Happy 17th of May!

[KitSileya]

To all Norwegians on this board (I know there are a few) I wish a Happy Constitution Day!

Ja, vi elsker dette landet,
som det stiger frem.
Furet, værbitt, over vannet
med de tusen hjem.
Elsker, elsker det og tenker
på vår far og mor,
og den saganatt som senker,
drømme på vår jord.
Og den saganatt som senker,
senker drømme på vår jord.

Hurra, hurra, hurra!

[Orangepeel]

1. hurra!

Thanks, KitSileya --

I don't know anything about this holiday. How is it celebrated? Does it involve herring?

[KitSileya]

2. LOL No herring, unfortunately.

It is celebrated by children's parades all over Norway (all school-age children walk in parades while their parents and grandparents watch.) It is celebrated by the eating of ice cream and hot dogs and waving of flags and singing the national anthem (the first stanza of which I wrote in my initial post.) It is celebrated by huge crowds and women wearing bunads (national costumes which differ according to region) and everyone else dressing in their finest clothes and usually freezing to death (Norway doesn't have a very temperate climate.) It's a very good way of celebrating one's national day, I think.

[MissB]

3. Ah... that explains the girl I saw today.

She was wearing a bunad. I could not figure out why. Now I know. :hi:

[Mutley]

4. sounds like fun!

[Orangepeel]

6. Hot dogs and ice cream?!

that sounds like July 4th. Did we steal it from the Norwegians?

[Left Is Write]

5. Hey, thanks! I used to attend a Syttende Mai luncheon

every year with my father when we worked for the same company. It started out as a small group of us - about five or six - then morphed into a large annual gathering.

It was a lot of fun.

I should be having torsk and new potatoes for supper tonight, but the folks in Norway are probably having hot dogs and ice cream. :)