Talk:Constitution Day (Norway)

May 17
Does anybody have any good overview pictures of the children's parade in Oslo to illustrate the article? Ilmarinen 18:51, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Maybe you can use this image: http://www.vg.no/bilder/bildarkiv/1089870458.57984.jpg ? It's from a national newspaper (VG). Article: http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=234878 - Anon

hahaha, someone should fix this article: "followed by a handful of other older children carrying full size Norwegian flags and the school’s marching band."

The schools usualy dont have their own Marching bands (who wrote this??)the marching bands are independent bands, and are mixed in between the schools(in the parade). AND Kindergardens are represented as individual institutions. There is only 1 parade pr city, and the comitee of the 17may (members of this cometee are apoited by the city coucil)decides where the one parade will go. The text make it seems like it is the schools who arrange individual parades. That is not the case. And in the front of the parade will be parade police, scouts carying the flag of Norway and then the mayour and the city council, the 17 may comitee..and after this there will be marching bands, kindergarden and Schools mixed .. the order of where the band, schools and kindergardens are decided by the 17 may comitee.

In many cities they also have Parade of the citisen that will be later in the afternoon, where publicv and private organisations will march. And the same bands that played in the children parade will pmach in this also.

the School and organization who has the most entusiastic parole will winn a trophy. 1 price for each parade. This trophy is called "Vandrepokalen" and they can keep it until next 17 may. If they winn it consequently 5 years in row, they can keep it. --DagTore 01:10, 17 May 2007 (UTC)


 * In Bergen the children parade (flaggtoget) and the parade of the citizen (hovedprosesjonen) takes place at the same time and place, only going in opposite direction.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.177.64.73 (talk) 11:51, 27 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Schools usually have their own bands, at least in Oslo, and there are few independent bands in the parade in the capital. There can absolutely be more than one parade per city. To limit the length of the main parade in Oslo, schools can only participate every second year or so. The other years they will organize a local parade, possibly in cooperation with nearby schools, but not necessarily. Also, only teachers and schoolchildren participate in the schools' parade. Others citizens, scouts etc usually organize their own parade. All this is seen from a Oslo perspective, Things may be different elsewhere. What the parent poster wrote does not apply nationwide. hgrenbor (talk) 11:41, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Section removed from article
Bay Ridge Brooklyn, NY is an example of such festivities.

http://bayridge.net/calendar/ reports:

Sunday May 20 2007

56th Annual Norwegian Constitution Day Parade: The parade will step off from it's lineup point of 88th Street and Fifth Avenue promptly at 1:30 pm rain or shine. It will proceed up Fifth Avenue to 67th Street and then head up to Leif Ericson Park past the grandstand located between Sixth and Seveth Avenues. The theme for the 2007 parade is "Songs of Norway" commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the death of Edvard Grieg. A short program will follow the parade at the grandstand at 3:30 pm. Visit our website at www.may17paradeny.com. Contact name: Evald Olson Tel: 718-745-6653 Email:

Months
Syttende mai —- they don't capitalize months in Norwegian? Sca (talk) 16:32, 18 May 2009 (UTC)


 * No, we don't. hgrenbor (talk) 11:26, 20 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Additionally, 17 means seventeen while 17. means (the) seventeenth. And we don't capitalize days of the week, either, nor adjectives like norwegian, american, etc.  I wonder if that developed as a reaction (an over-reaction) to the (perceived) over-capitalization in Danish.(?)  Hordaland (talk) 21:13, 16 November 2009 (UTC)


 * True, and from the over-capitalization in German, as well.--Eisfbnore (talk) 15:06, 17 May 2010 (UTC)


 * There is no consistency between how the date is written in this article. It looks v. messy. Should it be 17th May / the 17th of May, May 17th etc.? Syttende mai is correct in Norwegian, or 17. mai, but 17. May is not used in English. Currywuss (talk) 14:30, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

Søttende?
The dictionary says that søtten is a different way to say Satan. Many people pronounce it "søtten", but it is not correct to write it. The only correct way to write it in Norwegian in "sytten". 85.164.7.218 (talk) 12:16, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Right. There are also other ways of pronouncing the word in various dialects, which are not usually written.  In one dialect, 17 = SOW-chahn while people just a few valleys away don't even understand that word.  ;-)  Hordaland (talk) 21:19, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

What?
"The fact that children parading and waving Norwegian flags is such a central part of an inclusive celebration has to a certain extent protected the Norwegian flag against being misused by fascist groups." I have no idea how that can be... 83.108.193.157 (talk) 23:08, 18 July 2009 (UTC)


 * That may be someone's opinion. Anyway, it was unattributed so I removed it. __meco (talk) 23:53, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Background...
"The Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to be an independent nation."

Technically true but the constitution was changed after a brief war with Sweden, the Swedish-Norwegian War (1814) after which Norway entered a union with Sweden. The actual independence wasn't reached till 1905. So what we're really celebrating on the constitution day is democracy, freedom of speech and all those other things secured by the constitution even after entering an union with Sweden. Well, that's how I look at it.. The sentence quoted above makes the constitution day sound like an independence day, something it simply isn't. At any rate I would suggest adding a few notes about Norway being ceded to Sweden by Denmark after losing the napoleonic wars (the bombing of Copenhagen, theft of the Danish-Norwegian fleet and blockade of Denmark-Norway and all of that) and that the signing of the constitution was a failed attempt at independence. Luredreier 03:55, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Prairie Home Companion
Garrison Keillor marks it on the show, and has several times claimed that it celebrates the liberation of Norway from the yoke of Swedish imperialism... AnonMoos (talk) 00:55, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Minneapolis
Mention should be made in this article of the annual observation of Syttende Mai in Minneapolis, where the Sons of Norway is based. When I was a kid growing up there, it was held in Minnehaha Park. Sca (talk) 11:58, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Name of article
The article says that "Norwegian constitution day" is used less frequently. Wouldn't that be sufficient grounds for moving it to something like National Day of Norway? Vaughan Pratt (talk) 06:19, 29 January 2018 (UTC)