Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Constitution Day 2009

The entire country celebrates on May 17th. Even inanimate objects! All the buses and streetcars are decorated with flags, that's normal ... but this one was even switching back and forth between its line number and destination and Gratulerer med dagen which is the traditional Constitution Day greeting. Its literal meaning is 'congratulations on the day', but we use it to express the sentiment 'happy birthday'. And May 17th is modern Norway's birthday. :-)

My friends and I have a tradition of celebrating by going to the Folk Museum at Bygdøy, where you get away from the crowds downtown and into an environment that is almost nauseatingly Norwegian. ;-) But that's what we want on that day. If the weather's good it's just perfect out there ... perfect for a picnic. :-)

I say 'get away from the crowds', but it's pretty crowded at the Museum too. Celebrating people of course, and Bygdøy elementary school's marching band and choir.

I love the hat on the guy front and center!! :-D

Bunads come in all sizes, and everyone dresses up on Constitution Day!

Even little puppy dogs. Aww.

The birthday girl! Whee! :-D

Children in bunads dancing a traditional folk dance.

A picnic lunch in the sun with Gol stave church in the background. Doesn't get much more idyllic than this. :-)

Toasting the Constitution in my traditional May 17th jello ... !! :-D

My mother's bunad shoes that I borrowed since I don't have any of my own yet. Oh, the agony ... !!

As promised, this is me in my bunad. My grandmother's Folldal bunad. :-) When I put it on, I noticed that it still had her smell on it. A little sad. But I am so happy to have the bunad. :-) Anne Ida is in her Lundeby bunad. White shirts, white shirts ... !!! :-D

I took a picture of AudiX78 taking a picture of her friend N. Meta ... ! That building in the center there used to look so much better - two years ago when we were there, the roof was completely overgrown with lily of the valley. We were so disappointed to see it like this. I hope it's just in preparation for turfing it over again.

trilltrall gazing upon the beauteous scenery. I'm really happy with this shot, I think it came out great. :-)

KAS and trilltrall posing for me. Check out all the heartsease growing on the roof of the building behind them ... !! It was soo pretty. I want that roof on my house. :-)

National romanticism all the way ... !! :-D

I will be posting more pictures from the Folk Museum later, so don't be a stranger. :-)

4 comments:

Paz said...

great shots, love the Bunads, the red stockings,shoes,stitched belt and the white shirts. Cool that ye go all out for the day.
a couple of questions the broaches are they part of the costume, its hard to see them and you seem to be wearing some sort of badge and ribbon on left breast, that part of the costume too.
Is the stitched belt your grandmothers too?
looked like ye had a great day and I thought the roof is pretty cool too.

Paz said...

sorry forgot congratulations on the day!

Anne Ida said...

It was a wonderful day! Thanks for sharing some of your pictures!

Leisha Camden said...

Audi: stilig! Veldig fin bunad. Bare å sette i gang og sy da. ;-) Skal du ha dingsilknapp?? :-D

Paz: Yes, the silver brooches are part of the outfit. There are a gadzillion different ones, some bunads also have silver chains and silver-crusted belts. The badge with the ribbons though has nothing to do with the bunad ... it is something we wear on May 17th ... you are actually not supposed to wear them with bunads but I did anyway. ;-) I'll post a closeup of some of them sometime so you can see what it looks like. :-) The belt was also my grandmother's, yes. Everything I'm wearing in the picture was hers except the silver (badge included) and the shoes.

We did have a wonderful day, a perfect Constitution Day. Yay. :-)

Anne Ida, you're welcome! I have lots more pictures too, just let me know if you want them all. :-)