th is so important because the school term is soon ending. For employees, many workplaces offer a half working day. Whichever way it is, it marks the end of winter, the start of spring and the hope of summer.

What happens during Valborg in Sweden?

Valborgmässoafton literally translates to ‘Valborgs fair evening’ and -as you may have not guessed- different cities celebrate it differently. It is not a one-size-fits-all even though there are commonalities, obviously. It is celebrated with bonfires and singing traditional songs, laughing away the winter while giving props to the spring season. One may argue that ‘sometimes April looks like summer’. Well, let’s keep conserving the environment because it was never the case in earlier years.

Valborg in Gothenburg (Göteborg)

The main (or most interesting) event is planned and organised as a carnival, Chalmerscortègen, by the students of Chalmers University. The planning takes more than a month with a lot of work within the parking area. The same one song plays on replay, minute after minute, week after week. Anyway, this is a must-watch as several exhibitions drive-by on trucks along the streets of Gothenburg. There is a lot of fun and humour derived from events and occurrences from the past 12 months, worldwide.

There is a carnival in Lund but it is so precious that they organise it only once in 4 years. For Valborg, the city organises traditional music shows and historical tellings about the event, in the city’s main park, Stadsparken. It gets more interesting in this predominantly student city, that it goes without saying that beer – öl (learn this word) – is a very important ingredient of the celebrations. In fact öl -beer is where the heart is on Valborg. There are pre-parties on the day before, the morning of the day, during the event and after. Anyway, the evening wraps up with a massive bonfire.

And after the Valborgmässoafton?

Like many other events that involve a good amount of beer, it is a ‘what-happens-in-Vegas-stays-in-Vegas‘ kind of thing. People go to bars or have corridor parties.

About the Author

Kodheyo banna! Joseph here. I moved some years back to Gothenburg for studies from Uganda, the ‘Pearl of Africa’ located in East Africa. I later moved to Lund/Malmö for work. I am married, and I love meeting people, nature, and physical activities. I like to read books and try out new things. My favourite Swedish word is beroendeframkallande. Hoping to share interesting moments with you all.