The 17th of May, the National day
Each year on May 17 Norwegians all over the world celebrate their culture, country and constitution.
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Norwegian Constitution day is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year.
All cities, villages’ streets are filled with flag- waving, ice cream- eating and crowds who parade informally. Parades are often led by children schools and other organizations. Since there is little or no military involvement in the parades, it is very much the peoples celebration.
National costume has made a strong resurgence in Norway in the last twenty years and is now worn by up to 30% of the population on special celebration days such as May 17. This creates a spectacular visual backdrop to the parades as the costumes are highly decorative and individual to their local area.
May 17 in Bergen
The 17th of May is highly celebrated in Bergen as other places in Norway. The city centre would be filled with different groups of people as many participate in parade while others enjoy watching. There are various programs from 7:00 AM up to 11:15 PM.
Traveling on May 17
If you are planning to be in Bergen on the 17th of May, be careful about the transportation difficulties!
Since "Bergen sentrum" is the main gathering place of people and parades it will be very crowded. We do recommend you to travel one day before or on May 17 afternoon. Transportation to the city centre would be more difficult than ordinary days. Neither taxis nor buses can go through the city center from 7:00 to 15:00. In addition, walking in the city centre with suitcases would not be easy in the crowd.