17 mai

Last Friday Norway celebrated constitution day (17. mai), a national holiday. 

Where I am from (Colombia) the Independence Day is not a big deal, or at least is not as big as here in Norway. So I was surprised to see all the Norwegians dressed up, with beautiful “Bunader” (bunad is the name of women's and men's gowns), and even if some young people didn’t wear a bunad, they where all dressed up, girls in nice dresses and heels and guys in tuxedos.

I was lucky enough and the woman next at the parade, noticed that I was a foreigner (probably because I was one of the few women with dark hair and my black eyes), so she explained the meaning of the gowns. The bunad is meant to represent each region of the country, so people wear the one where they are form, or the region where they have a special connection with. A bunad is not a cheap costume, one gown can cost around 5,500 USD. 

Take a look!

  

Telemark bunader

Østfold bunader

Vest-Agder bunader

Hordaland bunad

Nordland Bunader

Dog Bunad :)

Another tradition in Norway is that seniors have these overalls, and they customize them by printing their their name or nickname, stars, fingerprints, foot prints, favourite team logo and other stuff. And the overalls can be either blue or red. In my country the tradition is a senior's jacket.

Photos taken by mari fulleda

Gratulerer med dagen Norge!!!