What Even is Carnival? A '17s Perspective
Winter Carnival starts in a couple of days, and considering that we ’17s did not have the typical Homecoming experience, I feel like I should be extra excited for the upcoming weekend. But to be honest, I’m not quite sure what the fuss is all about. Many moons ago, when I first found out about Winter Carnival, I couldn’t get over how counterintuitive it seemed to get over the “winter blues” by doing as many snow-related activities in a day as humanly possible.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve actually grown quite fond of the cold and am looking forward to another three-day weekend. But the bitterness of always seeing people from high school post on Facebook about their snow days has made me feel like Winter Carnival is Dartmouth’s way of saying “Here’s one epic snow day so you shut up about the ‘daily struggle of walking to class.’”
As it turns out, I’m not the only ’17 who is somewhat unenthused by the upcoming weekend. I’ve been asking other ’17s what it is about Winter Carnival that they’re looking forward to, and answers have ranged from “It’s just a normal weekend” to “Are there any educational activities?” Even before we’ve even experienced it, many ’17s consider the main benefits of Winter Carnival to be cancelled classes and a couple extra hours of sleep.
I feel like we would be more excited if we had a better idea of what to expect. Some might argue that it’s exciting to not know exactly what’s going to happen but after getting my econ midterm back today, I’m kind of over the whole “element of surprise” thing. Although ’17s don’t know exactly what to expect, we are still bracing ourselves for the critical advances in our levels of self-awareness as we wonder, “How much joy do I get from looking at a giant chair?”
The polar bear plunge seems to be the only thing that ’17s really associate with Winter Carnival. I will probably end up taking the plunge for the heck of it, but there is something quite unnerving about seeing people voluntarily jump into freezing cold water. Kind of how I couldn’t help but feel there was something slightly demonic about hundreds of kids running around a massive fire. But tradition’s tradition, so what can you do?