It is the Seventeenth of May! Syttenda Mai! Or the Norwegian National Day. It is a day of spontaneous celebration by children everywhere in Norway. This is a really big deal here, a bit like fourth of July for us, but more of a celebration of the goodness of life and the joy of being a unified country. This day is adopted to celebrate the liberation at the end of WWII though it has historically been celebrated before this (see Wikipedia!) Every elementary school district has their own parade with colors and music and festivities. In Oslo, nearly 100,000 people march together on this day. Here the local district is from Halsa, a small town across the fjord. The kids gather and take the ferry across the fjord and celebrate with a parade down the dirt road leading to the tourist house. They pass right by our cabin waving red blue and white ribbons, dressed in traditional costumes, playing music, making lots of noise and spontaneously shouting . .. Hurra! It is a day for Norwegians to be proud of their country. I am thrilled that I had a chance to see it on my last day here.
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