I’m such a big fan of 17th of May. I love Norway’s national day and all the traditions that comes with it. I even dare to say I love the marching bands! I love the different bunads and how they represents the family heritage, the champagne breakfast, all the games for the kids, flowers, flags, unlimited ice cream and snags. I think I take more pride in our Norwegian traditions more than ever after moving overseas. We’re lucky to have such an old, beautiful country with so many traditions. Seeing «barnetoget» with their flags and dressed up in their tiny bunads and hearing the 17th of May songs seriously brings tears to my eyes and I get so proud being a Norwegian! Steven reckons out national day celebration is the weirdest and most bizarre thing ever and that we are «more nationalistic than the Americans» to quote him. Horses for courses I say! Some like to stroll around in their bunad while singing songs and eating ice cream whilst others prefer to listen to radio and drink beer on their national day. Every country to themselves 🙂

I’m wearing my bunad «kystdrakten» which represent that my dad’s family is from the coast. The bunads, our national costumes, are used to symbolise where in Norway you are from. And yes, that’s my nephews playing with a homemade spud gun in the background.

Usually we start our national day celebration with a big breakfast with family and friends before we gather in the streets to wave our flags and sing the national anthem and other Norwegian songs. The breakfast tends to be a cold buffet, or a «koldtbord»/»smörgåsbord» (how weird the English dictionary uses the Swedish word! Anyway..) where everybody contributes with a small dish or two. It can be homemade bread, cakes, salads or toppings. We usually finish the breakfast with champagne and cakes decorated in red, white and blue as this is the colours of our flag.

Foto: Monica Friedrich by Kulinarisk.

Foto: MatPrat. Find inspiring 17th of May recipes here.

What to serve to have an awesome 17th of May Breakfast:

• Freshly made Focaccia Bread
• Homemade crisp bread
• Liver Pate
• Scrambled Eggs
• Salmon
• Potato salad
• Cured meats
• Mini meat balls
• Roast beef
• Waldorf salad
• Mozzarella salad
• Fresh fruit
• Homemade juices

For dessert you can make a cupcake bouquet! It’s quicker and better tasting than cake made of thick cream. At least that’s what I think. And it looks so good! You’ll need cupcakes, styrofoam (norsk: isopor), tooth pickers, icing, food colouring in red and blue and red or white napkins to cover the styrofoam with. This YouTube video explains how to make the cupcake bouquet, so all you need to do is to change the colours used to the colours of the Norwegian flag to have your very own national day inspired desert:

What to wear?
I’m a big fan of wearing bunad on our national day. Bunad is Norwegian traditional clothes and can be found all the way back to the 1300s. Bunad is an old, but expensive tradition. A single bunad can cost up to $5000 with all embroidery and silver done. Some Aussies have commented that the bunads look like dresses from the Disney movie Frozen and that we look like vikings wearing them. Maybe not so weird since our ancestors actually were vikings. If you don’t have a bunad to wear, dressing up in something classy, preferable in red, white or blue, is always on point. Hair and make up should be keep as natural as possible. Head pieces and cute flower bands are also a nice touch to the national day outfit.

Foto: tumblr

This year I’m actually going to celebrate the national day with going camping. If I’m well enough after the operation, that is. I’ve celebrated the Norwegian national day with other Norwegians in Perth two years in a row now, and I feel it’s time for a change. It would be so much fun to celebrate the day with a picnic on the beach, a bit of surf and a sunset. I guess I just have to wait and see how my throat is going. Until then I hope I can inspire you to make an extra effort this national day to have the most cozy breakfast and celebration ever! Eat ice creams, sing songs and enjoy quality time with family and friends.

Celebrating the national day in Perth last year.

Norwegians marching in the street while singing in Oslo.