Syttende Mai

The seventeenth of May is the day that Norwegians celebrate their independence. It is their constitution day and it is similar to our Fourth of July. The day is celebrated by many parades, beginning with the children's parade in the morning and after that is the big parade with many marching bands, many in military dress, and lots of color and pageantry. I few years ago I had the pleasure of being in Trondheim, Norway on Syttende Mai with my son, Jeremy. We were staying at a hostel and as we walked down the steep streets to the downtown area we saw many families walking toward the parade route dressed in their native dress (the bunad and bunader) in the color and pattern of the area where their ancestors originally came from. The parade was wonderful, the bands were great. One of the best bands was THE MARCHING ELECTRIC GUITAR BAND. Oh, yes! Believe it! The musicians were all playing electric guitars AND marching at the same time. Several musicians were plugged into a main cable and these cables eventually found their way back to a generator that was on a vehicle directly behind the band. There were a lot of cables mixed in with the marchers but no one tripped. No one stumbled. They were a marching band like I had never seen before. And the music was fabulous! Brilliant! After the parade was over we went to eat at a restaurant that overlooks the main avenue. The weather was chilly and the sky somewhat gray so it was nice to be indoors for a while. We were able to look out the windows and down onto the street so we saw the people walking about dressed so neatly in their costumes. After lunch we walked about and while we were walking we kept noticing teenagers dressed in red overalls and a matching cap. Finally we talked to a young woman who told us that the outfits were worn by high school seniors during the month of May. Different color overalls were worn to signify the course of study taken with red (liberal arts) being the most common. Apparently between May 1st and May 17th the seniors participating in RUSSE are free to run wild, doing crazy things and acting quite irresponsible. Many students get together and purchase a bus or van and then decorate it. This vehicle serves as a club house and takes them all en masse from one drunken orgy to the next. Sometimes riots break out and the police have to settle things. Anyway, mid afternoon on Constitution Day as Jeremy and I were walking in downtown Trondheim we noticed people starting to line the streets in preparation for another parade. Oh, yes. The RUSSE parade. So down the avenue come all of these wildly decorated vehicles with overall clad teenagers hanging onto them in any way they could. Some rode on the roof and others were hanging out the windows. Vans were stuffed beyond capacity. The noise from the sound systems was blaring!! Obscene gestures were flying about. Risque behavior ensued. It was wonderful! The last vestiges of childhood cast aside in this rite of passage. The next day all the overalls and caps would be put aside, never to be worn again. But this day was their last youthful hurrah. Jeremy was perched in a tree watching all of the revelry. I stood beneath him and watched his face as he enjoyed the parade. He was mesmerized. A great time was had by all. And then it was over. Until the next year. And that is my memory of Syttende Mai as I saw it on that day in May, 2000. Happy Syttende Mai to all my Norwegian friends and relatives. Happy Syttende Mai!