Not only for stress relief, I experienced the Harvard students naked run in the United States

Long ago, I heard from a friend that Harvard undergraduates (mainly first-year students) will hold a traditional midnight group *run* in Harvard Gardens before the final exams - running two laps screaming to relax the nerves of the brain, which is already extremely tense.

In the U.S. university study, a lot of pressure, Harvard Chinese Students and Scholars Association President Guo told me that Harvard seventy percent of the students are suffering from varying degrees of depression, he was in office in the two years, every year to visit the hospital because of the stress of learning too much mental disorders of Chinese students.

Can *Ben really reduce stress? If a student isn't afraid of *Ben, what's a final exam? The tradition of *Ben has survived, and has become one of Harvard's great anecdotes.

The screams were heard all over Harvard Park

This semester's *Running* started at 12 midnight on May 17th. A few friends and I went to watch the action, and saw students preparing for the *run* heading toward the Harvard Gardens starting point in twos and threes, looking relaxed, some in their robes, some wrapped in large towels, and most barefoot and wearing sneakers.

Fifteen minutes before the start of the *run*, we arrived at the bronze statue of Harvard in Harvard Gardens, which was already packed with spectators, many with cameras or video cameras in hand. Twenty to thirty students dressed in costume band members surrounded the Harvard bronze statue, a handsome man in a kilt climbed nearly two high Harvard bronze statue of the base, standing tall in front of the "Mr. Harvard", and vigorously directing the band to play a variety of exciting music, for the * run "warm-up! ". A tall boy in a bathrobe holds up a sign with the name of a piece of music, and as he changes the sign, so does the content of the band's music. Between plays, the band members let out collective bursts of screams.

It was cold in Harvard Gardens, and while those who ran were naked, those who watched were wrapped up tight.

A whistle blew, more than a hundred people * Ben team from the Harvard Garden end of the screaming rushed over, men and women, a large white mass of silhouettes from the eyes of the rapid flash. The students attending the *run were all very excited, although naked, many of them were still dressed up as if they were attending a grand ball: some wore black bowler hats, black silk scarves tied around their necks, sunglasses, and held a cane in their hands; some painted their bodies in a variety of colors; a tall black student, with a pair of white cherub's wings on his body, mimicked the angelic appearance in the *run spreading his arms, his black skin mirroring the white wings.

After the first lap, many of the students lost their strength and slowed down, and some of them simply started to walk instead of run. Individuals were actually quite shy, but even so, they insisted on walking the entire distance in full view of everyone. More students seem to Harvard Gardens as a catwalk, showing themselves to the audience: three girls neatly wearing sports caps, sunglasses, holding cigarettes, holding hands and smiling through; a group of boys holding up large cups in the form of drinking; three boys pacing, frequently posing in a variety of gentlemanly poses ......

In less than 20 minutes, the exuberant *Ben team and band disappeared into the Harvard Park night. A Chinese student said that some of the * running students will next go to the library to sympathize with their classmates who are studying hard there. I asked why I hadn't seen any Asian students at the *Run. She shook her head vigorously and said, "It seems to be quite common for Americans, but Asians generally find it difficult to accept.

It's worth noting that Harvard's "Primal Screaming" actually means "primal screaming".

The Harvard "Primal Screaming" (PrimalScreaming) actually means "primal screaming".

The Harvard "Primal Screaming" (PrimalScreaming) is not just about reducing stress

Some people believe that Harvard's "Primal Screaming" (PrimalScreaming) is a remnant of the student movement that took place on campuses in the mid-1970s, where freedom, defiance of tradition, and challenges to authority were the mainstays of the campus culture of the era.

According to my understanding, today's students don't all participate in *Running for stress reduction, some of them are in college to go crazy, so that young people don't "white out"; some of them are in order to challenge themselves - *Running requires a lot of courage.

I asked a number of teachers and students at Harvard, they are not sure from which year this tradition began, the school did not record, anyway, held twice a year. I heard that at most, there were hundreds of people together with a huge * run, this year's number is not too much, I do not know whether with the United States in recent years, the voice of the defense, the campus * run condemnation related. However, the Harvard University does not interfere with this kind of activity, and will not send people to the scene to supervise.

While the origins of the Harvard *Run are undocumented, I have heard a few anecdotes about it. It is said that one * run parodies the classic scene in the movie - naked students gathered in Harvard Gardens, meeting, *, chanting "there will be bread, there will be milk, there will be everything"; another summer * run, Harvard Gardens, put on the The Harvard University has a huge inflatable swimming pool, and also set up a tent, simulating a beach scene on the beach, participating in the * run of the students in the grass and the pool in the "moonlight bath" dashingly.

In addition to Harvard, Yale, Princeton and other also have a variety of * Ben or * party. Every year on the eve of the final exams, Yale University library will appear "final exams cherubs", this group of cherubs wearing masks, the body stripped naked, with a beautiful song to sympathize with the students buried in hard work, and thoughtful gift cookies and candies to these students to work hard.

Princeton also used to have a tradition of * Ben, where second-graders collectively * Ben at midnight of the first snowfall of each winter. But now, this tradition is forced to interrupt. 1997 winter, Princeton did not snow, the next winter snow, the third-grade students to "reclaim the God deprived of the opportunity to run", the second-grade students to follow the tradition of * run, the result of the * run the number of people soared, the campus was seriously damaged, more than two hundred students * run the photo on the Internet widely circulated, so the school * run the photos. As a result, the number of students running was so high that the campus was severely damaged and photos of more than two hundred students running were widely circulated on the Internet, and the school declared a "moratorium" on the tradition. Later, the students set up a "* run school team", which team * run more people even if the win.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been at the top of the list of universities in the U.S. for the number of suicides committed by MIT students due to academic stress, and now it is also the "hardest hit" by student suicides, with more students taking time off to study and transferring to other schools. I do not know from which year, the school especially the third week after the start of the summer must be a student holiday, the day students do not have to go to class, intended to appease the students. The students were not as romantic as Harvard * Ben in their de-stressing tactics, which consisted of throwing away old pianos. Before final exams, there is a "drop day" where students can drop a class within a specified period of time and retake it later if they feel they are not sure they can pass the class they have taken. To celebrate this great day of relief, students run to the top of the seven-story dormitory building and cheer as they throw old pianos down.