Kevin and I were able to celebrate Norway's Constitution Day this year-- the 200th year. This is celebrated on May 17th (17.mai). It was described to me as, "It is like Forth of July and Thanksgiving all wrapped into one holiday.." by a Norwegian friend. I found it very similar to the Forth of July due to the waving of flags, traditional colors, and main food of consumption being hot dogs and ice cream. Although, it did have a Thanksgiving feel to me as well. There was a formality to the "proper attire"and a giant parade. Kevin was invited to attend a party from one of his friends from work he made one of the first weeks he was in Kongsberg; so I asked him early on what we were suppose to wear. I was thinking along the lines of how we dress for Forth of July in the U.S.--you know our traditional red, white, and blue (and for many years the American flag shirt everyone gets at Old Navy). I just thought we could find a Norwegian flag shirt and call it good....However it was brought quickly to my attention that I not only needed to wear my "Sunday best," but Kevin also needed to wear a suit for the day. And that is exactly how it was. Everyone was completely dressed up. Most Norwegians had on their Traditional National clothing- called Bunad. I found them to be beautiful. They are all hand made--beautiful fabrics, wool, embroidered. There are different types depending on what part of Norway you are from. I have seen them before in church, usually worn when someone is getting baptized. It was quite lovely. They also encourage others (non-Norwegians) to wear their National clothing this day. There were many people from my school wearing their national clothes/costumes. I think that is pretty special.
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| A picture from Kongsberg Norsksenter of some of the teachers dressed in their bunad |
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| One view of the street before the parade |
History- A little history lesson from what I learned at school. Their Constitution was signed on 17. mai 1814, declaring their independence from Denmark. Shortly after they joined together with Sweden until 1905. After 1905, Norway has been an independent country. Although during World War II, Germany took them over from April 9, 1940 until May 8, 1945. It was forbidden during this time to celebrate May 17th or to use Norwegian flag. It is apparent how proud the Norwegians are of their country. It is a very special place. Kevin and I will definitely be doing our own celebrating of our 4th of July here, because we are also so proud of our country :)
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| 17.mai |
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| The start of the parade |
The day starts with a large parade (tog) that goes through town--full of bands and all the children with their schools, waving their flags and playing music (no beads were thrown-ha). The streets were packed with people, definitely the most I have ever seen in Kongsberg. The parade ended at the center near the church. From there all the children usually go to their schools- meet up with their family, play games, and basically eat hot dogs and ice cream all day (from what I hear). Others usually get together with family and have a barbecue. Then later in the afternoon there is another parade- called the "Russetog" which is a celebration of the high school seniors graduating. They parade past on foot or in/on top of a moving vehicle. Most appeared to be intoxicated- dancing, chanting, shooting water guns etc. It was definitely more similar to a Mardi Gras parade, except yet again there was no bead throwing. They basically have a month off including drinking and partying (drinking age is 18), and then they take their final exams. Kevin and I made it out for the full parade, and we had our own Norwegian flag to wave among the crowd. You greet people with the saying"Gratulerer med dagen," which means Congratulations with the day. :) We thoroughly enjoyed participating. We then joined in with the consumption of hot dogs and ice cream (Kevin more excited about the hot dogs, and I more excited for the ice cream- typical). We hung out with my friend, Breanne, from class and her boyfriend. It was very fun. Kim, her boyfriend, is Norwegian so he showed us the ropes. We then attended the Russetog parade and then went to Arne's barbecue (Kevin's friend from work). There were lots of people and good food to be had. We played some games outside together and enjoyed each others company. We also taught everyone how to play extreme cups (our favorite college drinking game). I think everyone had a lot of fun. It was a wonderful day.
To give you an idea of what the parade was like :)
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| Gratulerer med dagen! |
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| A picture from the Russetog |
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| Handsome Hubby with his giant hot dogs :) |
You can hear the children chanting :)
At school, they actually had a fashion show--"Bunad parade" and many of the faculty members wore their "bunad." It was great, they also did a traditional Norwegian dance- video below. We sang some traditional Norwegian songs (National Anthem) etc. We also got to learn and play many Norwegian games, most of the games the kids play at school on 17. mai. I have videos below with examples and people from my school participating in them. So much fun.
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| The best pic I could get at the end of the "Bunadparade" |
A video of a Norwegian Dance. I didn't get the best video, but eventually he kicks the hat off of the stick. :)
This is one of the games that was played. The object is for each person to be able to get the end of the rope in the small can without using their hands. It was very funny to watch. Other games were pretty similar, like a spoon race with an egg (only they use a potato) or tossing objects into a bucket to see who can get the most.
This is a teacher demonstrating how to play the game
The object is obviously who can blow up the balloon and pop it the fastest :) I think there were about 8 people on each team.
