Wednesday 18 May 2011

17th May – Norwegian Constitution Day

My brothers and I
Yesterday was Norway’s Constitution Day, a day that is celebrated each year as the National Day of Norway. The Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to be an independent nation.
My wonderful parents

An aspect that is significant of the Norwegian Constitution Day is the children’s parades. All over Norway, children parades with an abundance of flags from the central elements of the celebration. Each elementary school district arranges its own parade with marching bands between schools. Another typical element for this parade is that some senior school children are carrying the school’s official banner, followed by a marching band and the rest of the school children carrying hand sized flags.


As this is a very traditional day a lot of Norwegians choose to wear a traditional outfit on this day. This traditional outfit is called Bunad and it is popular to wear on weddings, baptisms and on the 17th of May. There are various types of bunads from all over the country and it is fashionable to wear a bunad that is from your region of the country. A bunad is also very expensive so when you first have one you have it for the rest of your life. There are bunads for both men and women, but it is most common for women to wear it.

This was just a little bit of Norwegian history for you. 17th of May is an important day for us Norwegians and it is not just celebrated here in Norway. Norwegians around the world gather wherever they are and have their own little celebration. They also have it in London but I have never attended it there. This is a day for everyone to meet and spend time together with friends and family but the day is mostly for the children.
My 7 (soon 8) years old brother Adrian

My 11 years old brother Nils-Morten

I had such a good time yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it. It was a lot of fun to watch the parade as my brothers was there, waving with their flags. Unfortunately the weather was not great but we still had a fantastic time. Hope you enjoy the pictures I took on this day and hopefully you learned something about my home country. 

18 comments:

  1. happy constitution day! i liked seeing these pictures...my husbands fam is norwegian and we are hoping to go visit some of his relatives there while we are living in europe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your little brothers are so cute! The festival looks like a nice way to usher in the good weather!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So cute! Happy Constitution Day! Looks so fun. I really need to get there one day.

    x
    http://artfashiontwentysomething.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Seems like it was a wonderful day yesterday, the costumes are wonderful! Great photos! Happy Consitution Day :)

    http://mundodealicia.blogspot.com/2011/05/outfit-post-blue-pink.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. This was very interesting! I loved getting to know a little more about Norway's history and celebrations and seeing these great photos!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow - looks like so much fun :O) Ax

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hei Camilla,så fine dere er alle sammen. Og så fine de bildene av Adrian og Nils-Morten i toget var.Jeg forstørra de og syns de var kjempeflotte.Klem fra Karin

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for sharing! It was cool to learn some about your country! And those pictures look so fun! As does the parade, I love days for kids, they get so excited!

    P.S. I'm going to be super busy till after I get back from New York, but I'll get in touch about a guest post in middle June!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a fun post! I learned so much from it. And your family is as cute as you!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is really neat- thanks for sharing! I love to learn about other people's cultures and traditions. It's best to get it firsthand from someone and hear how they celebrate! I want to see some bunads!

    ReplyDelete
  11. this looks such a great day! x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Happy Constitution day dear!! I once celebrated a C. Day in Nafplio with Norwegian friends and they told me to wear white, red and blue. We ate snacks and watched the parades via satellite!! That was so fun! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy Constitution Day!! This was such a cool post! My great great grandparents were from Norway but unfortunately I don't know much about the culture :( This was great though!

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a lovely celebration! I did not know about this holiday and I am really pleased you informed us about it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. here's a girl trying to learn Norsk and its culture, (ughhh I hope I can finish the book)...!thank you for this post, and I was waiting that the Bunad will appear, and so there was! Uhmmm, always been wondering how I can get me a Bunad eversince and I know they were expensive..how much is the cheapest? Are they only avaible in Norway?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Looks like so much fun! The kids are adorable! Glad you had such a good time - evveryone in the pics is dressed so smart.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This looks positively exciting, and the photos are so amazing! I absolutely love learning about new cultures and celebrations such as these. Thank you for sharing!

    xo
    Rachel

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking your time ♥ Your comments put a big smile on my face and I read and respond to every single one of them ♥

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...