Independence day 17 of May

Bergen on May 17 is a festive day of joyful celebration and spoiled brats spilling their ice. Independence, national pride and tradition dictate the local events, after all, we're celebrating our independence.
In Bergen and everywhere else  starts with a parade, where people walk in honor of the day and to be social. The one in town also has a commercial aspect to it, since various clubs, organizations and schools highlight their pride and existence. From reenactment, to cheerleaders, museums, larp and a slew of other ones. Those whom abstain from the human train usually watch as it walks by. Outside of Bergen people aslo do the walk. However those are a lot more traditional, with a lot of people scoffing at colorful deviations from their precious norm. Such as dressing up in cosplay, to promote a club or the hobby.


Both men and women dress up in nice clothes, be it traditional folk dress or a fancy suit. Since Norway is an old country, the various places ask over have their own version of the bunad. A mainly black outfit, with elements of wite and lavish decoration. Red floral patterns is common place, while some of the clothes have blue or green around the chest area. These tailor made clothes is often inherited, along with their silver studded decorations. Which also makes it a very expensive to acquire one, but when you look at the number of times it's used through a life time. It will last longer than the wearer.

The exception from the festive clothes includes high school graduates, whom dress up in various colored pants, depending on the course. Which we decorate with stickers, our name and the year, people also write various stuff on the pants as well. Most russ carry a card with a picture and some funny line. Kids loves to collect these colorful cards. Accompanying the work pants there is a long tailed cap. The idea is to complete challenges on a list. The range from relatively silly and simple, to dangerously stupid. Some focus on sex (a lot), whist some is about drinking and consuming some sort of food. There is an also a bit more combative side to this tradition. A good old fashioned red versus blue, the two most common russ colors. Green and black is pretty much non existent. Unfortunately this event has been commercialized to hades and back, with expensive apparel. Not to mention the horrendously expenses spent on rides. A lot of people insist on allocating a whole bus to this month long event. In essence its about sex, fooling around and celebrating the final year of high school.

The local schools host competitive events for children, people meet up and have  a merry time. Costuming cake, gallons of ice cream and a lot of hotdogs. When I grew up we usually held a very vicious water war. With a lot of water balloons being thrown around. Whilst dodging the crowd. Every now and then some collateral does occur, to the dismay of surrounding people.

This year the mayor held a speech, from top of a viking vessel shaped stage. Followed by the somber national anthem. A little bit later various parachute jumpers landed in the nearby fountain. A quite nifty commercial stunt I dare say. Eventually two tall poles with loot bags on top where raised up. The idea is that people can collect the swag on top, if they can climb up. It's an amusing spectacle, with few winners. It's only five meter tall. To be fair I can't do it at all, but the ones with most success did it barefoot.
All in all a good day, if you look away from the guy I lost in the crowd.
w.twitch.tv/zaceron
www.facebook.com/SandCos/
www.instagram.com/zapheron/
Njål Sand