First full C-Sunday since 2019 goes off with a bang

The Tab heads to Jesus Green for one last pre-exam party


Caesarean Sunday, first founded 80 years ago via a now-banned wrestling contest between two drinking societies, took place yesterday (01/05/22). The ceremonies took full advantage of the day’s blissful lack of rain, COVID restrictions, and disapproving emails from Senior Tutors, Vice-Chancellors, or relatives that read the Daily Mail.

A truly diverse ecosystem

The event – wherein thousands of students gather at Jesus Green to day drink and hold drinking society initiations before the revision grind – has been controversial in the past for reasons such as public disturbance, litter, breach of COVID restrictions (in 2021’s event), public urination, ill-advised drunken stunts, and a student dressed as a sheep that got set on fire.

You can take the rowers out of the river, but you can’t take the river out of the rowers

Nonetheless, this year’s rites seemed to go off without any major incidents. Students were full of good cheer, booze, colourful costumes, and deep-rooted denial about impending exams.

Highlights included fruit-themed sumo suits, cheerleading pyramids, a person climbing a lamp-pole, inflatable boats let onto the Cam, people dressed as a variety of animals, and an interview booth with a sign reading “Cambridge students are just stupid. Change my mind.”

The finest armour cardboard has to offer

Picnic blankets, Doritos, speakers, and inflatable gear dotted the landscape as drinking societies emerged from their burrows like inebriated squirrels greeting the first flush of spring. The queue for the toilets stretched into the horizon and the grating whistle of chunder formed a scenic melody with the sweet, summer breeze.

People of all sorts urinated in the bushes (The Tab does not endorse this) as nearby cafes barred their doors to anyone that looked student-ish.

Neon proved a popular colour choice across the board

Revellers arrived at the Green in waves – the first soldiers beginning to drink at dawn with the bulk of the horde arriving around 3 p.m. Gentle waves of exodus began around 5 p.m. but others chose this time to arrive at the event, using it as pre-drinks before a night out.

Interviews with a range of attendees revealed a general relief at the lifting of COVID restrictions, dread of exams, and exuberant enjoyment of the sunshine, spectacle, and atmosphere.

Applied physics

Those who were at the university last year will remember the famous ‘slap in the face’ email by Vice-Chancellor Stephen Toope that harshly condemned those that celebrated C-Sunday 2021 in breach of COVID restrictions. Fortunately for everyone involved, this year’s event was far more uncontroversial.

No colleges made a serious attempt to thwart student attendance, perhaps feeling that undergraduates deserved a good time after a hard few years.

Spot the fluttering fairy

Sergeant Kevin Misik, one of the 6 police officers supervising the event, commented that although “2500 people and booze is a combination that needs some watching”, he is “okay” with the event as long as “people don’t do things that stop other people from using the space or do something stupid or illegal.”

Sergeant Kevin (left) with his colleague (right) that consented to the photograph but chose to remain unnamed

He also shared that he had “been doing this longer than most people have been at university” and that he had been “stopping people from peeing in public as long as I can remember”.

Of course, no C-Sunday would be complete without Daily Mail photographers in search of a headline. Watching the chaos at the fringes with Sergeant Misik and his colleagues was a Daily Mail photographer with a large camera. When approached for interview by The Tab, he declined forcefully and appeared amused by the request. 

All image credits author’s own.

Feature image credits author’s own and Camfess

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