Hip Hip Hoorah!

17 May 2013

Another sleep deprived night as the partying in the street below us never seemed to end.  City life, and the night before Norway’s biggest celebration was the perfect storm.  Still, I’m not complaining.  It’s good to experience such things so I can appreciate our quiet life in the country back home.

We were up at six this morning to get ready for the day.  The big parade in Oslo that goes in front of the King’s castle started at ten, but Vladi insisted we get there at eight so we could have the best spot.  We were right in front of the news camera platform and she so wanted to be interviewed on TV – telling all of Norway she came from America just for this special day.  Eivind wasn’t in agreement with her enthusiasm so it was kind of funny watching the two of them go on and on about how much attention we should draw to ourselves.  We were the only ones on the street at that hour so we chatted the time away.  At one point the wind got a bit chilly so Kaleb and Vladi went back to the car to get jackets and the nearly lost their spots.  It was like a switch got flipped and people just showed up en mass to the sidewalk and we were five and six deep.  I was pretty much smushed from then on into the temporary fencing that was set up to keep people out of the street.  Everyone stands, no one brings chairs or sits on the curb like in America.

Norwegians are kind of weird about personal body space.  They have no buffer zones.  What we think of as rude, they just think of as practical.  My Americanism was coming out as people were pushing their way to stand between the five of us or tried to get in front of us and I so wanted to say something, but I didn’t, but I held tight to my spot.  Several people just pushed their little kids in front of me so they could see and I was already hanging on to the fencing so then the kids became glued to the front of me blowing their horns.  Strange customs, but everyone wanted to see the parade.

There were 109 different school groups, with a marching band between each one.  I didn’t realize before what a big deal marching bands are here in Norway but they really are.  Several adults we know in Norway are part of a “musikkorps” as Norway provides several opportunities to march down the street any given day for the band to play.  Another cultural oddity. 

The parade was nearly three hours long and just consisted of kids from all the schools in Oslo and surrounding areas, holding flags and shouting “Hip Hip Hoorah!”  while marching down the street.  There are no floats, nothing, but wave after wave of kids and adults on parade.  I guess this tradition started mostly after the Second World War when Norway hadn’t been allowed to fly their flag during that time, so the National pride really popped up after that. 

It has to be a unique experience for any country to have the whole land doing the same thing in every city across the nation.  And the bunads people were wearing was worth the effort of getting there alone.  My goodness, those bunads (national dress) were quite the sight.  I must have taken hundreds of photos today of all the different bunads they are just so incredible and each region of Norway has their own design so the spectators provided the biggest parade of all as they walked around in their gorgeous clothes.

We were close enough to the castle to see the Royal Family out on the balcony waving to all the parade participants.  I brought binoculars just for a good close up shot.  It was kinda cool to spend so much time with the King!   When the larger flags came marching by the castle, they would lower them, out of respect for the King.  He and his son, the Prince, would then return the respect by taking off their top hats until they passed.  So all day it was hats on, hats off, wave, wave, wave.  They were up there for the entire three hours, but the grandkids went inside for a while and the Queen and princess had chairs brought to them about an hour into the parade. 

When the parade was over, the spectators got to storm the castle and wave, so the Royal Family (above) continued to wave and greet their countrymen.  It was quite the scene and so jubilant.  It’s so unusual to have such unity in national pride where they take one day and just focus on how appreciative they are to have their freedom and to be Norwegians.  We do it to a degree in America on 4^th of July, but it’s only to about about one degree of what goes on in Norway.

At one point during the parade we had an all out downpour, which cleared out quite a few people, thankfully, as I was starting to get claustrophobic after all that standing like a sardine in a can, but the bands played on and people just kept marching.  But the weather today was pretty nice and the sun really shone bright after the rain passed.  Whew.

The most shocking thing to see was just how many immigrants there are now living in Oslo.  Statistically Oslo has 30% immigrants overall, but a cousin told us that some schools have 70% immigrants as I saw there weren’t many native Norwegians in some school groups.  It’s kind of weird seeing Muslim girls carrying a Norwegian flag.  What the definition of a “Norwegian” is is changing rapidly.

After the parade we sat in the park next to the castle and had a picnic lunch with Eivind and Vladi.  It was ideal in every way as it seemed the parade just continued before us with all the folks dressed up so beautifully and everyone out strolling along, heading to parties afterwards.  The park was lined with cafes and pubs full of people drinking and playing traditional Norwegian games – with everyone in their bunads.  It was more culture than I could absorb.

After Vladi and Eivind left, we walked back to the castle just to see what the tear down looked like with all the news organizations packing up, the police taking down the barricades and all.  And surprise of all surprises, a cousin came running up to us to greet us.  We had no idea they were there, as was the whole family, so we had a nice little chat with them while they were packing up and heading out.  What a coincidence. 

One group of women I took photos of, because they were just so beautiful, Kory talked to a bit after I walked away.  He asked where they were from and as it turns out, one of them was from a neighboring farm to where Kory’s dad grew up and they knew his cousins down in Telemark – about a five hours drive from Oslo.  Such a small country.

So we left the heart of the city and went out to a cousin’s house where she was hosting a party for 40 people, which we were invited to.  It was another one of those cultural experiences that was over the top.  To have two of them in one day left us with a feeling we were living in a storybook.  

Sigrunn invited friends and neighbors over for a Norwegian potluck.  There were as many kids as there were adults so Kaleb was well entertained too.  He went with Sigrunn’s daughter to their local school when we first arrived and played games and won prizes (Norwegian chocolate) so he was pleased with himself. 

Most of the dinner guests were doctors, as the whole neighborhood where they lived is filled with doctors, both men and women.  They were asking me a lot about what I thought of Obamacare and I ranted on and on about my experiences with our medical system, insurance companies, and the like.  They were surprised to hear something other than what they read in the newspaper and were quite shocked over some of the stories I told them from personal experience.  They asked me what I would do to reform the system and I told them three things:  remove medical lawsuits, fix prices on medical care and drugs, and remove government subsidies on corn farming which allows the cheap production of unhealthy fast food.  So there.

Many folks here tonight were musicians so they brought their instruments and we had a time of singing traditional Norwegian songs and hearing a private concert from the violinists.  One guy is the #1 chair of the Oslo orchestra and him standing there in his bunad playing a classic Norwegian piece was just over the top for me.  Kory and I just floated to bed on a Norwegian cultural high.  I am in love with all things Norwegians – their traditions, culture, people, customs, food, you name it – it got right in my veins today – whatever wasn’t there before, is there now.  And we need that fix since we won’t be back for two years.  It was a good day.