The Norwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year. A noteworthy aspect of the Norwegian Constitution Day is its very non-military nature.
All over Norway, children’s parades with an abundance of flags form the central elements of the celebration. Each elementary school district arranges its own parade with marching bands around the local community.
The longest parade is in Oslo, where some 100,000 people gather to see the parade that includes marching bands and some 100 schools that walks through the City Centre, passing the royal palace where the royal family greet the people from the balcony.
The Norwegian people would dress up in their National costumes making the parades quite a spectacular sight.
Have a look at the Norwegian national costumes, “bunader” here www.norskhusflid.no
Food is also a important part of the celebration with smoked salmon, cured meat and freshly baked bread. We would also serve an almond and egg cake called kransekake and a cream cake decorated as the Norwegian flag called 17maikake.
In London Norwegians gather in Southwark Park to see the children’s parade, followed by musical entertainment, speeches and games for the children.
Thank you, Julia. It was truly special to see the national costumes in London yesterday, as you say especially the children. One little boy, eating a huge ice cream, in his very smart traditional outfit, was wearing his woolen cap backwards -so cute!
Happy National Day! Norwegian national costume is really beautiful, wish I were there to see everyone in their lovely traditional outfits, especially the children!
Happy National Day to all Norwegians out there!
Happy constitution day! Hopefully you have the day off today and it’s bright, sunny and warm over there!