Drinking culture
Drinking culture refers to the customs and practices associated with the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Alcohol and its effects have been present in societies throughout history, drinking is documented in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, in the Quran, in art history, in Greek and Roman literature as old as Homer, and in Confucius’s Analects. Social drinking refers to drinking in a social setting without an intent to get drunk. Good news is often celebrated by a group of people having a few drinks, for example, drinks may be served to wet the babys head in the celebration of a birth. Buying someone a drink is a gesture of goodwill and it may be an expression of gratitude, or it may mark the resolution of a dispute. Known as Greaves Rules, the guidelines were based upon his experience of pubs. The rules were re-commissioned by the Daily Telegraph and published in that newspaper on November 20,1993, copies of the rules soon appeared in many bars throughout the United Kingdom. Trust and fair play are the root of the rules, though there are occasions where the rules can be broken, when taking alcohol to a BYOB party, it is proper for a guest to leave any unconsumed alcohol behind when leaving the party.
It shows appreciation to the host and shows responsibility on the guests part and it is considered rude to take any alcohol back when departing. Drinking before 5,00 pm is frowned upon in some cultures, various cultures and traditions feature the social practice of providing free alcoholic drinks for others. For example, during a reception, or a bar mitzvah, free drinks are often served to guests. They are commonly offered to patrons to entice them to continue gambling. A further example is the ladies drink free policy of some bars, large corporations may have a favored bar at which they hold private functions that offer free drinks to attendees. Session drinking is a chiefly British and Irish term that refers to drinking a large quantity of beer during a session without becoming too heavily intoxicated, a session is generally a social occasion. A session beer, such as a bitter, is a beer that has a moderate or relatively low alcohol content. In the United States, a recent session beer definition has been proposed by beer writer Lew Bryson and his Session Beer Project blog includes a definition of 4. 5% ABV or less for session beer.
Followers of this definition include Notch Brewing, a session only beer brand, the Brewer Association has adopted a new category within their Great American Beer Fest competition which states a session beer must not exceed 4. 1% ABW. Binge drinking is defined as drinking to excess, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 grams percent or above
Fennel
Fennel is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become naturalized in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea-coast. It is an aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses and. Florence fennel or finocchio is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable, fennel is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including in its native range the mouse moth and the Old-World swallowtail. Where it has introduced in north America it may be used by the anise swallowtail. The word fennel developed from the Middle English fenel or fenyl and this came from the Old English fenol or finol, which in turn came from the Latin feniculum or foeniculum, the diminutive of fenum or faenum, meaning hay. The Latin word for the plant was ferula, which is now used as the name of a related plant. The Greek name for fennel is marathon or marathos, and the place of the battle of Marathon.
The word is first attested in Mycenaean Linear B form as ma-ra-tu-wo, as Old English finule, fennel is one of the nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in the 10th century. In the 15th century, Portuguese settlers on Madeira noticed the abundance of fennel, and used the Portuguese word funcho. Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare, is a perennial herb and it is erect, glaucous green, and grows to heights of up to 2.5 m, with hollow stems. The leaves grow up to 40 cm long, they are finely dissected, with the ultimate segments filiform, the flowers are produced in terminal compound umbels 5–15 cm wide, each umbel section having 20–50 tiny yellow flowers on short pedicels. The fruit is a dry seed from 4–10 mm long, half as wide or less, fennel is widely cultivated, both in its native range and elsewhere, for its edible, strongly flavored leaves and fruits. Its aniseed flavor comes from anethole, a compound found in anise and star anise. Florence fennel is a group with inflated leaf bases which form a bulb-like structure.
It is of cultivated origin, and has a mild anise-like flavor, Florence fennel plants are smaller than the wild type. The inflated leaf bases are eaten as a vegetable, both raw and cooked, several cultivars of Florence fennel are known by several other names, notably the Italian name finocchio
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries or Nordics are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, where they are most commonly known as Norden. They consist of Denmark, Iceland and Sweden, the population of the Nordic countries are mainly Scandinavian or Finnish, with Greenlandic Inuit and the Sami people as minorities. Of todays native languages, Danish, Icelandic, the non-Germanic languages spoken are Finnish and several Sami languages. The main religion is Lutheran Christianity, the Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, their use of Scandinavian languages and social structure. Politically, Nordic countries do not form an entity. Especially in English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, Scandinavian Peninsula on the other hand covers mainland Norway and Sweden as well as the northernmost part of Finland. At 3,425,804 square kilometers, the area of the Nordic countries would form the 7th-largest country in the world. Uninhabitable icecaps and glaciers comprise about half of area, mostly in Greenland.
