Culture night

The dawn of winter starts with a culture night in Uppsala, probably because people realize that the weather, from now on will only get more unpredictable. Culture night or as the Swedes correctly spell it with a 'K', is a day entirely dedicated to celebration of wordly cultures. Great food, musical gigs and roadblocks are set all around Stora Torget ( the absolute city centre of Uppsala).

An aerial view of Uppsala on that day might only shock some as the not so crowded town seems to be filled with a horde of human populus, only dressed in their vibrant clothing and attires. One like myself, wondered then, how dynamic is Uppsala actually with the play in numbers. Summer, its almost a ghost town, and come fall, its not just students, but, people of varying age groups. All I am saying is one could easily get claustrophobic on that day.

A little trivia on Culture night-  its celebrated on the second saturday of every september since 1989, managed by culltural workers, institutions, amateurs and other organisations. A way of showing how important cultures are, in our lives. Many show of their artistic work handled by the organisation- brass orchestras marching, knights on horses, fire juggling/knights tournament. Its also a chance for Uppsala to flaunt its traditional landmarks to the visitors from all over- the largest cathedral in Scandinavia, oldest botanical garden ( the garden of Linnaeus, founded by Carl von Linne). The university library of Carolina Rediviva with the Silver Bible, Uppsala castle dating right back from the 1500s and the anatomical theatre at Museum Gustavianum from the 1600s. Pretty rich in culture.

For me, it was more like a day to take great pictures, walk with swarm of friends I made recently and just enjoy the lively-ness of my favourite town. A tour of my pictures will show you how versatile the culture shows were.

Right by the lamp post in the dead centre that makes Stora torget was a ring with a "Uncle Sam wants you" like poster only advertising the school of Muay Thai.

A digital timetable for those who hate carrying a printed sheet of the iternarary of the evening.

Some roads were blocked by stages and the supporitng crowd. This one in particular were playing Brazilian music with the drums and tunes from the Brazilian carnival.

Yes, some dancers were in unbelivably revealing two-pieces.

Picture on top is that of a stall selling ice cream and donuts while the one on the left is that of a stall with colourful exotic  cakes.

 Candle stall with perfumed wax.

Capoeira, the Brazilian form of dancing/martial arts. For some reason, it felt like the Uppsalites were really fond of Brazil. Could it be the revealing attire, they stand for/with ;). Makes you wonder many things.

Picture from Knights tournament and fire juggling. Most acts were impressive except when the experts took a break and two amateurs showed on stage with sheils and a fire mace hitting each other. That can only be described as a act of retardation, by many.

There were mini concerts that were set up all over town, waiting for the dark to set in to show off with their beaming conglomerate of lightwork.

Their music however, attracted dedicated crowds. This one on the right was real popular with a crowd of no more than 14 year olds. A music I would call Pop rock. Still better than a stage that was death metal or 'rant-for-song' bands that can only invoke severe headaches. 

There were also a band in the city centre whose music was ok but made better pictures.

In all, a very fantastic saturday that only concluded with a beer binge at Flogsta with mates I met after a long time. All thanks to culture night, I got in touch with my beer drinking culture after a rather long interlude.

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