Royal Palace in Norway
Today is Norway’s National Day, which we Norwegians just call, “17th May”! This will probably sound strange, but this is a day where most Norwegians dress up, some in national costumes. And then, we head into the town centers, walk around in parades with marching bands, while singing and shouting “hurra” (hurray), to be followed by the eating of hot dogs and ice cream!
When I was a child, this was, next to Christmas and birthdays, the highlight of the year. Let me explain…
As children, we would prepare for it for months by practicing our national anthem in class. A couple of days before the big day, we would also do a practice “parade” around the neighborhood.
This is something we also did in nursery/kindergartens – everybody takes part!. The outfit was also very important, it was very often white, blue or red (like the colors of the Norwegian flag), but especially white (if I remember correctly), as this was the beginning of spring.
I would also get new shoes every year. And, every year I would be so excited about my new outfit that I would beg my mum to be allowed to wear it. But no, you could not wear it until the big day itself. You can only imagine the amount of blisters us kids would have after a whole day of walking around in new shoes!
My day would start very early, and at the breakfast table there would be a surprise stack of coins for me that I was allowed to spend on whatever I liked!
Then, it would be off to the school for 8am as the flag was being put up on the flagpole. Next, we would go on a parade (with a marching band and choir and lots of flags) around the neighborhood (basically to wake all the neighbors).
Then, we would go into the center of town to meet up with children from all the other schools in the city, and the next couple of hours would be spent walking in a huge parade through the center of town and passed the palace where the royal family would wave at everybody.
Finally, it would be back home for lunch and then off to school, where there would be lots of games and fun and lots of ice cream and hot dogs. At the end of the day, my lovely white outfit would not be quite so white, and I would be totally exhausted!
Locals Celebrating National Day in Oslo, Norway.
To some people this day might sound a tad too nationalistic, with all this marching and flag waving, but it truly is a children’s day (not military). And, the day includes everybody of all backgrounds and nationalities.
National Day is a day where everybody is in a good mood (apart from grumpy grandparents who are trying to see the grandchildren walking in the parade, and use their elbows to get to the front for a good view)!
These days, I celebrate quite differently. My husband and I like to find a place near the water to have a nice pint, and then meet up with friends for a barbecue, if the weather permits it.
So, apologies for not responding to any of your comments today because my fellow World Moms Blog writer, Ambre French, and I are in Oslo enjoying a pint (or maybe just an ice cream as the children are with us), and we are celebrating with our families!
Our National Day is celebrated amongst Norwegians all over the world, but although I lived in London for 8 years, I never once went to Battersea Park to take part. I was either at work (can you belive that my English employer did not give my the day off?), or I was at home in Norway celebrating.
Here are some of the places around the world you can go to celebrate Norwegian National Day (or to just watch):
USA: http://www.norway.org/News_and_events/May17th/
Australia and New Zealand: http://www.norway.org.au/News_and_events/Culture/May-17-Down-Under-Events/
India: http://www.norwayemb.org.in/Norsk/Velkommen-til-feiring-av-17-mai-pa-ambassaden/
London, UK: http://www.norway.org.uk/News_and_events/17th-of-May-Events/london/
Italy: http://www.amb-norvegia.it/News_and_events/Notizie-in-generale/La-festa-nazionale-in-Norvegia/
“Hurra for 17 mai!” 🙂
Do you celebrate a similar national holiday in your home country? If so, do you do anything special with your children on that day?
This is an original World Moms Blog post by Asta Burrows in Oslo, Norway. Asta can be found on her Facebook Page or on Twitter @AstaBurrows.
The photographs for this post are attributed to the author.
It is great to hear what happens on your National Day, Asta. Rituals are really important – I like the idea of a pint on a gorgeous spring day. (I love the idea of children all dressed in white. Who ever made that decision has a good sense of humour!)
🙂 Yes, kids dressed in white, eating hotdogs with ketchup – it is a great combination!
Hi Asta!
I liked this post because it was interesting to hear about a special day important of the lives of Norwegian children! Thank you for sharing your culture with us. 🙂
The fourth of July is our Independence Day, here, in the U.S. Many people wear “red, white and blue”, have a barbecue and watch fireworks at night.
Veronica 🙂
Veronica – I can’t wait to hear about special celebrations in other contries! We take our 17th May for granted, but now that I see it throught my husbands eyes I am reminded that it is a special day!
