17th of May again, and flags to the top!

The celebration in Norway of its Constitution Day, 17h of May, can maybe only be compared to the celebration of the 4th of July in the USA. Spain has its 12th of October, the French its 14th of July, and the Swedes celebrate their flag on June 6th. But, with all due respect, those celebrations are probably not quite the same when it comes to popular engagement, decorations and celebration. Or?

Happy Birthday !! ("Gratulerer med Dagen!" is the traditional norwegian way of greeting eachother on the 17th of May)

After 17th of May childrens parade in Oslo by the Royal Palace, and at a smaller place out in the country, in any weather.

This year's celebration will be the second during the Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore quite different from what you see in the pictures above. No ordinary children's parades in the streets and with marching bands and outdoor festivity, national costumes and stiffly decorated people, competitions in schoolyards around the country, breakfast parties with strawberries and champagne and many invited ... No, there will probably still be face masks to be seen, social distancing rules and hand disinfection bottles within gripping distance. In Madrid, the only public celebration in the Norwegian colony will be that the embassies invite for a 15-minute session in streaming.

But Norwegians know what May 17 can be and is, and we know what it does to the sense of community and a healthy sense of national pride. And let me emphasize the word healthy. It is important. No nationalist bullsh... and excluding intentions here, no.

Maybe July 4 in the USA can give a similar involvement of people with their parades, even though it is more of a show where you stand beside and watch as a spectator, than what Norwegian children's parades and the parade of the people are clearly not. Maybe apart from the Russ? (No, not) ... (Russ are the highschool graduates...) But they still have their gatherings with barbecues, and parties where many gather privately, at clubs, swimming pools ... fireworks. And there is also no tradition for military parades on National Day, as France and Spain, for example, have. Does anyone remember how the French reacted when Eva Joly, when she was a presidential candidate, suggested that France should have a children's parade instead of a military parade on 14 July?

Either way, it will not be right to compare. Every country has its own form of marking or celebrating, and one cannot make a universal standard for how this is to be done, or whether it is to be celebrated at all or not. Spain is rightly proud of its way of celebrating October 12th, on the occasion of the date of Columbus' arrival in America, and in conjunction with the celebration of Saint Pilar. In fact, the use of the flag in Spain has again become more accepted, and that helps. But as long as the autonomous regions, some with stated desires for independence from the nation of Spain, then of course this thing with a national celebration, and commitment all the way down to the citizen level and individual, a challenge that one does not strive for either. I think.

Día de la Hispanidad, 12th of october