Syttende Mai (17th of May) Constitution Day

A strong part of Norwegian culture is a very strong patriotism. Constitution Day or The National Day is celebrated on the 17th of May. Most everyone just calls it "Syttende Mai." On that date in 1814 the constitution was signed. It is a day that is all about Norway. Everything is closed except some restaurants and food stands. You dress up for the day. Everyone who has on,e wears the  national costume---the bunad. Also acceptable are  nice dresses and suits and ties. It is quite disrespectful to go out in casual clothes especially to the parades - which are the order of the day.

President Armand and Sister Juliet Johansen were in town for the celebration and we met them near the Bryggen early to get a good spot to watch the parade.

We ran into people we knew such as the Berg family.

Their daughters all have beautiful bunads.

We also found the Våganes family all decked out in their Norwegian best.

We ran into all of our missionaries and several young adults. This is the one day where you can wear the missionary uniform and actually blend in. Ane-Rebekka is wearing her Rogaland County bunad. It was sewn mostly by her grandmother but still cost a few thousand dollars - yes, American dollar cost is about $5,000 per outfit!

We were amazed by the variations in color and pattern etc. Each county and "place" within a county has its own special design, embroidery, jewelry, buckles and so on.

Which model committed a 17th of May fashion faux pas? I mean really, short shorts?

By the way, rain has never been the cause for cancellation of anything in Bergen.

This one featured that cool little stitched purse and a good deal of silver.

Need to tell you...this isn't the parade these are just people looking for a place to stand or for their group in the parade.

This cream color dress is from somewhere in the Bergen area although most of the Hordeland county dresses are black.

These ladies stopped by us just as the canon fire signaled the start of the parade.

OK, no more bunads except if they happen to be a part of the photo but check it out; the people just set to watch the parade on the other side of the barrier are all decked out too, as are most of the marchers in the parade.

No, she didn't borrow his hat. These are parade officials. The long red, white, and blue ribbons are worn by anyone who wants to buy one but they add a nice touch to these two. They also had a clipboard.

Leading the way is the Bergen University marching band. There are actually three parades: The Peoples' Parade, The Children's Parade and the Russ or Graduating Student's Parade.

The academics from the university wore their robes.

Surviving soldiers from the World War II resistance and other conflicts wore their medals.

The lawyers group had their banner with an offer of free legal help and a phone number!

All kinds of Norwegian groups marched in the people's parade.

The children's parade is made up of school kids from all of the elementary levels - school by school they marched by.

Each group of kids was followed by their parents and teachers.

Some schools had banners and some had "musik korps" and everywhere the flag was held high.

All of the drum corps were in the children's parade too. There were dern near as many drummers as there were school groups. Each group had a different cadence.

Whoa, look! It is Kent and Jan Thomassen (sunglasses and nearest to camera), who dust off the drums and play with their old corps each 17th May.

First place goes to this daycare school (called kindergarten here - "barnehaugen") for best job herding kittens.

After all this parade lasted about two hours. Plenty long for kids and adults.

And the kids just kept on comin' down the street.

Some people had drier views than us but we had our raingear.

The downtown buildings and hotels were filled with parade watchers.

As soon as the parade ended the crowd imploded onto the streets. We began searching for a food stand for something hot AND for the Russ Parade.

The graduating students are allowed to celebrate for one entire month BEFORE final exams begin. I know, it sounds backwards but that is the way things have always been. They really celebrate too. There are Red Russ, Blue Russ and Green Russ depending on the kind of school you're going to finish. The great majority are Red Russ. They wear the red cap and bib-overalls with the bib down (a Norwegian flag is on the inside of the bib) They cover the pant legs with symbols, sayings, their names etc. The partying gets pretty heavy right up until May 18th. At that point the students put away the red stuff and get ready for exams. The exams are all done by about June 20th. These students have had about the equivalent of a American college sophomore. They are in the process of applying to a University.

The referee's whistles were particularly annoying.

They brought their own music and shouted the words to the songs as they walked.

and right in the middle without his red hat (gray shirt) and stone cold sober is one of our YSA presidency, Anton, who is waiting to hear from one of Norway's film schools.

We were invited to lunch with Judith Fluge who is waving us goodbye from her balcony.

We finished up the evening with a final party at church where I posed with Ane-Rebekka and Renate.

We had a long and interesting day.