We learned so much about Constitution Day in Norway this weekend (17.mai)
Gratulerer med dagen!
This past weekend was filled with sunshine and celebrations. Norway celebrated its Constitution, or Independence, Day on the 17th of May. The first thing we learned was that they say «Gratulerer med dagen», to each other to mark the occasion which translates to “congratulations on the day.” This is also how they say “happy birthday.”
The 17th of May is the biggest holiday of the year in Norway, and rightfully so. It is the day Norway’s constitution was signed on the 17th of May, 1814 and marks Norway’s independence. Everyone dresses up and takes to the streets for parades and parties. Although, I have heard some people head to the mountains for hiking and relaxation as well.
We learned there are two different celebratory groups on 17th of May, those who party hard with lots of adult beverages, and those who celebrate with children. The adult parties start bright and early with a champagne breakfast. We were told most people are feeling pretty good by 10:00 am. We fell into the “those whole celebrate with children” group.
Children really are the focus of the day because they represent the future of Norway. For everyone, the day generally starts by gathering together with friends and family for a large breakfast. Foods like scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, and baked goods are shared by all. This is also when the champagne starts flowing for the adults. After breakfast comes the parades.
What makes these parades unique is that the focal point is the children of the town. They generally follow the same pattern of being led off by a marching band and the children of the town follow. Our town’s parade (or train as they call it here) was kicked off by a group of seniors in high school celebrating Russefeiring. During their final year in high school, Norwegian children have a several weeks long celebration called russefeiring to mark the end of the year. The largest celebration occurs on the 17th of May. I won’t go into much more detail about that, but it’s worth looking up.
After the high schoolers came the marching band. Since we live in a small community, our marching band wasn’t very big, but they did a great job and didn’t stop playing until the parade was over. Following the marching band were the children. Each barnehage, or daycare, was represented by a flag and a group of children walking with their parents. The primary and secondary school children also joined in the parade.
At the suggestion of our neighbors, we stood at a roundabout near our house to watch the beginning of the parade, and then joined in the train when our son’s daycare walked past. We thought this would be a fun and exciting experience for our 2-year-old, but he fell asleep in his stroller about 5 minutes into the walk and slept through the rest of the parade.
It’s important to note that the Norwegians dress up for this day. It’s customary to dress in either a traditional bunad or wear fancy clothes like dresses and suits. A bunad is the traditional Norwegian costume. The colors and patterns that decorate the woolen clothing are regional, so you can tell where someone is from based on the color and designs of their clothing. These costumes can cost up to thousands of dollars, so they are investment pieces and many are handed down through generations in a family. I read or heard somewhere that about 70% of women and 20% of men in Norway own a bunad. There are cheaper versions that can be bought, and the color and designs are more generic on these outfits. It was really neat seeing all of the beautiful variations.
After the parade, the town and schools of the area had little festivals of their own. Many were selling pølse and baked goods. We stopped by our culture center to check-in on the celebration but had missed most of the performances already, so we headed back home.
Since the sun was shining, we spent the afternoon outside. We had some friends over for a cookout (of course we made our own pølse) and hung out in the park behind our house. One of our neighbors had invited some friends over as well, so our two parties joined together. Our neighbor was excited to share some of the traditional Norwegians treats she had made for the day with us. She also taught us a lot about the day, which is where all of my info comes from.
One final highlight and important piece of the day is that Constitution Day should be filled with ice cream. Apparently the children are allowed to eat as much as they want and many like to keep track of how many scoops they’ve had in a day. It becomes a competition of who can eat the most. Our son had a great time playing with the neighborhood children at the park and ate his fair share of ice cream that day. Needless to say, we were all hopped up on sugar that afternoon and then crashed hard that evening. Thank goodness we had Sunday to recover.