Hip, Hip, Hoorah!

Today is Norway’s big day.  They celebrate each and every year, their freedom from Sweden, and they do it with great enthusiasm.  Even if one is sitting home for the day and not going anywhere, they dress up in their finest attire to show their respect for the day, then they watch the parades all over the country, on the TV.  Such was Tante Kari’s day, but not ours.  Kari didn’t feel like venturing out today (her hip is permanently damaged from a mistake during surgery, and she lives with constant pain), so we spent part of our morning visiting a little with her and watching the parade in Oslo go by the King’s castle. 

There was also a huge parade downtown Aalesund, but the amount of rain coming out of the sky more than dampened my enthusiasm to go see it.  We decided to skip that one and just go to the local parade that Kaleb’s school put on in the afternoon. 

When in Norway, do as the Norwegians do – so we all got dressed up.  Kory and Kaleb both wore a suit and tie (ironicially, in Norwegian they are called a “dress” and a “slip”), and I even put on a skirt and nylons and borrowed some accessories from Tante Kari! Scary.  We stopped by to visit Tante Ruth before heading out for our festivities.  She was sitting up in a chair, eating, when we arrived.  She sure looked better than she did last week and she was thrilled we took the time to come greet her and ‘congratulate’ her on the day.   (“Gratulere med dagen” is what Norwegians say to each other on this fine day.)  She was pretty peppy so I’m thankful we had a few minutes with her.  She complimented me on speaking Norwegian so well – and even with the local dialect.  I’m not sure that’s really something to be complimented on, however, as the locals here are thought to have one of the worst dialects in all of Norway.  Uff.

We took Daniel home before we dropped Kaleb off at his school for the parade.  There must have been 500 people in that parade and I’m sure only about 50 on the sidelines watching it.  It cracks me up every time.  All the parade consists of is the school children marching down the street waving flags and yelling, “Hip hip, hoorah!”  That’s it.  It certainly is lacking in any American overkill, but for them, it’s a thrill beyond words.

Kaleb wasn’t feeling too well all day today.  He hurt his foot while playing with Daniel and then he complained of chills and a headache and sure enough, he had a fever, which I didn’t discover until later in the day.  He was pretty listless in the parade and had a hard time keeping up with his friends.  He didn’t want to stay afterwards and visit anyone, he just wanted to lie down.  Poor thing.  I just assumed he was tired from not getting enough sleep last night with Daniel over, but now I know it was more than that.

We got to greet many people we know after the parade was over.  Lots of our old neighbors were wondering how it’s going for us so we had a chance to catch up a little with them.  We saw Sabina and she wanted us to come over to her place and greet her mom, Tone.  Tone had invited us to a party today but we’d already been invited to a grill at Bjørn’s house so we had to pass up her invitation.  We just stopped in for a quick visit before we went to Bjørn’s.  Lots of visiting today, that’s for sure, and I was thankful the rain quit just as the parade started and then it returned right when it ended.  God is so good.

Bjørn had his and Inger’s family over today for the big “unveiling” of his man cave (hagestue), and we were privileged to be included.  It’s not completely done, but done enough he was able to have a “grill” and make some delicious food fit for such a celebration.  It was pretty cold outside, but the adults got cozy inside his “garden living room” as it’s literally translated, and had more food than we should have, before going inside for cake and coffee.  Anytime there is any celebration in Norway, there’s always cake.   And if making the hagestue himself and doing all the grilling weren’t enough – Bjørn even made one of the cakes we ate today!  I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten a cake a man has made, but it was incredibly good.  I don’t think there is anything that man can’t do.

I made a pasta salad for the party but there was so much other food there, I had plenty left over.  I took it over to Tina and Are so they could have a little “kvelds mat” (night food).  I know Tina’s feeling overwhelmed with caring for Are, so any food she doesn’t have to cook is a little break for her.  Once again, Are was looking even better today than yesterday.  He was able to sit at the table for an hour and have some food and visit with a friend today.  He was all smiles when we showed up, so that was a huge Hallelujah moment.  That man is on the mend.  Amazing.

Kaleb fell asleep the minute we got home so I’m trusting God a good night’s sleep will put him on the mend as well.  We have no time for sickness in our house, that’s for sure!  Too much to do and too little time to do it.

