It is Russ (roos) season in Oslo.
Russ is a month of revelry for high school graduates in Norway. They are granted carte blanche on partying through the town for the week, a sort of right of passage for completing an important life mile stone.
Russ in Oslo follows a similar format in the part of town I live in:
- Teenagers are dressed in red or blue overalls with all sorts of badges sewn into them
- They form small clans
- The rent specially recycled Russ busses (tour coaches), and paint and decorate the busses with their clan’s colours
- The busses are fitted with high end club-like audio systems
- They drive around town all week playing very loud music, getting pissed and stoned, dancing and fucking
- It goes on 24/7 in many neighbourhoods, one being mine
Russ is an annual tradition and a Norwegian cultural phenomenon with roots in medieval carnival traditions.
In all, I am bit envious. We had nothing like this in Canada, though during high school, we spent many weekends achieving the same result.
As annoying as it is to be woken from a perfectly good sleep, I am not bothered, the kids deserve it.
I am more tempted to throw my clothes on and join the party.
Beaverboosh
N.B. Thanks for the corrections Sunflower!