In January 2013, the region had a population of around 26 million people, the Nordic countries cluster near the top in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. Although the area is linguistically heterogeneous, with three unrelated groups, the common linguistic heritage is one of the factors making up the Nordic identity. The North Germanic languages Danish and Swedish are considered mutually intelligible and these languages are taught in school throughout the Nordic countries. Swedish, for example, is a subject in Finnish schools. Danish is mandatory in Faroese and Greenlandic schools, as these states are a part of the Danish Realm. Iceland teaches Danish, since Iceland too was a part of the Danish Realm until 1918, there is a high degree of income redistribution and little social unrest. The Nordic countries consists of historical territories of the Scandinavian countries, areas that share a common history and it is meant unambiguously to refer to this larger group, since the term Scandinavia is narrower and sometimes ambiguous.
The Nordic countries are considered to unambiguously refer to Denmark, Iceland and Sweden. The term is derived indirectly from the local term Norden, used in the Scandinavian languages, unlike the Nordic countries, the term Norden is in the singular. The demonym is nordbo, literally meaning northern dweller, especially outside of the Nordic region the term Scandinavia is often used incorrectly as a synonym for the Nordic countries
Northern Germany
Northern Germany is the region in the north of Germany. Its exact area is not precisely or consistently defined but varies depending on one is taking a linguistic, geographic. Northern Germany generally refers to the Sprachraum area north of the Uerdingen and Benrath line isoglosses, since World War II and the immigration of expellees from the former eastern territories of Germany, its prevalence has steadily reduced. Besides which, Frisian is spoken in East and North Frisia, from a linguistic and cultural perspective, Northern Germany is linked to the Netherlands and England. Additionally, Jansen/Janssen and Petersen are the most common surnames in the far north of Germany, which are some of the most common surnames in Denmark. The key terrain feature of Northern Germany is the North German Plain including the marshes along the coastline of the North and Baltic Seas, as well as the geest and heaths inland. Also prominent are the low hills of the Baltic Uplands, the moraines, end moraines, glacial valleys, bogs.
Likewise the Altmark in Saxony-Anhalt, the Prignitz and Uckermark areas of northern Brandenburg and socially, Northern Germany is characterized by higher levels of income equality and gender equality, relative to southern and south-western Germany. The traditional Northern German daily diet is centered around boiled potatoes, rye bread, dairy products, cucumbers, jams and pork and beef. A breakfast specialty is the Crispbread or Knäcke, eaten with a variety of such as ham, fruits. Lentil stews and soups are popular as a working lunch. Regional specialties in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony include Blutwurst or Blood sausage, another Northern German regional specialty are Hackbraten, made from a mixture of ground pork and beef and served with mashed potatoes, brown sauce and lingonberry jam. Many traditional meat-based lunch dishes are served boiled or mashed potatoes. Eating brunch is popular during weekends in the larger towns. In regions nearer to the coast, fish is popular, with Pickled herring.
Coffee drinking is strongly rooted in Northern Germany and the Northern provinces on average consume around 8 kilograms of coffee per capita annually and this is fairly more than the 6 kilograms of coffee per capita consumed in the south. Coffee is frequently drunk four times a day, with breakfast, after lunch, in the evening at around 4, and after dinner. Many working people drink a coffee at the workstation with the start of the days work, there is a strong tradition of taking coffee breaks and visits to the café with friends and acquaintances
Scandinavia
Scandinavia /ˌskændᵻˈneɪviə/ is a historical and cultural region in Northern Europe characterized by a common ethnocultural North Germanic heritage and mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. The term Scandinavia always includes the three kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden, the remote Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are usually not seen as a part of Scandinavia, nor is Greenland, an overseas territory of Denmark. This looser definition almost equates to that of the Nordic countries, in Nordic languages, only Denmark and Sweden are commonly included in the definition of Scandinavia. In English usage, Scandinavia sometimes refers to the geographical area, the name Scandinavia originally referred vaguely to the formerly Danish, now Swedish, region Scania. Icelanders and the Faroese are to a significant extent descended from the Norse, Finland is mainly populated by Finns, with a minority of approximately 5% of Swedish speakers. A small minority of Sami people live in the north of Scandinavia.
