It’s the last day of reading period. The night before finals begins – and around midnight, hundreds of students stream into Old Yard, lining the paths, huddled in masses. Mind you, it is 20 degrees out and with the exception of the paths, the Yard is covered in snow. People seem to be in merry spirits – unusually relaxed and jovial, especially just hours before the grim testing period begins.

People filing into the Yard.

People are bantering, wearing long coats and gloves. Tourists abound, milling around. The clock strikes 12, and a few minutes later, someone besides you yells, “They’re coming!”

Then you hear the thundering footsteps, the yelling and shouting. You make out in the distance under the buttery lamps what looks to be a stampede. Then you look closer. They’re cavorting about, with no clothes on. Full-on birthday suits: and there’s hundreds of them.

Ah, here they come (Censored for your virgin eyes – with Crimson colors of course). This is pretty hardcore if you think about it. It’s freezing cold outside, and really – you take EVERYTHING off (There were HUNDREDS of them – more than I expected). I’m sure there is definitely a huge adrenaline rush though.

Here we are, at one of the oldest insitutitions in the United States, school to John F. Kennedy, T.S. Eliot, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and you – you innocent bystander, are finding yourself in the midst of a burgeoning nudist colony. Oh the ironies. And how fitting.

Yes, last night was the famed Primal Scream. However, Primal Scream, here at Harvard, is less “scream” and more “primal.” Yes, people still do scream, but mostly they just take off their clothes and run around.

It is a spectacle to behold, I tell you, but after about half a second, you are no longer fazed by the nudity (if that is shocking at all). People running by in the dark – it all blurs together and you try to keep your eyes on… heads anyway. Of course, there was that one guy who decided to slow down to a walk, scribble “FREE HUGS” across his chest, and stroll gallantly down the path – fully self-aware and apparently very self-confident in the way his body is proportioned. I wished that he would move a little faster down the path.

And then sometimes you recognize a face or two (i.e. a friend from my backpacking trip (who I unwittingly got a picture of…, an entire suite of guys from my floor, etc.)… and you tell yourself, “I really did NOT need to see that!”

There’s something about tradition that is so grand – no matter how lewd the act is. The repetition of things that ties into history and across generations of human beings… there is something special about that. This tradition especially – is just plainly amusing and entertaining…and of course ridiculous. I love it, despite not being (and probably not ever being) a participant.

(**uncensored** analog pictures here: 1, 2, **photo removed by request**, 4 – it’s not all fun & games… let your eyes be prepared; they may need some rest afterwards. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)