Norwegian Constitution Day is always a bright, beloved, and main national holiday of the country! It is celebrated annually on May 17th. In 2024, we joined the celebration in the city of Hamar, on the shores of Norway's largest lake, Mjøsa.
On the holiday's eve, children and adults diligently rehearse marches and melodies, and even come up with funny congratulations or chants. And they also take out their most important treasure from the cabinets - “Bunad”. This is the Norwegian national costume. They can be very different, the embroidery and style depend on the area in which the person was born or lives.
Almost every Norwegian has such a costume, it is an important part of the tradition. It is customary to wear a Bunad on all important holidays: weddings, communions, 17th May, children's christenings, and sometimes Easter. It is worth noting that all costumes are handmade using silver jewelry, so they are expensive! And admiring them on the streets on 17th May is a real pleasure!
Also on this day, houses and cars are decorated with flags, and people in national costumes take to the streets, organize festive processions, concerts, and sing songs. The spectacle is very colorful and impressive. Everyone smiles, congratulates each other on the country's birthday, and hugs!
Every year on 17th May, smartly dressed Norwegian schoolchildren hold festive processions. Orchestras also necessarily participate in parades.
And at the end of the holiday, the “Russ” parade took place in the city of Hamar. This is a crowd of cheerful young people in multi-colored pants, by the way, the color of the pants depends on the specialization chosen in high school. According to tradition, all Norwegian school leavers empty their piggy banks from the end of April to May 17th and have fun to the fullest before their exams!
They also wear cute hats with a tassel and make funny business cards on which they write something about themselves or whatever comes to mind! Such cards are valuable for all young children who someday dream of becoming Russ and therefore collect such business cards for their collection.
After the official part, the holiday continues, people walk around the city, communicate, and enjoy the first warmth of spring! And after having fun, Norwegians with their whole family go to restaurants or go home for a festive dinner. In general, festivities can continue until late at night.
In this video, we invite you to spend with us the main spring day for all Norwegians - 17th May in the city of Hamar. We are sure the brightness of this video will please your eyes!
We really hope you enjoy the video! We tried very hard, and as always it was a real challenge to ourselves. After all, filming in a cheerful crowd of celebrating people is not very easy.
And the parade in the city of Hamar is quite fast, as it doesn’t stop, and people just walk along a route of about 3 km at a very decent speed! So we literally had to run behind the procession through the crowd with cameras and tripods in our hands to change angles and not miss anything. And the thermometer that day showed +28!
Thank you very much for traveling with Us! Feel free to ask your questions and write your wishes in the comments, we are always pleased to read them! ;)
And if you want to support us, or treat us with cold Ice cream, then follow this link and become a member of our channel’s club! We will be extremely grateful to you! :)
/ @crazytroll
About Us:
We live in the south of Norway and travel around the country with a Hymer Eriba Troll 530 Rockabilly caravan called "CrazyTroll". And also on a Tesla electric car with a tent on the roof. We have videos on our channel about our travels and adventures, useful tips, and drone videos of the most beautiful places in Norway.
Filmed and edited by CrazyTroll team
Filmed by DJI Mavic Mini Drone, iPhone 12Pro + DJI OSMO mobile 3, Nikon z7, Insta360 x2
Edited with Final Cut Pro X.
Music from Epidemic Sound:
Tim's Livelyhood - Howard Harper-Barnes
The Adventure Begins - Philip Ayers
The New Black - Mary Riddle
No Regretting - Tricycle Riot
Play Loud March Proud - Mary Riddle
Band Camp - Mary Riddle
Date: 17.05.2024
Homepage - crazytroll.no/
Instagram - / crazytroll.no
#Norway