Man, I just had to chime in and say that russ everywhere aren't that insane! At my school, the worst thing done to first-graders was drawing on their faces with sharpies, and splashing them with water. We'd get in maajor trouble with the school if the kidnap-stuff happened, and none of us really wanted to do that anyways, because no one did it to us when we were first graders. The worst thing that happened to us when we were first graders, was that some girl got the backside of her thong cut, and the people who did it got in trouble and had to buy her new underwear..
And those huge buses costing an insane amount of money? Mostly around the capital/the larger cities, not everywhere - I mostly walked/rode my bike around - but I wasn't one of the most eager participants. I'd still never spend that ridiculous amount of money on something like that.
So yes, a lot of people go insane and do stupid shit during that time, but not everyone. I wasn't planning on participating, but it was actually kinda fun. 17 days filled with hanging out with friends, doing stuff I usually wouldn't do (barking at dog food in a store, sitting under our desks during an entire lecture, not talking for a day at school, drinking some stuff in a tree, going swimming in the ocean before May 1st (north of the Arctic circle) chugging down beer with a tampon in my mouth (seriously gross), drinking a set amount of alcohol in a tree, spending the night outside of the school, eating breakfast on a roundabout, kissing strangers/friends of the same sex etc), drinking a bit, barbequeing... Fun.