The Danish and Swedish languages form a continuum and are known as the Scandinavian languages—all of which are considered mutually intelligible with one another. Faroese and Icelandic, sometimes referred to as insular Scandinavian languages, are intelligible in continental Scandinavian languages only to a limited extent, Finnish and Meänkieli are closely related to each other and more distantly to the Sami languages, but are entirely unrelated to the Scandinavian languages. Apart from these, German and Romani are recognized minority languages in Scandinavia, the southern and by far most populous regions of Scandinavia have a temperate climate. Scandinavia extends north of the Arctic Circle, but has mild weather for its latitude due to the Gulf Stream. Much of the Scandinavian mountains have a tundra climate. There are many lakes and moraines, legacies of the last glacial period, Scandinavia usually refers to Denmark and Sweden. Some sources argue for the inclusion of the Faroe Islands and Iceland, though that broader region is known by the countries concerned as Norden.
Before this time, the term Scandinavia was familiar mainly to classical scholars through Pliny the Elders writings, and was used vaguely for Scania, as a political term, Scandinavia was first used by students agitating for Pan-Scandinavianism in the 1830s. After a visit to Sweden, Andersen became a supporter of early political Scandinavism, the term is often defined according to the conventions of the cultures that lay claim to the term in their own use. More precisely, and subject to no dispute, is that Finland is included in the broader term Nordic countries, various promotional agencies of the Nordic countries in the United States serve to promote market and tourism interests in the region. The official tourist boards of Scandinavia sometimes cooperate under one umbrella, Norways government entered one year later. All five Nordic governments participate in the joint promotional efforts in the United States through the Scandinavian Tourist Board of North America, Scandinavia can thus be considered a subset of the Nordic countries
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, rye, Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, generally made of charred white oak. Whisky is a strictly regulated spirit worldwide with many classes and types, the typical unifying characteristics of the different classes and types are the fermentation of grains and aging in wooden barrels. The word whiskey is an anglicisation of the Classical Gaelic word uisce meaning water, distilled alcohol was known in Latin as aqua vitae. This was translated to Classical Gaelic as uisce beatha, which became uisce beatha in Irish, early forms of the word in English included uskebeaghe, usquebaugh and usquebae. Much is made of the two spellings and whisky. There are two schools of thought on the issue, there is general agreement that when quoting the proper name printed on a label, the spelling on the label should not be altered. Some writers refer to whisky or whisky/whiskey to acknowledge the variation, the spelling whiskey is common in Ireland and the United States, while whisky is used in all other whisky producing countries.
In the US, the usage has not always been consistent, from the late eighteenth century to the mid twentieth century, American writers used both spellings interchangeably until the introduction of newspaper style guides. Since the 1960s, American writers have increasingly used whiskey as the spelling for aged grain spirits made in the US. Scotch is the internationally recognized term for Scotch whisky, the earliest certain chemical distillations were by Greeks in Alexandria in the 1st century AD, but these were not distillations of alcohol. The medieval Arabs adopted the technique of the Alexandrian Greeks, and written records in Arabic begin in the 9th century. Distilling technology passed from the medieval Arabs to the medieval Latins, the earliest records of the distillation of alcohol are in Italy in the 13th century, where alcohol was distilled from wine. An early description of the technique was given by Ramon Llull and its use spread through medieval monasteries, largely for medicinal purposes, such as the treatment of colic and smallpox.
