The 17th of May celebrates Norwegian Constitution Day or Syttende Mai. Starts as wholesome day with children in parades and everyone dressed formally but the day ends like Preakness midfield. Women of all ages wore the traditional wear and Sharon spoke with a lady who spent $6,000 on her dress while another wore a family heirloom. Most older men wore traditional dress and younger men wore dark blue suits. It was very respectful – at least before 3pm. Apparently some of the moderation is that 17th of May eve is a big drinking night.
Stavanger is an oil town and very nice. Everything was closed except restaurants but it was a great place to be for 17th of May. The old part of the city has two pedestrian areas – one on the east side of the harbor which was commercial while the one of the west side is more historic and goes back to the 1600’s.
So if you ever go to Norway – make sure to go on 17th of May. Separate videos to follow that show the festivities.
Also for full disclosure – in person, the parades were awesome and very wholesome. However, in looking at the pictures with the red flags with the blue stripes held at a diagonal and 99% Northern European participation, it does look like a Klan Rally. To be clear it was NOT a Klan Rally.
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