A few of the women at the party today apologized for not wearing their bunads.  One of them was at the parade in the city this morning and got so drenched from the rain, she had to change her clothes.  The other one said she put hers on, but made the choice she wanted to breathe today instead, so she wore something else with a little more room.  I can totally relate.  Just wearing panty hose for one day about did me in and made me realize why years ago I gave up trying to look good – because I just want to be comfortable and when I’m wearing uncomfortable clothes I can’t think of anything else but how miserable I am.  Wearing clothes with no restrictions frees my mind to think about all kinds of other things - like how good that cake tasted that Bjørn made today.

Hip, Hip, Hoorah!

Today is THE DAY. It’s the day, 105 years ago, Norway finally signed their own Constitution, putting an end to Sweden’s rule over them. The rain in no way dampened the spirits of the Norwegians around here and the festivities went on as if it were a fine summer day. (Double click on the photo to see just how long this parade is – Kaleb is in there somewhere.)




Kaleb joined his old classmates in the parade down Myrlandsveien (our old street). All the kids were either dressed in bunads (traditional Norwegian costumes) or their finest black attire. The bunads are regional, so everyone from the same area wears the same patterned bunad. Trying to pick someone out of a crowd on a day like today is sort of like looking in a “Where’s Waldo?” book. If people aren’t in their bunads, many are wearing black, so it was even hard to find Kaleb in the crowd, but there he was, waving his Norwegian flag with the rest of them. He didn’t know the words to the National Anthem most of the kids were singing as they walked along, but he may have yelled out a “Hip Hip Hoorah!” every now and then. He’s always so disappointed that parades in Norway don’t have anyone tossing candy to the crowd – but most of the people are IN the parade anyway, and not many are lined up on the side-lines. No floats, no clowns, maybe one marching school band and then just waves and waves of school kids and parents, walking along shouting out things that let the world know of the pure joy they feel over the significance of this day.



We decided not to go into the city this morning to see the big parade, mostly because we slept in a little, but also because of the rain. I used the morning to finally organize the bathroom cupboards and Kory went down to the storage unit to dig out some tools so hopefully tomorrow he can start building Kaleb’s wall. The supplies are in, we heard. Woo hoo. It was a wonderfully relaxing morning and would have been more so if Kaleb wouldn’t have been pestering us to either watch TV or play with electronics. He was terribly bored just sitting home. Such is life. Once I offered to fill his time with school work or journaling, he discovered a pencil and paper and began to draw cartoons.



We had planned to go visit Tante Ruth today after the parade and school festivities that follow, but we ran into Tobias’ family and they invited us to their “grill” (BBQ) afterwards. It’s hard to pass up that kind of invitation, as all of Kory’s other cousins were otherwise occupied (Turid had to work today). We also received another party invitation from Andre’s parents, but we had to turn that one down. It’s so great to be included in things here – something we rarely experience back home.



We talked a little with Morten’s mom today – he’s the kid that beat up Kaleb a lot last year. She said Morten is doing much better now that he is on medication. She also said he was SO excited when he came home from school one day with a bag full of American candy Kaleb gave to all his “best friends.” He was so proud he holds that rank. Little does he know Kaleb gave him that bag of candy as a preventative move, hoping to keep his blows at bay. It’s worked well so far, but he hasn’t been around him much. In a few weeks when Kaleb goes back to school, we’ll see if his plan worked.



The strangest thing about this 17th of May, from others we’ve been to in Norway, is how late the spring is. Normally, tulips and lilacs are blooming this time of year, but the daffodils are just now blooming and there is hardly a tree with leaves showing. It’s the norm to cut birch branches and bunch them together with a Norwegian flag and tie them to fence posts or door fronts, but this year people had to hunt a little to find any birch branches with sprigs of green – most of them are still in the budding stages. I do hope the cold weather is behind us now, otherwise all my deck plants will surely die. The locals consider 17th of May as really the first day of “spring” and now they feel summer is soon on its way.



Before we headed off to Tobias’ house, we visited with several people we hadn’t seen since last year. It was a great time of greeting and catching up a little. Our calendar is now filling up fast as people either want us over before we head home, or we invited them over to see our new digs. Good thing I brought my calendar.



While we were eating our yummy BBQ’d dinner, we asked Tobias what he is looking forward to the most about coming home with us this summer. He doesn’t know the options available, so he had a hard time answering. I do know he’s looking forward to being in America, so hopefully he won’t be disappointed. We have lots of things planned, but nothing comes close to the excitement Norwegians feel for the 17th of May. Hip, Hip, Hoorah!