The art of distillation spread to Ireland and Scotland no than the 15th century, the practice of medicinal distillation eventually passed from a monastic setting to the secular via professional medical practitioners of the time, The Guild of Barber Surgeons. The earliest Irish mention of whisky comes from the seventeenth-century Annals of Clonmacnoise, between 1536 and 1541, King Henry VIII of England dissolved the monasteries, sending their monks out into the general public. Whisky production moved out of a setting and into personal homes. The distillation process was still in its infancy, whisky itself was not allowed to age, renaissance-era whisky was very potent and not diluted
Bergenhus Fortress
Bergenhus fortress is a fortress located in Bergen, Norway. Bergenhus fortress is located in the entrance to the harbour in Bergen and it is one of the oldest and best preserved castles in Norway. The fortress contains buildings dating as far back as the 1240s, the extent of the enclosed area of today dates from the early 19th century. Excavations have revealed foundations of buildings believed to back to before 1100. In the 13th century, until 1299, Bergen was the capital of Norway and it was first enclosed by stone walls in the 1240s. Of the medieval buildings, a hall and a defensive tower remain. The royal hall, today known as Haakons Hall, built around 1260, is the largest medieval building in Norway. The defensive tower, known in the Middle Ages as the keep by the sea, was built around 1270 by King Magnus VI Lagabøte, and contained a royal apartment on the top floor. In the 1560s it was incorporated by the commander of the castle, Erik Rosenkrantz, into a larger structure, in the Middle Ages, several churches, including Christ Church, Bergens cathedral, were situated on the premises.
These, were torn down between 1526 and 1531, as the area of Holmen was converted into a military fortification under Danish rule. From around this time, the name Bergenhus came into use, building work on Christ Church probably started around 1100. It contained the shrine of Saint Sunniva, the saint of Bergen. In the 12th and 13th centuries it was the site of royal coronations. It was the site of at least six kings. The site of its altar is marked by a memorial stone. In the 19th century, the fortress lost its function as a defensive fortification, after restoration in the 1890s, and again after destruction sustained during World War II, Bergenhus is today again used as a concert venue and as a feast hall for public events. During World War II, the German navy used several of its buildings for their headquarters, Bergenhus is currently under the command of the Royal Norwegian Navy, which has about 150 military personnel stationed there. The fortifications Sverresborg fortress and Fredriksberg fortress lie in the centre of Bergen, Haakons Hall and Rosenkrantz Tower are open for visits by the public
Olav Engelbrektsson
Olav Engelbrektsson was the 28th Archbishop of Norway from 1523 to 1537, the Regent of Norway from 1533 to 1537, a member and president of the Riksråd, and a member of the Norwegian nobility. He was the last Roman Catholic to be the Archbishop of Norway before he fled to exile in 1537, after his death, Olav Engelbrektsson was given a bad reputation as an untrustworthy and scheming prelate by the Protestant historians. Olav Engelbrektsson is believed to have born at Trondenes near Harstad in Troms around 1480 as the son of Engelbrekt Gunnarsson. Engelbrekt Gunnarson was a bondefører and storbonde in Romerike in Eastern Norway around 1447 and he kept getting in arguments and fights with the Danish bailiff Lasse Skjold and eventually killed him. Researchers believe that that is why Engelbrekt and Jorunn moved to Trondenes, young Olav was raised in a home that was always opposing the Danish overseers, and that might have been one of the several influences of his attitude towards the Danes in his years as the Archbishop.
Olav Engelbrektsson was from an old landowning family in Romerike, and it is claimed that he. King Christian I of Denmark was supposed to have ennobled Engelbrekt Gunnarson and his descendants sometime before 1480 but, in 1961, trygve Lysaker wrote that the documentation did not exist to such a claim. Nevertheless, the family had a coat of arms – a blue shield showing a red rose surrounded by three lilies, five of Olavs relatives belonged to the clergy. Two of them were his paternal uncles Sakse Gunnarsson and Gunnar Gunnarson, Gunnar was a canon in Oslo, a profession that even some of his own sons chose. It is known that Olav and four of these relatives studied at foreign universities and his uncle Sakse was the one who gave Olav clerical education. There is a theory among the Norwegian genealogists that Olav Engelbrektsson was not the first member of his family to be the Archbishop of Nidaros. But, throughout his life, the records were concerned with the church, the politics. He did help with the education and careers of Torbjørn and his brother, Jens Olavssøn Bratt and it is the same with the possibility that Olavs mother might be the daughter of Ivar Trondsson from the Aspa family in Frei in Nordmøre.
