The 17th of May in Norway is one of the country's biggest holidays. It is called Constitution Day and is a celebration of the country becoming an independent nation. We were lucky enough to be invited to a friend's commune to celebrate the day. The Holiday in Norway is very much about community. Each area has their own little parade and celebration. The parade included a band and each barnehage (daycare) and school had a sign and all the kids marched with their parents around the community. We marched with our friends and their children and Avery thought it was pretty great. Afterwards we ate hot dogs and ice cream and went back to Mark and Elisabeth's house for a bar-b-que. The thing that stood out for me about the day is how much respect the country has for it. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE was dressed up in their finest. Men wore suits with ties and woman either dressed fancy or wore bunads. The bunad is a traditional Norwegian dress. These dresses cost thousands of dollars and are specific to each region. So a person can tell where someone comes from by the style of bunad worn. It was extremely interesting to view another country's celebration and I'm very glad we got to take part in it. Later that evening we met up with other Norwegian friends and ate dinner at a restaurant called Bryggen Asian. The dinner was excellent although a little expensive with slow service. By the end of the three hour meal Avery was loosing her mind a little so I'm not sure we'll take the small one out there again. It was worth it though and all in all we had a very nice Syttende Mai.
Avery at dinner with Idel who is from Dublin.
I sat next to Halvor who is Norwegian, everyone else besides us and Idel were Norwegian. Thankfully everyone here speaks English. 
The desert. I took a bite before I thought to take a picture. It was really good it had pop rocks in the sauce which was a surprise but good.
Downtown, just more shots of the clothing. 
Playing with new friends. Mark and Elisabeth have three little girls. Avery had a blast playing with them. 
Walking in the parade and being silly. She LOVED her horse balloon. Well worth the $20 to buy it! This morning she was holding it and telling it she loved him. 
The back of the parade, a ton of people marched in it. No floats just people.
On the field before the parade began.
She really liked the little Norwegian flag.
Where the town met, more Bunads.
4 comments:
What a strange day. I bet you feel like an outsider pretty often! It's nice you guys are getting to know people!
So it's like our 4th of July, but fancier?? How cool you got to experience that. Glad you had a great time!
Awesome Lacy! Thank you for sharing what you did and saw that day! I love being able to 'tag along' in your adventures in Norway. You guys are building so many wonderful memories and doing it with such strength and confidence! You and Jeff are my heros!
Can I just say that the dessert looks DIVINE, although Pop Rocks, maybe not so much. The presentation is so interesting. People here wore their fancy regional clothing too, but I don't know if there was a parade anywhere... certainly a big community dinner. And, all the flags! It was a beautiful day though, wish you'd had our sun and warmth ;)
Post a Comment