All Together Now: Celebrations Heal - Alex Enaholo

Idon’t know about you, but when the clubs opened after eighteen months of pandemic misery, I was first in line. After eighteen months which objectively lacked in fun, the only thing I wanted to do was put on my dancing shoes and let loose. I feel most people are the same: everyone wants to enjoy themselves, if not in HIVE then at the theatre, or the football or TRNSMT. Essentially, after something so horrible as a pandemic, once the healing has begun, everyone wants to celebrate.

This is not a new phenomenon; for eons humans have used festivals to signify the end of dark times and begin the healing process. Clearly, there is something for everyone in a celebration of art, culture, and good times. However, these celebrations, especially when they happen near tragedies, can be viewed as disrespectful. Detractors feel that celebrating amounts to rubbing it in the faces of those who have lost, or ignoring the problems faced by our society in favour of debauchery. For COVID, this argument takes on an extra relevance as the risks are not yet completely gone. As our festivals pose the possibility of spreading the very issue that we are trying to recover from, how can celebrations help us to heal?

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are the event which perhaps best typifies this debate. Previous Olympic Games have always been jubilant and lively affairs; while the run up to the Tokyo Games was met with muted fanfare and even protests within Japan. As the nation’s intensive care wards filled and it became clear that no spectators would be able to attend, huge questions had to be asked about whether the games should go ahead. Ultimately, they did, and were met with great success for the host nation who achieved their highest ever medal tally and the global TV audiences were some of the highest ever achieved by the games.

Overall, while the event did have issues, especially around athletes missing out on the competition due to isolation, and the lack of additional tourists to Tokyo, it definitely marked a turning point in the pandemic globally and served as a beacon of hope for the international aspect of Covid recovery.

Closer to home, the Edinburgh festivals made a much more tentative return, with a mixture of outdoor shows and online events. As the event involves performers from across the globe, small ad-hoc venues and an audience mostly made up of tourists, it was clear that any festival which did take place would be miniscule in comparison to previous years. And while many of the outdoor performances did take place with sell-out crowds, Edinburgh lacked the usual electric atmosphere this August with far fewer street performers and art installations. The festivals felt more like a eulogy to what had been rather than a signal of what is to come. Still, with bigger and brighter things promised for next year’s EIF and Fringe, there is hope for the future.

On Campus, 2021 freshers week marked the welcoming of new first years, but equally the celebration of all things Glasgow Uni and the return of students to the West End. The inclusion of a wider slate of daytime events for all students as well as the return of HIVE allowed the Uni community to feel much more whole again; there is no feeling like seeing everyone you know in Beer Bar or eating unreasonable amounts of free Domino’s at the freshers fair. While there is a way to go in terms of on-campus teaching and the added issues of the accommodation shortage, I feel that freshers week marked a turning point; Glasgow University finally feels like my Uni again.

Clearly, all three of these celebrations, although vastly different in scale and success, have one thing in common; they all mark the beginning of better times. In spite of the tragedies of the past eighteen months and the continuing problems of covid, they have managed to unite communities both local and global. Festivals undoubtedly have a role to play in the recovery from Covid-19, and so long as we are careful, we can continue to re-unite through festivals and celebration.

by Alex Enaholo