17th May

For this post I will take you on a U-turn from the whiny scepticism of my previous effort to a joyful account of what took (and always takes) place last Sunday. It was Norway's national day, on which they celebrate the signing of their constitution on 17th May, 1814. Now, I was suprised to find out that Norway has only been independent since 1905, having previously been ruled by the Danish and later the Swedish crown for over 400 years. Due this fact, the Norwegians have cultivated an extremely strong sense of national identity and love of their country which would quite possibly make us baulk back in England. Seeing the Norwegian flag hung from every house and waving in every child's hand, I realised that when I see the Union Jack, I'm more likely to think of the BNP, and when I see the St. George's cross, more likely to think of skinhead football idiots, than of the country of which I am a citizen. This is a kind of patriotism unrelated to the success of the national football team or the 'British jobs for British workers' Brown-bullshit we get fed at home (nice image), it's more an appreciation of living in a democratic and friendly state and living in a beautiful country (which just happens to be bloody freezing, but that's by the by). I think it's a nice idea. That's not to say it doesn't border on the arrogant and snobby among some Norwegians, of course, but in general they showed me that patriotism doesn't have to be cheesy or repulsive. As is tradition, the day started for me with breakfast at a colleague's house on her rooftop terrace in the brilliant sunshine. We had got lucky, last year it snowed. The party consisted of three French people, one Norwegian and yours truly, so heavily-weighted towards foreigners, but it didn't seem to matter. Afterwards we walked down into the town centre amidst a jubilant carnival atmosphere, the crowd peppered with women and men in traditional costume, the bunad. Those not wearing the bunad were either dressed up to the nines, or tourists.
A girl wearing a bunad, leaning out of the window of Stortinget (the parliament) to watch the parade.

We then came to Oslo's main street, Karl Johans Gate, where the childrens' parade had already started. I have rarely seen so many people gathered in one place in my life:
Children from all of Oslo's schools were parading, in a parade so long it took 3 hours to finish. Away from the parade, people were gathered around the palace and in the neighbouring streets, tucking into the traditional dishes of hotdogs and ice-cream (not at the same time!) and generally having a good time. The 'russ' (school leavers) were strutting about like they owned the place and enjoying being rowdy and pissed, celebrating the last day of their celebrating.
Pictured: some russ partying on top of their bus at Solli Plass

After the childrens' parade there was some traditional choral singing on the University steps, which was most excellent. We rounded off the day with dinner in the park and a few drinks, by which point we were exhausted and somewhat less than ready to go to work the next day. I can say the same of the russ who had their first exams the next day too!