17. Mai - Norwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway

Norwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai (meaning May Seventeenth), Nasjonaldagen (The National Day) or Grunnlovsdagen (The Constitution Day), although the latter is less frequent.

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


A noteworthy aspect of the Norwegian Constitution Day is its very non-military nature. All over Norway, children's parades with an abundance of flags form the central elements of the celebration. Each elementary school district arranges its own parade with marching bands between schools. The parade takes the children through the community, often making stops at homes of senior citizens, war memorials, etc. The longest parade is in Oslo, where some 100,000 people travel to the city centre to participate in the main festivities. This is broadcast on TV every year, with comments on costumes, banners etc., together with local reports from celebrations around the country. The massive Oslo parade includes some 100 schools, marching bands, and passes the royal palace where the royal family greet the people from the main balcony.
Typically a school’s children parade will consist of some senior school children carrying the school’s official banner, followed by a handful of other older children carrying full size Norwegian flags, and the school’s marching band. After the band the rest of the school children follow with hand sized flags, often with the junior forms first, and often behind self made banners for each form or even individual class. Nearby kindergartens may also have been invited to join in. As the parade passes, bystanders often join in behind the official parade, and follow the parade back to the school. Depending on the community, the parade may make stops at particular sites along the route, such as a nursing home or war memorial. In Oslo the parade stops at the Royal Palace while Skaugum, the home of the crown prince, has been a traditional waypoint for parades in Asker.
During the parade a marching band will play and the children will sing lyrics about the celebration of the National Day. The parade concludes with the stationary singing of the national anthem "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" (typically verses 1, 7 and 8), and the royal anthem "Kongesangen".
In addition to flags, people typically wear red, white and blue ribbons. Although a long-standing tradition, it has lately become more popular for men, women, and children to wear traditional outfits, called bunad. The children also make a lot of noise shouting "Hurra!", singing, blowing whistles and shaking rattles.
In addition to children's parades, there are parades for the public, where every citizen is welcome to join in. These are led by marching bands and often local boy scouts and girl guides, local choirs, etc. This takes place in the early morning or in the afternoon, before or after the school's parade.
All parades begin or end with speeches. Both grown-ups and older children are invited to speak. After the parades, there are games for the children, and often a lot of icecream, pop, sweets and hotdogs are consumed.

From Wikipedia. If you search "Norwegian Constitution Day, you can read more about 17.mai.

The library/office

I have finished my library/office in the M house. Maybe later there will be more books or other small details but right now I consider it to be finished.

 

Love the firplace, but I can see from the picture that I have to fix the firewood.

Details for the library/office

I have made some small accessories for the library/office

A magazine holder, waste bin and an archive folder
The waste bin has wood/veneers around the top

The letters and postcard are from Norma . In 2011 I won a giveaway from her, among other wonderful things I got these letters and cards.

My first two self-made upholstered chairs

I have finally made chairs myself!  I had my doubts about whether I could do it, so I'm pretty happy with the result even if they are far from perfect.

For the library / office

And a smaller chair for the bedroom

  

New friends

Welcome all new followers, I`m very happy to see you here :) !

We went home yesterday, after more than a week in the mountain.

In Norway, at Easter a lot of people go to the mountain, to their cabins or to hotels.  It`s like a tradition to a lot of people. This year it has been a fantastic weather in the east and south of Norway. 

The valley.......

...... where I live. Been out walking in the beautiful weather we have today, took some pictures:

Books

I have made some books for the library/office.  I have room for many more, but I don`t feel for doing that right now - later :).  I scanned covers of books from my own bookshelf, and then shrunk them on the pc (pices of wood inside the covers). They are smaller then books I have bought (the books with blank pages you know), but when I measures mine they seems to be in right size. Anybody out there who have noticed this or didn`t I do them in right sizes?  Here are my books: