As every local knows and every newcomer learns, Bergen has its own traditions and rituals for Constitution Day.
As every local knows and every newcomer learns, Bergen has its own traditions and rituals for Constitution Day. Every place has its familiar 17 May celebrations, but some of Bergen’s are distinctive to the city, with roots reaching far back into the nineteenth century.
Although Bergen sent many prominent men to the Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll, including W. F. K. Christie, who became Norway’s first president of parliament, the city was deeply conservative and loyal to the King. It was therefore not among the first places to celebrate 17 May. Its first celebration is said to have been in 1826, when pupils from the Latin school held festivities at Nygaard with their headmaster’s tacit approval. The following year brought an official celebration, beginning with a cannon salute, just as the day still does.
Rockets were launched then as now, but from Fløyen. The procession did not begin until evening and was probably rather more improvised than today’s, though its ranks gradually became organised. In 1848, we hear of processions at five in the morning and in the afternoon. By then, Bergen had its own 17 May celebration committee. It had been formed in 1847, when several people offered contributions towards the celebrations and were immediately given the task of raising more money.
A familiar task for every 17 May Committee since.
The money raised in 1847 funded various public entertainments. Some remain part of Bergen’s Seventeenth today, including rowing races and climbing poles. The 15-metre poles were often coated in soft soap to make reaching the prizes difficult, and climbing straps were banned early on.
The rowing race, known by the traditional Norwegian name kapproning that the Committee still uses, took place on Store Lungegårdsvann, with a few exceptions, until it moved to Vågen in 1951. It disappeared from the programme for several years in the early twentieth century. More recently, finding enough boats and crews has sometimes been difficult, but the Committee does its best to preserve the traditions.
Fireworks have been an almost constant feature over the years, launched from Fløyen, Lungegårdsvannet and Sverresborg. Torchlight processions are also mentioned early on, although they do not seem to have been regular fixtures. They have long since become an atmospheric finale to the day, followed by fireworks.
Then there are the processions, as they are called in Bergen, apart from the children’s parade, which began as Gutternes Flagtog, the boys’ flag parade, in 1877. It is still called Flaggtoget. It has its own history, with and without the Saturday and Sunday buekorps youth brigades, later joined by girls, and eventually carrying flags instead of the original plain red, white and blue pennants. Those pennants avoided early disputes over whether to use the union flag or a purely Norwegian flag.
Before 1877, there was usually only one procession: the main procession. Its route was once longer and different from today’s, running from Skansen via Klosteret to Engen. The children’s flag parade accompanied it for many years before receiving its own route in 1914. An early-morning walk took place in 1848, but did not become a regular event.
It is difficult to say exactly when the morning procession began. In 1892, a new item appeared in the programme, which had been printed in Bergen since 1877: Bergen Brigade’s band marched from Nygårdsparken to Vetrlidsallmenning at 08:00. The next year, it left Skansen for Nygårdsparken at 07:15, joined by many residents. The name Morgenprocession first appeared in the printed programme in 1911.
Some visitors and newcomers find the main procession rather carnival-like, but this too has a history. Its origins are said to lie with chairman John Lund and his celebration committee. They wanted people to remember great events and distinguished figures in Norwegian history, laying the foundations for elaborate displays, floats and tableaux.
Although Bergen’s first 17 May Committee was formed in 1847, committees have not operated continuously ever since. Sometimes private initiatives kept things going. In 1859, however, a dynamic chairman emerged: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, then Bergen’s theatre director. Remember that he also wrote the first draft of “Ja, vi elsker” here. He brought fresh energy and made a powerful debut as a 17 May speaker, before returning to the capital.
Organised celebrations then had mixed fortunes until the quintessential Bergen enthusiast John Lund was elected chairman of a newly formed committee in 1876. Apart from a few years in parliament, he held the post until his death in 1913. He is said to have greeted every 17 May with “Atter er Dagen oprunden!” — “Once again the day has dawned!” — a greeting maintained by subsequent committees.