Olav Engelbrektsson was enrolled in 1503 at the University of Rostock in Germany and he was already ordained as a priest but he wanted to continue his studies. He eventually took examinations to earn several more degrees at the University – a baccalaureus in 1505, at the University, theology was being taught by conservatives from the Catholic Church but the city of Rostock was once the center of North German humanism. Olav Engelbrektsson soon became the leader of the Norwegian Collegiate Club, called Regentia Sancti Olavi in the memory of the martyred King of Norway and they were located in a separate building under the Norwegian name of St. Olavs hus. Among the students, Engelbrektsson was known as a very sociable person, but not particularly charismatic and he became acquainted with, among others, the brothers from Sweden, Johannes Magnus and Olaus Magnus. The brothers would be the last two Catholics to be the Archbishop of Uppsala, but Olaus is still famous for his map of Scandinavia, the Carta Marina of 1537
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum. The word potato may refer either to the plant itself or to the edible tuber, in the Andes, where the species is indigenous, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes were introduced to Europe in the half of the 16th century by the Spanish. It is the worlds fourth-largest food crop, following maize, the green leaves and green skins of tubers exposed to the light are toxic. Wild potato species can be throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile. Following centuries of breeding, there are now over a thousand different types of potatoes. However, the importance of the potato is variable and changing rapidly. As of 2007 China led the world in production, and nearly a third of the worlds potatoes were harvested in China. The English word potato comes from Spanish patata, the Spanish Royal Academy says the Spanish word is a compound of the Taíno batata and the Quechua papa.
The 16th-century English herbalist John Gerard used the terms bastard potatoes and Virginia potatoes for this species, potatoes are occasionally referred to as Irish potatoes or white potatoes in the United States, to distinguish them from sweet potatoes. The name spud for a small potato comes from the digging of soil prior to the planting of potatoes, the word spud traces back to the 16th century. It subsequently transferred over to a variety of digging tools, around 1845, the name transferred to the tuber itself. It was Mario Peis 1949 The Story of Language that can be blamed for the false origin. Pei writes, the potato, for its part, was in disrepute some centuries ago, some Englishmen who did not fancy potatoes formed a Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diet. The initials of the words in this title gave rise to spud. Like most other pre-20th century acronymic origins, this is false, Potato plants are herbaceous perennials that grow about 60 cm high, depending on variety, with the leaves dying back after flowering and tuber formation.
They bear white, red, blue, or purple flowers with yellow stamens, in general, the tubers of varieties with white flowers have white skins, while those of varieties with colored flowers tend to have pinkish skins. Potatoes are mostly cross-pollinated by insects such as bumblebees, which carry pollen from other potato plants, tubers form in response to decreasing day length, although this tendency has been minimized in commercial varieties
Anise
Anise, called aniseed, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. Its flavor has similarities with other spices, such as star anise, fennel. Anise is an annual plant growing to 3 ft or more tall. The leaves at the base of the plant are simple, 3⁄8–2 in long and shallowly lobed, while leaves higher on the stems are feathery pinnate, the flowers are white, approximately 1⁄8 inch in diameter, produced in dense umbels. The fruit is an oblong dry schizocarp, 1⁄8–1⁄4 in long, Anise is a food plant for the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the lime-speck pug and wormwood pug. Anise was first cultivated in Egypt and the Middle East, but was brought to Europe for its medicinal value, Anise plants grow best in light, well-drained soil. The seeds should be planted as soon as the ground warms up in spring, because the plants have a taproot, they do not transplant well after being established, so they should be started either in their final location or transplanted while the seedlings are still small.
Western cuisines have long used anise to flavor dishes, the word is used for both the species of herb and its licorice-like flavor. Star anise is considerably expensive to produce, and has gradually displaced P. anisum in Western markets. While formerly produced in quantities, by 1999 world production of the essential oil of anise was only 8 tons. As with all spices, the composition of anise varies considerably with origin and these are typical values for the main constituents. The yield of oil is influenced by the growing conditions and extraction process. Regardless of the method of isolation the main component of the oil is anethole, with minor components including 4-anisaldehyde and pseudoisoeugenyl-2-methylbutyrates, Anise is sweet and very aromatic, distinguished by its characteristic flavor. It is a key ingredient in Mexican atole de anís and champurrado, which is similar to hot chocolate, the Ancient Romans often served spiced cakes with aniseed called mustaceoe at the end of feasts as a digestive.
This tradition of serving cake at the end of festivities is the basis for the tradition of serving cake at weddings and these liquors are clear, but on addition of water become cloudy, a phenomenon known as the ouzo effect. It is believed to be one of the ingredients in the French liqueur Chartreuse. It is used in some beers, such as Virgils in the United States. Anise has thought a treatment for menstrual cramps and colic
Smoking (cooking)
Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meats and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses and ingredients used to make such as whisky, smoked beer. In Europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but oak is often used now. In North America, mesquite, pecan, alder and fruit-tree woods, such as apple, other biomass besides wood can be employed, sometimes with the addition of flavoring ingredients. Chinese tea-smoking uses a mixture of uncooked rice and tea, some North American ham and bacon makers smoke their products over burning corncobs. Peat is burned to dry and smoke the barley used to make whisky. In New Zealand, sawdust from the native manuka is commonly used for hot smoking fish, in Iceland, dried sheep dung is used to cold-smoke fish, lamb and whale. Historically, farms in the Western world included a building termed the smokehouse. This was generally well-separated from other buildings both because of the danger and because of the smoke emanations.
The smoking of food directly with wood smoke is known to contaminate the food with carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the smoking of food dates back to the time of primitive cavemen. As caves or simple huts lacked chimneys, these dwellings could become very smoky, until the modern era, smoking was of a more heavy duty nature as the main goal was to preserve the food. Large quantities of salt were used in the process and smoking times were quite long. The advent of modern transportation made it easier to transport food products long distances. Smoking became more of a way to flavor than to preserve food, in 1939 a device called the Torry Kiln was invented at the Torry Research Station in Scotland. The kiln allowed for uniform mass-smoking and is considered the prototype for all modern large-scale commercial smokers, smokehouse temperatures for cold smoking are typically done between 20 to 30 °C. In this temperature range, foods take on a smoked flavor, cold smoking does not cook foods.
Meats should be cured before cold smoking. Cold smoking can be used as an enhancer for items such as chicken breasts, pork chops, scallops
Norwegian Constitution Day
Norwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai, Nasjonaldagen or Grunnlovsdagen, the Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to be an independent kingdom in an attempt to avoid being ceded to Sweden after Denmark–Norways devastating defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, the celebration of this day began spontaneously among students and others from early on. However, Norway was at time in a union with Sweden and for some years the King of Sweden. For a few years during the 1820s, King Karl Johan actually banned it, believing that celebrations like this were in fact a kind of protest and disregard — even revolt — against the union. The kings attitude changed after the Battle of the Square in 1829, the address was held by Henrik Wergeland, thoroughly witnessed and accounted for by an informant dispatched by the king himself.
After 1864 the day became more established when the first childrens parade was launched in Christiania and this initiative was taken by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, although Wergeland made the first known childrens parade at Eidsvoll around 1820. It was only in 1899 that girls were allowed to join in the parade for the first time, in 1905, the union with Sweden was dissolved and Prince Carl of Denmark was chosen to be King of an independent Norway, under the name Haakon VII. Obviously, this ended any Swedish concern for the activities of the National Day, by historical coincidence, the Second World War ended in Norway nine days before that years Constitution Day, on May 8,1945, when the occupying German forces surrendered. Even if The Liberation Day is a flag day in Norway. Instead, a new and broader meaning has been added to the celebration of Norwegian Constitution Day on May 17, the day focused originally on the Norwegian constitution, but after 1905, the focus has been directed towards the royal family.
A noteworthy aspect of the Norwegian Constitution Day is its very non-military nature, all over Norway, childrens parades with an abundance of flags form the central elements of the celebration. Each elementary school district arranges its own parade with marching bands between schools, the parade takes the children through the community, often making stops at homes of senior citizens, war memorials, etc. The longest parade is in Oslo, where some 100,000 people travel to the city centre to participate in the main festivities and this is broadcast on TV every year, with comments on costumes, etc. together with local reports from celebrations around the country. The massive Oslo parade includes some 100 schools, marching bands, after the band, the rest of the school children follow with hand-sized flags, often with the junior forms first, and often behind self-made banners for each form or even individual class. Nearby kindergartens may have been invited to join in, as the parade passes, bystanders often join in behind the official parade, and follow the parade back to the school.
Depending on the community, the parade may make stops at particular sites along the route, in Oslo the parade stops at the Royal Palace while Skaugum, the home of the crown prince, has been a traditional waypoint for parades in Asker. During the parade a marching band will play and the children will sing lyrics about the celebration of the National Day, the parade concludes with the stationary singing of the national anthem Ja, vi elsker dette landet, and the royal anthem Kongesangen
