Dress up, take the red-blue-white flag and get drunk. Panorama followed those instructions and looked at the 17.mai celebrations through the eyes of a newcomer – but without the last point.
By RAPHAELA OSSBERGER, BENJAMIN MOEYERSONS (photo), JAVID BAGHIROV (video) & FYNN HEISCH (video)
First thing: learn how to greet people on that day. A simple “Hei” is not enough. A suffixed “Gratulerer med dagen” or “God syttende mai” is a must on that day.
And if you don’t have a Norwegian flag: Don’t steal one of those hanging around in the city – that’s absolutely not Norwegian!
At 10 a.m. the celebrations were kicked-off with the children’s parade through the city center. Perceived thousands of kids in all ages waving their flags, singing songs represented their kindergartens and schools. During this joyful parade you just realize how many kindergartens Molde has – and where all those people crowding the streets hide during the rest of the year.
At 1 p.m. the celebrations started at HiMolde, offering hotdogs, coffee and two huge “festkaker” with a Norwegian flag made out of strawberries, cream and blueberries made by HiMolde’s canteen.
Since it is an unwritten rule for the 17 of May that you are allowed to eat as much sausages and cake as you want, it did not take long until there were only some pieces left. On a day like that, no one cares about calories.
Also an unwritten “syttende mai”-rule: No matter what weather the days before and after, on the National day the sun is always shining. So the students celebrated outside and enjoyed the warm weather in sundresses. Some Norwegians of course wore their traditional bunad, curiously and also a little bit jealously eyed by the internationals for having such a tradition.
More photos in this Facebook album
If you ever wondered about these cloths, this day is the best time to ask questions like “Is it actually hot in these cloths?” “What do the medals you are wearing stand for?” Answer to question number one: “In this warm weather – yes.” Answer for the second question: “I don’t know. You can just buy them in a shop.” Asking the Norwegian students who did not wear a bunad that day, they simply answered: “Too expensive.” Unsurprisingly, considering prices of about 30,000 NOK.
After the festivities at the university, the whole crowd headed on to the city center to either actively join or just watch the parade. Like the last years, HiMolde was represented by a bunch of students led by iStudent leader Vegard Øye. Wherever you looked at, there were Norwegian flags in all sizes all around in the city center what created that very special patriotic atmosphere that is considered to be unique in Europe.
And guess what: just after the parade was finished, the clouds came back – a sign that 17th of May is over for this year.
Hip hip hurra!
https://www.facebook.com/javid.baghirov.3/videos/10213614157614686/