Celebrating Democracy, Families and Children
By LESLEE LANE HOYUM, Mindekirken member
Syttende Mai is the grandest holiday in Norway. As Norway’s Constitution Day, it’s a joyful celebration of democracy, family and children. Festivities focus on family-friendly activities, parades, eating, and wearing Norwegian national costumes. On Sunday, May 17, Mindekirken continues to follow these traditions.
Mindekirken was built byNorwegian immigrants on what was once Native American land, which later became a Scandinavian neighborhood and now celebrates Native Americans, Somalis and Central and South Americans. Mindekirken, as well as Norway House, keeps Scandinavian legacies alive.
Everyone is welcome at Mindekirken to celebrate all day. At 10:30, a musical prelude welcomes visitors to the festival worship service. After the service winds down, there will be marching in a folketog (people’s parade) with flags to wave. Led by the Mindekirken band, the parade winds its way through the neighborhood to the cheers and waves of all the onlookers. Hundreds bring the area to life clad in colorful national costumes, Norwegian sweaters or far out Syttende Mai costumes.
Festivities continue with eating and playing on the agenda. Hotdogs, chips, sodas and ice cream are free for children and just a $5 donation for adults. There will be a variety of games and activities open to all. You may just find Viking games, potato sack races, dancing, rock or face painting, runic symbol name tag creation, a Norwegian vocabulary quiz and more. It’s a surprise from year to year — without disappointment!
Throughout the afternoon you will be entertained by children from Mindekirken’s Norskeklubben and Kari’s Barnehage. Peer Gynt Dancers of Sons of Norway Synnøve-Nordkap Lodge bring folk dancing. Concordia Language Villages and Daughters of Norway Pauline Fjelde #51 will provide other activities. Additional fun include folk dance, information booths, music, and a photo booth.
This celebration of Norwegian national pride has not always been this jubilant. For nearly 400 years, Norwegians were under Danish rule. Danish King Frederik VI was forced to support Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon lost. Under the January 1814 Treaty of Kiel, Denmark was mandated to cede Norway to the king of Sweden. Norway refused to accept the treaty and declared independence.
An assembly gathered at Eidsvold, Norway, and on May 17,1814, a Norwegian Constitution was signed. Norway’s constitution is the second oldest working national constitution in the world, after the United States’. However, Norway’s structure called for a constitutional monarchy.
In July 1814, Sweden attacked Norway. After a brief 14-day war, Swedish King Charles XIV John, also known as Karl Johan, accepted the Norwegian constitution. The compromise was that Norway and Sweden would have a common king and Norway would manage its own national affairs. In 1905 the Norwegian Parliament drafted a resolution to withdraw from its union with Sweden, which would give Norway consular services with a presence throughout the world. Eventually, the Swedish King Oskar II accepted the resolution, and Norway sought its first independent monarch since 1387.
Norway had a rough start after its independence. It lacked its own government institutions, industrial entrepreneurs and domestic capital. But because it had huge stocks of natural resources and worked well with the United Kingdom and the monarchy of Sweden, Norway flourished, even surviving international recessions.
It was always in the Norwegian soul to celebrate its independence, but the Swedish king made it illegal. Nonetheless, Norwegians still held short celebratory speeches and protests against the king’s wishes each May 17. Norway’s renowned poet Henrik Wergeland broke through in 1833 with a resounding public address, which is now considered the beginning of Constitution Day traditions. Then, in the 1870s, author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson launched the first children’s parade in Oslo, a tradition that endures.
Join Mindekirken on May 17 to celebrate Syttende Mai’s joyous day of independence! Visit www.mindekirken.org or call 612-874-0716, option 3 for more details.
Editor’s note: This has been edited for length
