The Dies Natalis of the 11th Lustrum

Each and every year, Scintilla celebrates their anniversary (AKA the Dies Natalis) on the 9th of September, or on any convenient Friday around that day. Usually accompanied by a tasty piece of cake, members come together in the old faithful Abscint to share a beer and celebrate the birthday of their study association. However, in 2020 the Dies Natalis was a little different, in more ways than one. This year Scintilla celebrates their 55th birthday, which means that this year we celebrate the 11th Lustrum year. Instead of the (candidate) board organizing the Dies, this time the Lustrum Activities committee decided to take the wheel in order to organize a special edition of the Dies, because this year is going to be a special one for Scintilla.

The second reason why this Dies was going to be different was because of the Covid-19 pandemic rampaging through the country. The strict guidelines among social gatherings made it very difficult to organize activities, this is why special measures had to be taken for organizing the Dies.

This year I was tasked with organizing the Dies, not because I’m doing a board year, but because I am part of the Lustrum Activities committee. I can give you readers a little insight into the organization of the Dies.

We have been brainstorming for a long time about an epic and memorable way to kick off the lustrum year. But as any active member may recognize, our plans had to be switched up as often as there were press conferences about new corona rules. We were planning on preparing amazing things for a great and unique theme announcement, but we were unable to come together to work on it. Together with the fact that the Lustrum Book was getting delayed, we had decided not to announce the lustrum theme on the Dies. But that didn’t mean that the Dies was going to be lame.

Around September, it was recommended by the government to organize social gatherings at catering establishments, as they had protocols for safely enjoying drinks at a 1.5m distance. This is why the Lustrum Activities committee had decided to organize the Dies in a bar which at that point had become a little more familiar to a few people: Café De Vluchte. It is a nice and cozy bar located just on the edge of the ‘singel’ in Enschede, maybe a little hard to find for newcomers with its entrance located at the end of a strange alleyway, but definitely worth it when you get inside and find the walk-in fridge with loads of different kinds of craft beers. With its size and table arrangement, it allowed us to arrange a party for 55 people, given that they were nice enough to remain seated.

And so on the 11th of September (two days after the official birthday of Scintilla), the Lustrum Activities committee and the 91st board came together in De Vluchte to prepare the Lustrum Dies. We hung up the enormous Scintilla flag, decorated De Vluchte with slings, ordered cute bite-sized pieces of cake and mentally prepared for a wonderful Dies.

Starting from 20:00 all of the expected guests arrived one by one. The sign-up for the Dies went crazy fast, as this was the first big Scintilla drink in what felt like ages, so we managed to fill in all 55 spots in De Vluchte. As I looked around the room with a nice craft beer in my hand (I got some amazing beer recommendations that night), I saw the people around me having an amazing time: people gambling (too) many shots with poker, some old-fashioned banter from some older and also newer Scintilla members in the corner, people suffering from a horrible shot of Essacher-Luft (even though it looked like it was worth it). To be honest, seeing people enjoy their night during the Dies did kind of put a smile on my face.

I wish I could tell you more about the Dies, but that is where my memory of that night ends. Although the day after was a little rough, I’m sure it was damn well worth it.

The organization of this Dies may have been a little chaotic. With plans changing every month it feels like things are upside-down or frontwards-backwards, but I feel like this could be a re-occurring trend for this year. Anyhow, I am happy that we were able to put down a great activity nonetheless.