Hope you had a great celebration. Here on the west-coast of Norway with tree children it was not relaxing 🙂 One walked with the school and the other two in the kindergarden-truck. It was cold, but we did all the important things, like eating hot-dog, fishing-game and last but the most important one….the running, where they get a gift. Then home for cake-eating with the family, and later we had friends over for barbecue and icecream…at the end we had three tired but happy children 😉 A great day!
Yes thank you it was a good day. We went into the center of town so that husband could see the parade, we then walked down to the fjord and found a boat that served beer, and it all worked perfectly as the wee lad fell asleep on the boat! Then a bbq with Ambre French and her family. It couldn’t have been better 🙂
Thanks for taking us through your National Day! Sounds like alot of fun. As Veronica noted, our 4th of July has some similar themes. The thing I always find funny on our Independence Day is how people go about procurring their fireworks. There are different laws about the use and sale of fireworks depending where you live. Here in Western Washington State (USA), you can only legally buy and use little firecrackers in the cities (like in your backyard or driveway). The cities themselves can create big fireworks shows for residents at a designated spot, but generally there are restrictions to private fireworks usage. However, on the Native American reservations that are very close by, Native Americans can sell the real-deal fireworks to anyone. So many people go there to get their super rockets to light off at home (hopefully not drawing too much attention) or take them to more rural spaces. One well known Native American fireworks “store” is called “Boom Town.” This place has row after row of sheds lined up selling any fireworks you can imagine! I have some good friends who are Canadian but get such a kick out of the holiday and challenge of finding the best fireworks to light.
I loved learning about your national day! What fun!! Just wondering…why do you eat hot dogs on this day? Why do you get money on this day?
Hi Maggie, good questions! I think we eat hotdogs because it is a day where you are out and about all day – especially as a kid you don’t get to sit down for a proper dinner as there are so many things happening. Also – hot dogs are a big favourite here and seen as a treat! The money thing was when I was a kid, so that I would have a little bit of extra spending money on the hotdogs, icecream and games. (We would have games at the school and some you would have to pay to take part, and you could win small little (useless ofcourse) plastic toys, chocolate and stuff)
I loved learning about your national day! What fun!! Just wondering…why do you eat hot dogs on this day? Why do you get money on this day?
Sounds like fun! As other posters have mentioned, we have July the 4th here in the USA. This is one of the big holidays that my family actually gets together for and is always fun. Another holiday we had that was just in South Louisiana where I grew up is Mardi Gras. Schools and businesses shut down and there are parades and festivities everywhere. It’s always the day before Ash Wednesday and the 40 days of fasting associated with lent. We have a large Catholic population there. Anyway, that was always a fun holiday for me. I miss it now because in Texas we have to work and I’ll think of all my friends/family back home having fun.
It is always a bit strange to be away on a holiday like that isn’t it – but in a way it makes you appreciate it all the more when you are threre… not much of a comfort the years you are away from it though I’m afraid!
I think of myself as worldly but I guess my world really pertains to Asia and the US, I don’t know all that much about Europe or Scandinavia so it was great to learn about 17 May. If I met another Norwegian, what would I say? How do you pronounce the holiday? On July 4th we say Happy Fourth! or Happy Independence Day. I couldn’t access the link you shard for celebrations in the US but I’d be interested. It sounds super cute to have parading Scandinavian kids all over town. I wish you had posted some close-ups of the costumes. Thanks for sharing something that you take for granted but which taught many of us something new. Did you and Ambre know each other before WMB? I’m jealous, there are several/many women I feel I’ve gotten to know through this blog and would love to meet someday (and have a pint or a cuppa’ joe with) but I wonder if that’ll ever happen. Veronica, we’ll be down in the NJ area in a few weeks, are you free?
That is a very good question – how to pronounce it… It Norwegian we all greet each other with “gratulerer med dagen” which translates to “congratulations on the day”. However, in Norwegian we also use that same term to wish somebody a happy birthday, so I did hear several foreigners walking around saying “happy birthday” to Norwegians, as if you check the dictionary the terms are the same… I think saying “Happy Nationalday” is a good way to say it 🙂
Ambre and I knew eachother before WMB, and I think we have gotten to know eachother even better after reading eachothers articles 🙂