Thread by @drjosephjmurray

My 2nd all-nighter as a #Russebil driver for my teen’s #russegruppe Here’s a (charmed +astonished) USA Dad’s #THREAD of the one month-long #Russefeiring graduation party for Norwegian🇳🇴seniors. Here are my stories from...inside the van!

1st- the iconic red vans. Rich kids in cities pay +100.000kr (per person)for a bus but here in #Hallingdal vans are 1st choice. Old Dodge or Chrysler vans from the 80s = 🥰 #DadNostalgia- manual odometers!! Side stick shifts! “Power” steering! “Power” Windows!

The kids buy ‘em from last years seniors, paint them in their names, w/ a group name/logo, wire up light and sound systems, and basically get a mobile party base ready for the month.

They wear #russedrakt - mostly red or blue, a tradition that started 1905 w/caps. Outfits are decorated w names/logos and caps are used in a “knot” system, knots given by meeting challenges. Some are 🤣, some are 🤪 a few are 🤨 (Dad talking here)

Age-old teen code dictate vans drive around looking for each other, but there’s also designated meeting places. Here it’s the lot outside the county high school. Each area has a #Russeråd a student-led group that runs things. #Russ are 18+, over the legal drinking age here

When we’re not parked, we “rulle” - drive around while the #RUSS2021 group parties in the back. Norwegian springs have short nights so they usually start and end when it’s bright out, rulling from ~10pm to ~7am. (This photo @ 4 am ...)

My 1st time out, I expected..wildness. But the kids (here) are alright! They watch for each other, they party but...let’s just say the vans are from the USA 80s but (fortunately for my Dad nerves) the partying sure as heck ain’t. There’s loud music (My body is vibrating now) but

#RUSS2021 is a socially accepted + regulated party rooted in multiple cultural mores. The vans? Worked on by #russ groups with #dugnadsånd + sponsored by local businesses. The #Russeråd ? They help enforce local #covid19 regulations among their peers. And the police?

When the #politi approached me, I typed out on my phone (I’m deaf) “do you want me to take a puff?” (in a breath analyzer). They calmly wrote back, “No, just keep your group together due to COVID. And thanks for cleaning up your trash”. Calm, non-confrontational, pleasant.

Now it’s not all roses with every group everywhere in Norway. But by and large this month-long #Russefeiring seems to mostly... just work? Why? My guess is

1. From preschool on, people are taught collaboration and to work towards consensus (My kid spent 1st grade in a US school and came home asking why his classmate yanked away a paper for a group project instead of them collaborating towards the same goal).

2. Social acceptance of this tradition w/updates as needed (see consensus, above). I’m driving tonight because designated drivers were required from the 90s on, paired with strict drinking laws. And the kids follow the law to the T, paying for drivers so they can party safely

Obviously Dad isn’t getting paid- (I’m doing this to sneak in as many pictures of my kid as I can!) I’m not sure how many other parents drive? Anyone else out there? (#Russevett driver tips: wool socks, a full coffee thermos and an e-reader go a long way for an all-nighter).

As a USA Dad I was 🤔of what seemed at 1st 👀to be a month-long binge, but what I saw was a microcosm of #Norway: pride in a cultural practice w/ broad consensus on boundaries + shared understanding of a collective responsibility to uphold the good side of this tradition. #Rulle!

Update: got home 7.45 am + 10 hours later, the 2 #Russ assigned cleanup are here to muck out the van +prep for tonight’s #rulling This is the big night: an all nighter followed by a full day of #17Mai Norwegian national holiday parades/events. (No, Dad’s not driving tonight! 😅)

The kids have been up all night, had a champagne breakfast, joined in the #17Mai parade around town + just drafted me on the spot to take the day shift as driver. They’ve still going strong 20 hours after they began! #youth! 🙌🏼🙌🏼 #russ2021