Happy Birthday, Norway!

Today is 17th of May, Norway's Constitution Day/National Day. What's so amazing about this day is that no matter what, you can't help but feel so incredibly patriotic and proud. 


I present you with a tiny bit of background: 
We signed our Constitution on 17th of May in 1814 at Eidsvoll, and it declared us as an independent nation. We were still under Swedish rule at the time, but we were an independent nation nonetheless. For quite some time the Swedish king disapproved on us celebrating this day as he thought it was a protest against him. Truth to be told, we never really cared much about the Swedish king. He was just this person in another country acting like our king. Joke. It wasn't until 1905 Sweden recognized us as an independent monarchy and the Swedish king gave up his throne over Norway, thus breaking the United Kingdoms of Norway and Sweden. 


17th of May nowadays is celebrated with big children's parades all over the country. It's an extremely un-military parade. Yay! 
Each elementary school district form their own parades with the school's marching band(s), and they walk through the community, waving flags, shouting "Hurra!" and singing our national anthem. The kindergardens in the district are also invited to join. As the kids walk by, bystanders will often join the parade back to the school. So in the end you get a pretty long line of people. It's all very cosy! 
The biggest parade is in our nations capital, Oslo. Naturally. Every school will march past the Royal Castle, where the King, Queen, Crown Prince and Crown Princess (and their children) will stand on a balcony and wave. Today they were standing on that balcony at least three hours. Well, it was a pretty awesome parade. 


In most communities there's one parade in the afternoon as well. In this one there's also marching bands, but also all sorts of different groups in the community. Like boy scouts and girl guides, local choirs, you name it. 


An important addition to the children's parade is the Russ, the graduation classes of high school. I won't get into what that is, mostly because I can't be bothered. All I'll say is that they'll run through the children's parade, blowing their whistles and handing out cards and just make a bit of life. 


When I was a kid I loved 17th of May. Loved it, loved it, loved it! Why? Well ... a lot of good food. No school. And the national promise every parent makes with their children: "You can have all the ice cream you want!" Yaaay :D


I love 17th of May! 
And now, what our National Day is to me: 

 

 

 

And, of course, our National Anthem: 

This got an English translation as well. We usually only sing the first and the two last verses :) 

Now I'm off to watch an old Norwegian movie and eat some cake. And maybe some ice cream. Happy Birthday!:)