May Day in Kreuzberg

Forget Christmas, Easter, German Unity Day—the biggest holiday in Berlin is May 1st, this shift between cops and party freaks, Kreuzberg turning into one massive celebration. Food and music and people everywhere, so many people, all trying to cram as much fun as possible into a few wild hours before they get dragged back into the crushing depths of normal life. Or so the story goes.

I celebrated it right. Confetti, vodka, good company moving through Görlitzer Park and the street parties around it. We danced, drank, made out. May 1st only happens once a year, so I handed the overpriced camera to whoever wanted it and waited to see what would show up.

The next morning, hungover, I plugged the SD card into my laptop. Hundreds of photos. Crystal clear and blurry, bright and dark, oversaturated and washed out. But that’s exactly right. That collision of sharp and soft, the full mess of it, is exactly what it was like. Forget Christmas, Easter, German Unity Day. May 1st is and stays the biggest holiday in Berlin.