Ja, Vi elsker dette landet,
The Norwegian Constitution Day is
the National Day of Norway and is
an official national
holiday each year. Among
Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai (meaning
May Seventeenth), Nasjonaldagen
(National Day) or Grunnlovsdagen
Historical backgroun
The Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the
year 1814. The
constitution declared Norway to be an independent nation.
The celebration of this day
begun spontaneously among students and others from early on, and for some years
the king was reluctant to allow the celebrations. For a couple of years in the 1820s, king Carl Johan actually forbade it, as he thought the celebrations a kind of
protest and disregard - even revolt. The king's attitude changed slightly after
the Battle of the Square in 1829, an
incident which resulted in such a commotion that the King had to allow it.
It was, however, not until 1833, that
anyone ventured to hold a public address on behalf of the day. That year,
official celebration was initiated by the monument of the late politician Christian
Krogh, known to have stopped the
King from gaining too much personal power. The address was held by Henrik Wergeland, thoroughly witnessed and accounted for by a Swedish spy, sent
by the King himself.
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