Party in full notion

Stockholm, Sweden

Would you survive a Swedish winter? Thank Thor, pray to the Gods.

     By pure Scandinavian summer's luck, we booked the Stockholm flight during the week-long celebrations for National Day of Sweden. In a country existing without war for two hundred years, National Day commemorates neither a revolution, a battle victory, or any king's birthday in particular --- it is simply a day called off work to celebrate the nation-state body. 

     On that weekend too, the Swedish princess would marry a New York City banker on live public television. Across the country, this first week of June also marked the end of the school season.

 Roaming, wandering, and people-watching across three free open-air festivals of reggae, electronic, and hip hop beats, the Stockholm summer streets breathed a new bustling life outside the everyday's dominant working, buying and consuming cycle. 

After a long winter of darkness, who would not want to celebrate something?

[In Anthropology 101, they will tell you: Culture is Ritual. Too distracted and too amused, my fieldwork notes on ritual life were left scattered in fragments of celebratory content.]

The green of the trees, the blue of the water, 

the openness of space all takes on new hues 

boundaries of time open the gates of access.

[Energy    expenditure    follows    a    cycle    ,invest, reserve,use;

CARNIVAL IS THE EXPLOSION OF SURPLUS, radicalpracticeofresourcesreleased] 

 Traditional holidays, festivals, fiestas, celebrations impress signification onto the transforming immediate reality by inviting collective participation in the present moments of revelry. 
Come all, come drunk! they say.

[By the Afro-Caribbean drum circle, a diverse array of drums djmebes basses shakers tambourines cow bells banging away sound waves at the speed of muscular movement on shaking arms gyrating hips stomping feet calling eyes ears and skeletons to come out of the closet into the streets onto the grass a nation-state capital's peoples lose ties and high heels for some dirty beats. Pause and repeat.]

[dance 2 minimal tekno under a bridge]

 

[milk the cow of tradition]

[Swedish high school students engage in the graduation tradition of collectively congregating in the back of a big decorated truck as it is driven around the city streets blasting loud party music and throwing beer on the streets. True story. See and hear more here.]

This high school graduation truck is hashtagged
#dickinyourass #swag #student2013
So. Much. Respect?

Around 10pm when the DJ completed its set
and the sun had yet to set

[The carnival spirit, the goddess of life openly worshiped. Ancient and modern moments of cultural artistic productions reproduced. The conditions of festival space-time. The institutional media marking of tradition. Drop to your feet, your knees, drop everything, to the beat of time.]

How will any of this ever make sense to anyone? Who cares? --- Let's party.