The Cortège ( sv, Cortègen), or The Chalmers Cortège (Swedish: ''Chalmerscortègen'') is an annual

carnival parade Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

held on

Walpurgis Night Walpurgis Night (), an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German ), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve (alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve), is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in ...

(30 April) by students of the

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology ( sv, Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers) is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. The Cortège consists of around 1000 students and around 50

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

s, each carriage depicting—in a satirical and comic way—significant events that have taken place since the previous parade. The procession makes its way through the city centre, where it is seen by around 250,000 people each year.

History

Before the first Cortège was arranged, students at Chalmers walked the streets with one foot on the pavement and one foot in the

gutter Gutter may refer to: Water discharge structures * Rain gutter, used on roofs and in buildings * Street gutter, for drainage of streets Design and printing * Gutter, in typography, the space between columns of printed text * Gutter, in bookbi ...

each year on 30 April, the day when Chalmers students traditionally exchange their black

student cap In various European countries, student caps of different types are, or have been, worn either as a marker of a common identity, as is the case in the Nordic countries, or to identify the wearer as a member of a smaller body within the larger gr ...

s for white caps. In 1909, the students decided to gather all the horse carriages in the city to travel the distance they usually walked. The next year, the

Chalmers Students' Union Chalmers Student Union (''Chalmers Studentkår'' or ChS) is the students' union, student union at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Its primary purpose is to look after the interests of the students of the university in que ...

decided to organize a parade of student culture jokes. In the year 1911 a

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

, ''Chalmers Cortège Committé'' (CCC), was created to organize the whole procession. The current cortège is organised by the Chalmers Cortège Committee (CCC) and dates back to 1920. On 7 April this year, a group of road and water engineers decided to celebrate their final exams by hiring carriages and taking a trip to Slottsskogen. There, they circled up to a food stall and attracted a lot of attention on the way. In those days there was already a tradition of Valborg - the Chalmerists marched every year on 30 April in a long line along Vasagatan with one foot on the pavement and the other in the gutter in connection with the so-called springtime "mösspåtagning" (i.e. the day they put on - and still put on - the white tophat). This time, horse-drawn carriages were used and the destination was once again Slottsskogen. In 1923, the cortège began to acquire its current features, where various phenomena were guessed, and from 1927 and annually at the same time, the cortège departed regularly. Ever since, except for 1912 due to exam scheduling conflicts, as well as 1940 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, CCC has arranged The Cortège. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the 2020 edition was cancelled.

References

* Chalmers Cortège Committé (n.d.)
Chalmers Cortège Committé
Retrieved 29 Apr., 2006.

External links

Cortège history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortege Chalmers University of Technology Parades in Sweden Student culture Walpurgis Night traditions