Hurra for 17. mai!
Gratulerer med dagen til alle norske!
And for the maybe two people who read this and don't understand Norwegian: Today is our Constitution Day. On May 17th, 1814 we signed our own constitution. Technically we were still a part of Denmark back then, and given that we'd entered the losing side of the Napoleonic war, we were soon after given to Sweden as war spoils. Norway didn't gain independence until 1905, in an event that went sort of like this:
Norway: We want our independence!
Sweden: No, you can't!
Norway: Bring it, much more powerful and better-armed country!
Sweden: Oh, it's on...Actually, on second thought, we're not gonna bother.
Norway: Okay...Thanks?
We don't actually do a big celebration of that event. But today, on Constitution Day, we dress up in pretty clothing (a lot of people, especially women, wear the traditional outfit called a bunad. Mine looks similar to this), there's a big parade of school bands and organisations, each school have an activity thing where you can do ball toss or stilt walking or whatever and we eat sour cream porridge and wave flags and stuff. It's pretty fun.
P.S. I've been meaning to ask. There are three clickable links in this post. Can everyone see them all right? I kind of like this look, but I suspect that links tend to disappear.
And for the maybe two people who read this and don't understand Norwegian: Today is our Constitution Day. On May 17th, 1814 we signed our own constitution. Technically we were still a part of Denmark back then, and given that we'd entered the losing side of the Napoleonic war, we were soon after given to Sweden as war spoils. Norway didn't gain independence until 1905, in an event that went sort of like this:
Norway: We want our independence!
Sweden: No, you can't!
Norway: Bring it, much more powerful and better-armed country!
Sweden: Oh, it's on...Actually, on second thought, we're not gonna bother.
Norway: Okay...Thanks?
We don't actually do a big celebration of that event. But today, on Constitution Day, we dress up in pretty clothing (a lot of people, especially women, wear the traditional outfit called a bunad. Mine looks similar to this), there's a big parade of school bands and organisations, each school have an activity thing where you can do ball toss or stilt walking or whatever and we eat sour cream porridge and wave flags and stuff. It's pretty fun.
P.S. I've been meaning to ask. There are three clickable links in this post. Can everyone see them all right? I kind of like this look, but I suspect that links tend to disappear.