Norway’s Constitution Day festivities adapt to coronavirus restrictions and children’s parades all over Norway have been cancelled for the first time since the Second World War. In the capital city of Oslo 30,000 pupils would take part in the children’s parade to the Royal Palace under normal circumstances.
Constitution Day, 17 May, is the Norwegian national day and a public holiday. The Constitution of Norway, the basis for the country’s independence and democracy, was signed on 17 May 1814.
Celebrations centre around activities for children. 17 May is a big day for schools, kindergartens, marching bands and choirs, for scouting, sports and many other kinds of associations. Traditionally, Norwegians have lunch with friends, family, classmates or neighbours. It is also customary that many wear traditional Norwegian clothing (bunad).
This year, children’s parades (barnetog) all over Norway are cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under normal circumstances, parades would be arranged in all of the country’s 356 municipalities.
The largest and most well known children’s parade is the one in central Oslo. Normally, no less than 30,000 children from 115 schools take part in the parade down the Karl Johan boulevard to the Royal Palace where King Harald and the Royal Family greet the children from the balcony.
“We concluded that the children’s parade in the centre of Oslo isn’t compatible with coronavirus restrictions,” Pia Farstad von Hall, President of Oslo’s May 17th Committee, said to Aftenposten on 14 April 2020. “It was difficult to cancel the event. This is important for people,” she added.
Now, Norway is in the process of easing social distancing rules. The government allows private assemblies of up to 20 people. For larger events, up to 50 people will be allowed.
Therefore, there will be many smaller parades around the country today. A lot of creativity have been put into arranging national day activities which do not require large groups of people to be in the same place at once.
The Norwegian national day on 17 May may well be the biggest flag event in the Nordic countries. National day celebrations in Sweden, Finland and Denmark come no way near the Norwegian level when it comes to the number of flags used and patriotic enthusiasm showed.
Anton Pihl 