Historical
background
The
Constitution of Norway was
signed at
Eidsvoll on
May
17 in the year
1814.
The constitution declared Norway to be an independent nation.
The celebration of this day begun
spontaneously among students and others from early on, and for
some years the king was reluctant to allow the celebrations. For
a couple of years in the
1820s,
king
Carl Johan actually forbade it, as he thought the
celebrations a kind of protest and disregard - even revolt. The
king's attitude changed slightly after the
Battle of the Square in
1829,
an incident which resulted in such a commotion that the King had
to allow it. It was, however, not until
1833,
that anyone ventured to hold a public address on behalf of the
day. That year, official celebration was initiated by the
monument of the late politician
Christian Krogh, known to have stopped the King from gaining
too much personal power. The address was held by
Henrik Wergeland, thoroughly witnessed and accounted for by
a
Swedish
spy,
sent by the King himself.
After
1864,
the day became more established, and the first children's
promenade was launched in
Christiania, in a parade consisting only of boys. The girls
had their own promenade by a different route. This initiative
was taken by
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, although Wergeland made the first
known children's promenade at
Eidsvoll around
1820.
By historical coincidence, the
Second World War ended in Norway just nine days before that
year's Constitution Day, on
May 8,
1945,
when the occupying German forces surrendered. Even if The
Liberation Day is an official flag day in Norway, the day is not
an official holiday and is not broadly celebrated. Instead a new
and broader meaning has been added to the celebration of
Norwegian independence on
May
17.
The day focused originally on the Norwegian
constitution, but after
1905,
the focus has been directed towards the royal family.
Children's
parades
The kindergarten part of a Children's
parade
All over Norway, children's parades with an
abundance of
flags form the central elements of the celebration. Each
elementary school arranges its own parade,[1]
led by the school's own marching band. The parade takes the
children through the community, often making stops at homes of
senior citizens, war memorials, etc. The longest parade is in
Oslo,
where some 100,000 people travel to the city centre to
participate in the main festivities. This is broadcast on TV
every year, with comments on costumes, banners etc, together
with local reports from celebrations around the country. The
massive Oslo parade includes some 100 schools, marching bands,
and passes the royal palace where the royal family greet the
people from the main balcony.
Typically a school’s children parade will
consist of some senior school children carrying the schools
official banner, followed by a handful of other older children
carrying full size Norwegian flags, and the school’s marching
band. After the band the rest of the school children follow with
hand sized flags, often with the junior forms first, and often
behind self made banners for each form or even individual class.
Nearby kindergartens may also have been invited to join in. As
the parade passes, bystanders often join in behind the official
parade, and follow the parade back to the school. Depending on
the community, the parade may make stops at particular sites
along the route, such as a nursing home or war memorial. In Oslo
the parade stops at the
Storting while
Skaugum has been a traditional waypoint for parades in
Asker.
During the parade a marching band will play
and the children will sing lyrics about the celebration of the
National Day. The parade concludes with the stationary singing
of the the national anthem "Ja,
vi elsker dette landet" (typically verses 1, 7 and 1), and
the royal anthem "Kongesangen".
In addition to flags, people typically wear
red, white and blue ribbons. Although a long-standing tradition,
it has lately become more popular for men, women, and children
to wear traditional outfits, called
bunad.
The children also make a lot of noise shouting "hoorah!",
singing, blowing whistles and shaking rattles.
In addition to children's parades, there are
parades for the public, where every citizen is welcome to join
in. These are led by marching bands and often local boy scouts
and girl guides, local choirs, etc. This takes place in the
early morning or in the afternoon, before or after the school's
parade.
All parades begin or end with speeches. Both
grown-ups and older children are invited to speak. After the
parades, there are games for the children, and often a lot of
icecream, pop, sweets and pølse (hotdogs) are consumed.
Russ
The graduating class from the Norwegian
equivalent of high school - known as
russ
- has its own celebration on
May
17, staying up all night and making the rounds through the
community. The russ also have their own parades, in which they
parody various local and political aspects, although recently
this has become less frequent.
Celebration
across the country
- In
Oslo,
children from all the city's schools gather to parade past
the Royal Palace, where they and the
Royal Family
exchange waves and greetings.
- In the municipality
of
Asker,
outside Oslo, the children gather outside the residence of
the throne heir at
Skaugum
Estate in the morning (giving the Prince and his family time
to attend the parade in Oslo later in the day).
-
Bergen
has its own traditions for the parade, including comic
troupes, various local organizations, a children's parade,
and the
buekorps.
In addition to the children's parades the
streets are filled with young and old, turning out in festive
attire, and vendors selling ice cream, hot dogs, and lately,
kebabs.
Celebration
abroad
17 May dinner in the United States.
The National Day is also celebrated in many
Norwegian immigrant communities throughout the world, with
traditional foods, sometimes including
lutefisk. In the United States and Canada, the local lodges
of the
Sons of Norway organization often
play a central part in organizing the festivities.
Henrik
Wergeland
The poet
Henrik Wergeland is credited with making Syttende mai
a celebratory day for the children rather than a day of
patriotic pride. Actually, the day demonstrates that the
children, i.e. the country's future, are the patriotic
pride, if we follow Wergeland's thought. Flags and music
dominate the day, and there are few military parades. To
commemorate his contribution, the russ in Oslo place an
oversized hat on his statue near the Norwegian
parliament; the
Jewish community place a
wreath on his grave in the morning as a tribute to his
efforts on their behalf.
Military
parades
The only military parade is performed by the
Royal Guard on the main street of the capital city, Oslo.
During the parade, the Guard display their drill and music
skills, rather than showing off military force. An example of an
exercise performed by the Guard includes throwing their rifles
over their shoulders, with bayonets attached, to another
Guardsman who walks behind and catches it. The most impressive
aspect about the Guard's parade is that they have learned their
skills during the course of nine months, and during that time
they also go through normal infantry training.
The marching band of the Royal Guard also
attend the children's parade in central Oslo together with the
schools' own marching bands.
An inclusive
holiday
The former Norwegian president of parliament
Jo Benkow noted that the day has increasingly become a
celebration of Norway's growing ethnic diversity.
Several factors have probably contributed to
the inclusive nature of the celebration:
- The central position of
the children’s parade, including all lower level school
children, and therefore also their parents in the
celebration.
- The celebration is
focused around local schools and their children’s parade.
- The children’s parade
reaches outwards, trying to cover as many roads as possible
in the local community.
- The low focus on
elected government during the celebration. In the capital,
for example, the children’s parade passes the left side of
the parliament building, and the president of parliament is
allowed to wave to the passing parade from a small balcony,
but the main focus of the parade is the Royal Castle and the
Royal Family. In must also be noted that the office of
president of parliament is mainly ceremonial and
administrative, often awarded in the later part of a
political career. The prime minister and the rest of the
ruling government on the other hand have no official duties
during the celebrations.
- The virtual lack of any
military-centered celebration.
One can add, that the day should be regarded
as an expression of thankfulness, on behalf of the old values
freedom,
equality and
brotherhood, the ideological basis for the constitution, and
also on behalf of the circumstances that led up to the
constitution. The aspect of "thanksgiving" in the national
celebrations of Norway, are easily forgotten in the long span of
years from
1814.
The fact that children parading and waving
Norwegian flags is such a central part of an inclusive
celebration has to a certain extent protected the Norwegian flag
against being misused by
fascist groups.
