Syttende mai

A day without soldiers

Norway’s constitution was signed at Eidsvoll on 17 May 1814, and it is the third-oldest written constitution still in use. Celebrations began spontaneously among students soon afterwards, but while Norway was in union with Sweden the king was reluctant to allow them, and in the 1820s they were banned for a few years. In 1833 the poet Henrik Wergeland gave one of the first public addresses. The first children’s parade in Christiania, now Oslo, was launched in 1864 at the initiative of the writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson; at first only boys took part, and girls were allowed to join in 1899. During the German occupation in the Second World War, celebrating 17 May was strictly forbidden.

What makes the day unusual is its non-military character. All over Norway, each school district holds its own children’s parade, with the school banner and flags at the front, the marching band and the children behind with hand-held flags. Parades often stop at nursing homes and war memorials and end with the national anthem, “Ja, vi elsker dette landet”. People wear red, white and blue ribbons, and more and more wear the bunad, the traditional costume; the children shout “Hurra!”, sing, blow whistles and shake rattles.

Oslo and beyond

In Oslo some 100,000 people come into the city centre for the main parade of around 100 schools and their bands, which passes the Royal Palace, where the royal family greets the crowds from the balcony; the parade is broadcast on television. There are also citizens’ parades, borgertog, which anyone can join, speeches, wreaths at memorials in the morning and, in many places, a salute at noon. Graduating upper secondary students, the russ, celebrate in their own way, staying up all night and holding their own parades later in the day.