Almost every country has some sort of national day. In Norway our national day is today. After being part of the Danish autocracy for 400 years, Norway got its own constitution ont the 17 May 1814.
There are no military parades on the 17 May. On the contrary. It is the colourful prosessions of children with their flags that play the main role. And the day is celebrated with as much enthusiasm in small villages as in the cities and in the capital city of Oslo. Since I have lived in villages the last years, all my pictures are from small places, and there are more photos in my photo album. Our national costumes are called bunad.
Bunad from Tydal, and from Selbu.
Bente Haarstad Photography 
It’s so important to hang onto traditions like this, lest we are all swallowed up in a beige melting pot.
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I agree, Anneli. Some melting pot is good and necessary, but it would be very boring if we were all exactly alike.
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I hope you have a wonderful day 🙂
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Yes, thanks, Keira, it was 17 May as usual.
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An event I’m determined to photograph at some point…! Have a great day ;~)
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I guess it could be interesting to photograph, like this kind of festivity in other countries.
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I missed it by one day a couple of years ago, unfortunately – had to fly out of Bergen on the 16th…
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Congratulations on your National Day…thank you for sharing, Bente. 🙂
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Thanks, Seekraz.
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Keep the militray and politician out……Enjoy the celebrations
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The military have never been in on this day, and will not..
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Celebrate with joy, peace for all people in a beautiful country with beautiful people.
You are in one of the photos?
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Peace is a good thing to celebrate. And no, I am hardly ever in any photo, and not these ones..
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Congratulation. I like the atmosphere of The People’s day !
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Thanks a lot, Yoshizen.
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Here in America we say “Happy 4th of July”…so…Happy 17th of May!
Such beautiful clothes and the fact that the focus is on the children carrying the flags?…That’s a beautiful idea.
~d.
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More countries should try this way maybe..?
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Always interesting to get to know about history.
Our national day (Belgium) is on 21th of july.
We don’t say ‘happy 21th of july’, we just have a holiday and a military parade for the king and queen.
Nice folkloristic clothing.
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Nice to learn about your way of doing it, Mark.
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This was an interesting blog, i had no idee that it was your national holiday. Happy 17th of May!!! In Belgium our national holiday is 21th of juli.
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Thanks, Geedebee.
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Happy Norway Day Bente! 🙂
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Thanks, Cillbrook.
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How nice! I regret that my close friend Harald Fodstadt did not have a chance to fill me in on your culture before illness overtook him.
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Sorry about your friend Victor. And thanks.
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I love the beauty of your country and the spirit of the people of Norway… really hope to visit in the future. Enjoy your day, Bente!
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Thanks a lot, Josh.
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Love the costumes, they have bright cheerful colors. Enjoy your national day!
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Thanks, Ms. Olmo.
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Glorious photos that capture the essence of that gentle Norwegian spirit.
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Thanks a lot, Geek.
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Oh dear Bente, you seem so beautiful and your costume too… This is beautiful, Thank you, have a nice National Day, Love, nia
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Thanks a lot, dear Nia. But it is not me in any photo (I am hardly ever in any photo)..
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Grattis pà nationaldagen, en annan har ju tvà nationaldagar nuförtiden, fast de nordiska nationaldagarna är varmare pà nàgot vis…
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Takk for det. You will be celebrating even 14 July. Was in Paris once on that day. It was nice.
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Love the marchiing band. I am looking forward to visiting Norway later in the year.
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So hope you will enjoy it, and that the weather will not be too bad.
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Love the costumes! Happy National Day Bente!
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Thanks a lot, Madhu.
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An aunt by marriage is of Norwegian descent, so as she says, “Happy Sytttende Mai!”
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Tusen takk – thanks a lot.
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I love that it is your children who are highlighted, rather than the military. I feel we’ve gone way overboard on the military in my country. Thank you for sharing this.
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The military is nowere around. This is the peoples festivity, and especially the childrens day. They get a lot of icecream.
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I love your pictures. The photos in your photo album are beautiful…
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Thanks for looking, MennoG.
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Bellos trajes de la región y bonita fiesta noruega, el aniversario de vuestra independencia.
Un abrazo
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Mucho grazias. En abrazo for you, Mercedes.
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What a coincidence: we celebrate this day too… We call it “Día das Letras Galegas” (day of the galician letters).
Hugs. Jota.
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Hi,
Great photos, and I love the costumes. It is good to see traditions still going in some country’s.
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Happy belated National Day, Bente! I love seeing how in a such developed country like Norway people still celebrate the National Day with traditional costume!
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Happy National Day 🙂
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Beautiful costumes, beautiful people.
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Love that Norway’s national day is of people, colour & flags and celebrated with enthusiam. The weather looks cool still, I hope the day heralds the approach of warmer weather 🙂
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Thank you so much for sharing this…I love seeing the costumes and the heritage…I am proud to be a part of Norway:) I have the same small flag and I love it. Thank you:)
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Love the idea wearing traditional costumes on a National Day.
We have a National Day and celebrations with a public holiday, but no traditional costume for the white settlement in Australia, which was based on English traditions starting in 1788.
Beautiful costume in the first photo.
Hope you had an enjoyable day.
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La falda roja también está en el traje regional de toda la cornisa del Cantábrico; seguro que en Europa prevalece la imagen del sur de España (sol y flamenco), pero me ha llamado la atención el hecho de que tus imágenes de la fiesta noruega no son muy distintas de las romerías del norte de España, con nuestros cielos grises y la niebla de las montañas.
Me han encantado los encajes y el pañuelo de la primera foto; son unas imágenes preciosas.
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Hi José, I translate, that is by google: “The red skirt is also in the costumes of all the Cantabrian cornice; sure that prevails in Europe the image of southern Spain (sun and flamenco), but I was struck by the fact that your images of the Feast of Norwegian are very different from the pilgrimage in northern Spain, with our gray skies and misty mountains.
I’ve loved the lace and handkerchief in the first picture, are some beautiful images.”
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Marvelous photos and reason to celebrate ~ Thank you ~ Sincerely Deborah
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What a great day and nice costume. I like such happy event, especially music. 🙂
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Wouldn’t it be good if every country focussed on the children rather than the military on the national day…?
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Me gustan mucho tus imágemes, espero que hallas pasado un gran día, saludos
I like very much your imágemes, I hope that you find spent a great day, regards
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Härliga underbara för mig nostalgiska bilder. Inte ser det ut så där hos oss i Sverige den 6 juni.//Veronika
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Nice post. We were in Norway a number of years ago and I loved the fact that the Norwegians seemed to know exactly what it was to be Norwegian.
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