Krakow is full of events, and the past weekend was no exception. I was very lucky to attend not only one, but two parades!
The first one was a student parade to kick off Juwenalia—an annual weekend-long students’ holiday. The first ever Juwenalia was celebrated in Krakow in 15th century; nowadays, these festivals take place in universities and colleges all over Poland. They always take place in the beginning of June before the summer session of exams begins. So this is the last chance to party before studying for finals!
Leading up to the Friday of Juwenalia the weather was quite un-festive: gloomy, cold, rainy. I almost thought of not going, but in the end decided to give it a shot, and boy was I glad that I did! This was a student parade like I’ve never seen before! First of all, it was huge-it wasn’t just the Jagiellonian University, but students from all universities joining up for the festivities. On this chilly morning, thousands of students came out to participate, and once we started walking, it felt like our rowdy crowd was invading the whole city.
Second: the costumes. I cannot express how impressed I was by the costumes. This was like Halloween on steroids. Almost every single person was dressed up (I felt so out of place in my boring grey sweater!), and many of the costumes were very elaborate. It was obvious that the students put a lot of creativity, time, and effort into making them, and now it was their time to shine!
Aladdin and Jasmine on the magic (self-driving) carpet
The Titanic couple. My favorite moment – not pictured – when the guy in the front spread out his arms, recreating the iconic scene
Juwenalia takes over the city!
It was a long procession, full of music, laughter, chants, and a lot of jumping up and down! Finally, we had arrived in the city center, where a stage was set up for the festival, and the concert began. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay longer, but I was told that the concert would conclude with another tradition—the mayor handing over to the students the keys to the gates of Krakow. Even without witnessing this event though, it was clear to me: students rule this city!
The day after, there was another event scheduled: a pride parade. This march was smaller in scale, and quieter. Before the walk started, there were some proclamations from the little make-shift stage which I did not understand (again, my Polish is not there yet!), but they sounded quite somber, so I imagine there was some focus on the work and the struggle still ahead for the LGBTQ community. As we walked through the streets, we were greeted both with smiling faces and some confused and angry looks, and even with some conservative protesters. When some chanting and angry yelling broke out between the pride parade and the protesters, I started to understand why the march was accompanied by so many police officers.
The colorful parade gathers in front of the National Museum
The head of the procession: a big rainbow flag and a truck with speakers and balloons
Lots of police at the event
The parades were quite different—one silly and fun, the other more serious and significant. But both gave me the same sense of community as I joined into the colorful, diverse, seemingly mismatched crowds; I was proud to walk in both.