17th of May - Best friends.....

.... and friends of my grandsons ... :-)

We celebrated our National Day and a joyful celebration it has been - no pandemic restrictions, just pure happiness. 

In 1814 we became an Independent nation after we had been under Swedish rule for a long time. Sweden didn't except celebration, so to prevent restrictions, the Norwegian decided to make this a celebration for the kids. And today we are very happy that this day is not used for military parades and so on, but parades for the school children in the streets waving Norwegian flags, events in the school yards with games and food, and celebrating with family, friends and neighbours.  Oslo is of course the place to be, but every small little village is also celebrating in the same way. 

The Swedes? 
Well, they got their official National Day in 1983 (!) 
- and not until 2005 that it became an official holiday rather than a regular work day (!)  
- and they come to our 17th of May to learn how to celebrate (!)