The walk to sentrum the morning of 17. Mai 2009.
Crowds lining the streets, waiting for the School Parade to begin.
The parade begins (once the bus gets through).
Marte is from Telemark and is studying biology at the university.
There were several bands--we had heard them practicing for several weeks before, marching down the streets near our apartment.
The groups carried banners to identify their schools.
These are Sami costumes.
Even very little ones have bunads.
Mike is next to Marte, and the couple next to her are both doctors that work at the hospital in Tromsø--he is Austrian, and I think she is German.
After high school graduation, some young people take a year before deciding what course to pursue. During that time, some attend what is called "Bible School" which is a year of intensive study of ... you guessed it ... the Bible. That's their banner above.
This is a sample of the "russ"--this year's high school graduates--in their outfits.
The milling crowd at torget (the market square), after the parade has ended.
Looking down the pedestrian shopping street.
This is Rasmus in his bunad. He is Mike's office mate. He plays in the orchestra, and is an avid fisherman. There's a video of him on youtube diving, killing a wolf fish. And he bakes bread too. He's a real renaissance man!
The men's choir, standing in front of statue of Roald Amundsen, that we heard as we were having our lunch.
Memorial to Jewish citizens killed during WWII.
Crowd outside Domkirke (photos above and below).
May 17 is Constitution Day in Norway. It's a lot like our Fourth of July, with parades and lots of flags. The Norwegian Constitution was adopted in 1814, after Denmark, who had sided with Napoleon, was defeated and had to cede their possession of Norway to Sweden. Norwegians objected to this, and declared their independence on May 17, 1814. The Swedes invaded, and Norway was forced to accept the union with Sweden. The Norwegians did, however, retain their separate constitution and assemblies. The union was finally dissolved in 1905. For more (and better) information see http://www.norway.org/culture/heritage/nationalday.htm, and wikipedia has an article about the split with Denmark at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark%E2%80%93Norway#Napoleonic_Wars_and_end_of_the_Union.
17. Mai 2009 happened to fall on Sunday, and this year it turned out to be sunny and pretty warm--last year, we were told, Tromsø got about 20 centimeters of snow on May 17--so we were quite lucky! Activities began at 7 a.m. with the raising of the flag at the Scout House, a speech by the mayor, and then a scout parade that moved from monument to monument. Monuments include statues of Roald Amundsen (polar explorer), King Haakon VII (first king of Norway after separation from Sweden in 1905), King Olaf V (son of Haakon VII and his successor), and a memorial to Jewish residents that perished and another for victims of the Gestapo in WWII. According to the program there were speeches and special music at each stop. We didn't make it down that early!
Mike and I went down to sentrum for the School Parade, which started about 11, in which all of the schools participate. From the photos above, you can see bunads (traditional Norwegian clothing) from different areas. The styles are significant, and if you are familiar with them, you can tell what part of Norway someone's family comes from, just by the style and decorations. It is a way to show pride of place, and to express patriotism. The Norwegians also wear their bunads for important occasions such as baptisms, confirmations, weddings, etc.
After the parade we went to the church service at Domkirke. We intended to go to a concert after that, where one of Mike's collegues from the university would be playing in the orchestra, but by the time we arrived, the place was already packed. So, we walked a bit, and decided to have the lunch we had packed over by the water. We found a bench and while we sat, we heard a men's choir singing (beautifully), "Fedrelandssalmen"--the national hymn of Norway (listen to a version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8pepX6S-hI&feature=related). We walked around the corner to find the choir standing in front of the statue of Roald Amundsen. The choir continued to sing other songs, including the nation anthem, "Ja Vi Elsker Dette Landet" (Yes, We Love Our Land (listen to a version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhhStVKawbk&feature=related). It was beautiful, and very stirring.
When their concert was finished, we wandered on through the crowd, and stood in line for some ice cream (wonderful ice cream here!). While we were enjoying our ice cream the "Russetoget" began--that is a parade just for the high school students who are graduating. Needless to say, it was not quite so "traditional"--gone were the bunads in favor of more contemporary styles, and the music was ... well ... let's say, "different." The graduates wear baggy pants with the name of their school, the year, the flag, and lots of other stuff. I found a video of this year's parade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXuRkQL94HM (kids these days! :-). The young boys here like to wear their hair in a style that Mike calls "through a hedge backwards"--that's the only way he can figure that they manage to get their hair to stick up in so many different directions. And, oh yeah, whistles were very popular.
We wandered a bit more, and saw some other friends, then decided to head up the hill to home. There was another parade (the "People's Parade") at 4:30, but we decided not to stay (frankly, I was just tired! I'm getting so old ...). Though Mike has been to Norway many times, this was his first 17. Mai, and he was so glad to be able to experience this important day in his mother's homeland.