Hip Hip Hoorah!

The sun was shining brightly for all the Independence Day festivities today. I felt terrible for all the women in their heavy wool bunads (the dresses weigh more than 15 pounds), and the men in their wool pants and vests, jackets and knee high wool socks. It was in the 70s today and I was sure some might pass out from heat stroke in the streets as they walked along in the parade or stood on the sidelines watching it go by.

We were up early this morning as I had to cut Kaleb’s hair, much to his dismay, and the squirming and complaining he did showed up in the kind of job I did. As I was standing outside cutting his hair it was as if a national alarm clock went off at the stroke of eight when all the neighbors we could see from our house were out within minutes of each other hanging up their flags. By law, the flags can only fly today from 8am to 9pm and I’m sure everyone was sitting inside counting down the minutes until they could display their national pride. It is quite a sight when every house is flying a flag.

We ventured into the city this morning to see the big parade in downtown Aalesund. The best part is just getting to the street where the parade is and watching all the people funnel into the city wearing their bunads (traditional national costumes), both men and women, and children – it’s all very festive and so attractive. All the people from this area of Norway use the same pattern so it’s somewhat like a uniform in that they are all dressed alike (it’s easy to see who is NOT from their area as their bunads are so different). People line the street waving flags just to watch the parade of people waving flags who are dressed just the same, walk down the middle of the street. It’s never clear who is in the parade and who is a spectator, but mostly the parade is full of children. They begin the "tog" with all the daycare centers and move up in age as the parade passes by. Many of the children are dressed in bunads, or their best clothes as it's a very formal day. Parents accompany some of the younger kids, but as they age, the children go it alone. It’s just a parade of people, all dressed up yelling “Hip Hip Hoorah!” and waving their Norwegian flags. There are no motorized vehicles, no floats, no advertisements, no special interest groups, no politicians and no throwing of candy. (Kaleb was pretty devastated the first parade we went to here in Norway when he realized they didn’t throw candy.) Occasionally there will be a marching band or some singing group going by, but for the most part, it’s just people, happy as can be that their land is free from Swedish rule, congratulating each other on the day and yelling “Hip Hip Hoo-rah!”

We cut out a few minutes early from the parade so we wouldn’t be stuck in the traffic jam to get back home. Kaleb had to be at his school by 1:30 and he needed to each lunch. Filadelfia Church had their café open today, but there was no church service. All the churches cancelled their services today because of the holiday. Often on holidays, churches open up their cafes and serve meals so that no one has to be alone on those days, or for those who don’t want to cook, they can meet their family or friends at church and share a meal together there. We stopped off to greet Tante Ruth and to congratulate her on the day and see if she wanted to join us, but she didn’t. We dined with plenty of people we knew. then afterwards we dropped Kaleb at school and headed home. The parade route went right by our house so we knew we wouldn’t miss it. Kaleb was a little peeved that he was told he HAD to be in the parade. He would have preferred making the choice himself, but since he was told by his teacher he HAD to be in the parade, he was resentful. He just couldn’t figure out how his teacher could tell him what he MUST do on a Sunday. If this day would have been Monday, he would have had no problem with it, but he really didn’t like so much intrusion on his private life. Too funny. Turid joined us as we watched our neighborhood parade come down from the school to our house, turn the corner and head up to the nearby sports center. The kids all took turns carrying the class banner and Kaleb was able to have his turn right in front of our house, along with his friend Toben and Morten (see photo of Kaleb and his bad haircut, wearing sunglasses and the bunad I bought at a flea market - Morten is holding the banner.) At the sports center there were hours of activities for the kids, and hot dogs and cake and coffee and lots of candy as prizes. There must have been a thousand people there – it was like a huge neighborhood party. We ran into several people we knew so we visited to the bitter end. Then an hour later we headed up to the local State Church for a special party for the neighborhood, complete with contests for the kids, hot dogs and cakes and coffee. We saw more people we knew from the neighborhood and several came over to Kory and thanked him for the bus stop painting. We did see some families today gathered around the bus stop for a back drop as they took group photos all dressed up in their bunads in front of it, so Kory was pleased he was able to contribute to the festivities of the day. Hip Hip Hoorah!