This past week we celebrated Norwegian Independence Day and it was such a blast. This was my second time celebrating 17 May here in Norway and I really just love it so much this is going to be something that I Aill miss very much next year when I'm back in America. There's just something so special about celebrating Norway and I think I've been really blessed to have experienced it twice now. Last year I celebrated Independence Day in Ålesund with my companion and a couple of my friends there. We woke up that morning and got ready to go and see the parade with our friends. We walked to the spot we had pre-determined and watched the parade. It took a few hours and then the entire parade was over. In Ålesund after the parade they had some races and tents set up to see and buy your little trinkets from. After all of that we went to a members house and watched an approved movie, played some games and had a great night. That was my first independence day experience and obviously my second was spent here. It was a very different experience this time around in Stavanger. Ålesund is a small enough city that they can get through all the different aspects of the parade within a few hours and call it good, but here in Stavanger they split it up into three different parades.
This past 17th May we woke up, got dressed, took a bus to meet up with the elders, and then walked to the city where we would watch the first parade with all of our fellow missionaries and some of the board members as well. We had a pretty good sized group as we stood and watched the "kidparade" of the students from all the different schools marched by and chanted or marching bands played some music for our entertainment. It was so cute to see all the little children dressed up in their traditional costumes and waving their Norwegian flags. We had a few members from the ward in this first parade and so it was fun to hear the whole group cheer them on as they walked past the group of Mormons at the parade. After that was over we worked our way over to a members house to eat and hang out before the next parade. We had some good food and then it was time to go and see the "Russ" parade. The "Russ" parade is held by all the seniors in high school and they all wear their russ pants overalls and hand out there Russ cards to all the little kids/elders at the parade. That one was a rather quick parade and so we were back at the members house in time for the cake and dessert to be served. We ate some more, played some games and then we were off to watch the final parade of the day. The last parade included all the sports dance teams and everything else in between. It was a great way to finish out the day and it ended up being a great Independence Day in Norway yet again.
It was cool looking back on it all and seeing that even though they were very different experiences they were both celebrating the same incident and they were the same where it really counts. In both places you could see the love and respect other people had for Norway and for its history and traditions and for their fellow citizens. I have never seen so many happy Norwegians in my life then on 17 May here in Norway. It's truly incredible. I hope you all enjoy the pictures from all the different parades and from my last independence day here in Norway. It was such a blast and I loved it so much and it will be an experience I will never forget. To end off, it's tradition to sing Norway's national song. I hope you all enjoy. Have a great week!
"Ja, vi elsker dette landet", in English, "Yes, we love this country" is the Norwegian national anthem.
It is commonly referred to as only "Ja, vi elsker", "Yes, we love". The lyrics were written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and melody by his cousin, Rikard Nordraak.
The first verse goes like this:
Roughly translated to English:
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