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The festival features traditional music and dancing and
frequently attracts crowds in the tens of thousands.
"It's the tradition. My dad came here when he was young and now
I'm a student I can go too," Constance Holstead, a 21-year-old
from West Yorkshire who studies at Oxford told Reuters.
"But it does feel a bit busier and more choreographed than when
I am came when I was much younger."
The ceremony that begins the festival, featuring the choir from
Magdalen College performing "Hymnus Eucharisticus" goes back
some 500 years, the college says.
Following the performance, which sees choristers sing from atop
a church tower, bells ring out across the city of for 20 minutes
and then festivities, including traditional Morris dancing,
begin across the city.
The event has attracted unwelcome attention in recent decades,
as revelers, often fueled by alcohol, pushed to take part in a
comparatively new tradition of leaping into the Cherwell river
from the city's Magdalen Bridge.
After 40 people were injured jumping into the river in 2005,
local authorities installed crash barriers and hired security
guards to prevent people jumping from the bridge.
Despite the forced end of bridge-jumping, the event still
maintains a party spirit.
Gemma Bryant, 20, an Oxford student from Bristol, told Reuters
"I've been at a ball all night, and now I'm off to have my
second breakfast, and then write an essay."
(Reporting Dylan J. Martinez, writing by Mark Hanrahan; Editing
by Toby Chopra)
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