It is the night of May 16 (when I write this), and like Norwegian women now and in the past, my working table tonight is the ironing board. Tomorrow is May 17, Norway's birthday, the day we got our Constitution, and The Bunads, the regional costumes, must be made ready for the celebrations.
May 17 is a holiday in Norway with celebrations from early morning. For us it starts at Marta's school at 8am with the raising of the flag and singing of the national anthem. Then all the children march in parades with brass bands in the lead. The celebration continues for us with games, plays and cafeterias at Marta's school, the children are allowed to eat as many ice creams as they want.
At 1pm the huge city parade starts downtown, with thousands of people taking part in the parade, even more thousands along the route, watching, and more brass bands than you can imagine.
In the afternoon a family dinner is a tradition in our family. Usually we are at my parents, but this time we will all gather at The House in the Woods. The menu is Sodd, a special meat soup - I will blog about it in The Blue Café soon. And icecake and "eggedosis" for dessert.
The photos are of Ingrid's bunad from the area/county of Rogaland, where Terje's family lives. I have a bunad from Trøndelag, and Marta has none for the moment. She has had several children's style bunads when she was younger, and will get her "real" one in four years, for her confirmation. It is soon time for her to decide from which region she wants it (it must be from a region where we have a family connection).
The Blue Café is dressed for celebration.
You can read more about May 17 here, and listen to our national anthem here. Ingrid and I in our bunads can be seen here, parts of my bunad here, and a few more bunadphotos here.
