Who are the Norwegian students called russ? And the polemic last year.

For us foreigners it may be difficult to understand this celebration called russ in Norway. I think it was an interesting celebration.

What. Russ celebration is a traditional Norwegian celebration among high school students after their final exams in the last semester. They celebrate like there’s no tomorrow. They also get to parade on 17th of May, Norway’s national day.

When. It usually happens in end of April, beginning of May.

Where. All Norway. Nowadays, many students rent a bus to party. It’s expensive. Many teenagers save money and split the payment.

Outfits. They wear cool jumpers (red or blue) that they customize themselves. The jumpers are to be worn every day in this period, without washing. It’s a way to celebrate and to be distinguished in the society.

Curiosity. The youngsters distribute visit cards to anyone on the streets. These cards are specially popular among small children, who collect as many different cards as possible. Though some slogans are not child friendly at all.

Polemic: Last year, in 2021, more than 1500 students were partying. During the pandemic. When Stavanger is in a red level. While most people have been in home offices for over a year. And not all health professionals have gotten their second dose of vaccine. No teacher has been vaccinated yet while they get exposed every single day at work. Most grandparents haven’t hugged their beloved ones for over a year. No, I don’t understand this party in May 2021. A couple of days later, seventy nine of these students got tested positive for Covid-19. The Stavanger municipality has determined that all those who have attended that party will stay in quarantine until they get negative results for Corona test. That means countless workers at schools and kindergartens. Exactly now that we’re in red level and each teacher or assistent is responsible for 14 kids all alone. No, I don’t understand parents to these russ saying: that poor thing. It’s their only chance to be russ. And it got worse. On May 17th, the National Day, many large groups of russ were also caught partying in Kristiansand, Bergen and other cities. Now there’s an outburst of positive tests for Covid-19 in Kritstiansand: most of them directly connected to the russ. In case you think we’re exaggerating.

This is my position. I know some russ who are young and sweet only 18, who love to party and are doing it in small fixed groups. It may be unfair and understandable that teenagers feel the urge to get social, but all population must put on an effort. It’s dugnad for all. Check dugnad in Norway here. As well as I don’t understand Brazilians partying on weekends in bars, without the masks. As well as I don’t understand why people must party while this pandemic isn’t over. I wonder if people partied during World War II. The government had allowed the students to party in a limited group, with one meter distance. The problem was that they didn’t respect that and wanted to party big.They disregarded the corona pandemic anti infection measures. Regarding to the vaccine program in Norway, they’ve moved up the younger in queue. Now, 18 year-olds will get the vaccine before the 30-year olds. That’s how serious this is.

Cover picture by By Peulle – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79403876