The lunch at Walpurgis is a celebration of the wonder that is pickled herring. Served with potaties, sour cream and chives, various kinds of pickled herring form the basis of a thousand luncheon parties in Uppsala on the last day of April. Children, brothers-in-law, foreigners and other sensitive people may be excused from the herring; it is a pity though, for it really is very nice fare. It is also traditional to drink schnapps, and this is where the singing comes in: for each toast, a ditty is sung; just about everybody knows the more common schnapps songs, and learning new ones is always a fun pastime if your tastes lean in that direction.

Now, the most important event of the day takes place below the university library at 3pm. Tens of thousands of people gather in the street and all the way down the hill, as well as on Castle hill and the street leading to the Cathedral. On the stroke of 3, the university chancellor, who is standing on the library balcony, waves his white student cap; his greeting is returned by the sea of people below waving their caps for a minute or two and then putting them on. All of a sudden the brown, blonde, black throng of heads turns into a mass of white; it is really quite extraordinary. For me, this moment is when spring arrives, regardless of how warm it has been in the preceding weeks or if it is snowing on the day…

You have donned your white cap; now where do you go? There are two alternatives: you can join the mass of students running down the library hill towards the centre of town (”running” may not be the best word for it — it is an inexorably moving mass of humanity, the pace is slow but they are not to be stopped; this is the ‘champagne race’ to the student pubs) or you can join the more sober crowd going to listen to the male choir Orphei Drängar greeting spring in the auditorium. You won’t get a seat inside, but there are huge loudspeakers outside the university building, and the court in front of it fills with cheerful people all intent on hearing the traditional, well-worn but well-loved songs for an hour or so.

Tomorrow: The evening’s festivities — and the reverse of the medal.