The national day in Norway is on 17 May. Why are we celebrating this particular day, and what does really the national song mean for us when singing it?
The national day in Norway is on Sunday 17 May. On this special day in 1814, The Constitution of Norway was dated and signed of the presidency in the national assembly at Eidsvoll. This was really a day for all Norway either at home or abroad, and still we are celebrated this day in different nations. And that is good marketing for Norway. Nobody can never claim to be king of us. You and I determine our lives completely. And some stress that nobody can ever be a prophet in her or his own country. But we can ignore that fact, and be the authority of our own lives. After signing the Constitution of Norway in 1814, the assembly then elected unanimously the ruler, prince Christian Frederik, to king of an independent Norway.
The 17 May is public holiday and official flag day in Norway. Norway has en exciting and an interesting history. And we have been in several unions. From 1380 to 1814, Norway was in union with Denmark, and therefore many people in Norway are still talking a bit Danish in their mother tongue, and we are learning to talk in this way since we were born! It is fascinating with Norway. Think of the country called for Agder. Everybody living up there, has Danish in their mouth, and they are speaking the Danish language fluently when just having a potato in their mouth! But Norway was in a long lasting union with Denmark, more than 400 years. And every child at every school in Norway can compete about making the best and the most creative contribution to our national day. Every ethnic grouping should be away, and try to find the meaning and the funny things in life, and love people from all environments, and be an open and reflected mind of everything!
The union with Denmark from 1380 was governed by Denmark, and the governing of Norway was done from the Danish capital Copenhagen. Copenhagen is a great and warm city today, and we can be loved their, coming travelling from one of all the angles you can find in nature! After being together with Denmark to 1814, Sweden went into a union with Norway from 1814 to 1905. This union was governed by Carl Johan from Sweden, and this is the reason you find the main road in Oslo named after him, and you also find a statue of him, riding on a horse! King Carl Johan took the slogan: «The people’s love is my reward». So, he enjoyed people and they gave themselves warmth from both sides in the relation.
The author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was leading in Norway. And he did not put things into nothing, but he formed the socities by his writing. Norway is a democracy, and the masses are thinking and doing much philosophy in bringing thoughts on the agenda. Norway is a free country today, and we have landscape, people, animals, and houses and cottages placed around our country. These places in nature, we are seeking peace of mind within. And we cannot tell everyone how to live the life, and the literature and the philosophy through all times, are pointing on individual freedom to be the essence of life!
Should you accept things coming from different persons defining reality, and information from boards in closed communities? No, you should be free and thinking, meant the Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and he received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1903. Norway’s national anthem is named: «Yes, we love this country!», and in this song we are singing about the variations in nature with fjords, mountains and valleys, and we are also singing about the weather that has sometimes been strong in the nature of Norway. In this song, we are also thinking about the farmers, and people doing different works to the pleasure of many people. The national anthem to Norway is
a song with 8 verses written of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in the first version in 1859. But the song is outdated today, and it has a conservative view of the women! But in the first verse, Bjørnstjerne is writing about the saga, and that Snorre Sturlason sometimes back in time, wanted to take Norway, and he also dreamt about it!
We are using the national song of Norway to many purposes, for instance when we are celebrating the national day, when we are getting medals on skiing in the winter, and for different exercises during the summer and the autumn. The national song is also about having the life in easy ways, as we have had in Norway with houses and cottages. So traditionally, there have not been too many ceremonies with Norway. But we have been in several wars, for instance against the English during the Napoleonic wars. And the poem «Terje Vigen» made of Henrik Ibsen is an example of what to do, when where is war, and when the people of England made a blockade when people should fetch grain during the war. You always need something to eat to live a good and a normal life!
So, what should we do today? Norway’s national song is written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and the music to it is composed by Rikard Nordraak! We are celebrating these persons today, also on our national day, the 17 May! And it is said about Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson that he had many more associations than normal citizens. This is the way the future goes, into literature and knowing even more! Maybe, Norway should have a new national song being more updated to what is going on, and maybe we should be modern in our national songs in every country! We should make things that are representative of where we come from!
Congratulations with your national day, the people from Norway! And good luck for everything you are doing, or that you are tempting to do!
Please do follow if you want to keep up with my next article. Any upvotes or resteems are hugely appreciated!
Latest article, check out :
Article - On working in working life: The importance of freedom for understanding and development!
Sverre Larsen
Kristiansand, Norway
Read about us? // Main page!
Latest content: Travel, Art, Food, Article, Poetry