17. May, Norway’s national day. In 1814, our constitution was signed, and today this is mostly the childrens day. Our parades is with and for the civilians, no military parades.In Bergen where I live, they sometimes tends towards carnival. We have 3 municipal parades, the first at 0700 in the morning, mostly with our russ (highschool graduates), then two at midday, one mainly with children, the other with our Universities and organisations. And in the afternoon, there are lokal parades at the different schools. Salute are fired at 0700 and 1100, and then fireworks at 2300.Here are some pictures from todays celebration. First two pictures of our lokal buekorps, Laksevaag bueskyttere, on their way to the centre of the city:
Buekorps is an old tradition in Bergen, more than 150 years old, and started as a copy of the grown ups as they drilled for war. Today they are organisations with and run by children, doing drumming, marching and sports. The different buekorps compete against each others, and entertain the city on several occations.
And here are Laksevåg Bueskyttere in the parade:
And here are some of the children, many in national costumes: