🇧🇻 Today is the National Day in Norway, when we celebrate our constitution.
Norway was under Danish rule since 1537. In 1814, Denmark "lost" Norway due to their support of Napoleon and Norway was given to Sweden. But Norwegian intellectuals and politicians sat down in February 1815, to write a constitution. This constitution was signed by the Swedish king May 17th 1814.
After being a more or less self-ruled colony, Sweden accepted Norwegian full independence in 1905.
🇧🇻 #norwayfacts#kingdom
Today, 17 May, Norway celebrates itself with a ginormous, hyper-nationalistic orgy. Everything in excess is the unofficial motto of the day. Big speeches about the Founding Fathers (or Constitution Daddies), the Uniquely Democratic Constitution they forged, and Norwegian exceptionalism in general. Ice cream and hot dogs for the children until they beg for mercy, and booze for the folk-costume-wearing grown-ups until they're too drunk to fight. Gratulerer med dagen! #AltforNorge#NorwayFacts
OTD, 1 April, 1950, Aftenposten, the largest daily newspaper in Norway, announced on its front page that the government wine outlet had bought a large quantity of good, French wine, but had unfortunately run out of bottles so they were forced to sell it off at giveaway prices to whoever showed up with their own containers. #NorwayFacts@histodons
Did you know that Norway is, at least partially, a settler colonial state? From a bit into the 1800s, the young nation set out to properly colonize the North, and a 100-years-long official program of forceful and violent assimilation of the native Sami populations was embarked upon. Generations of children were taken away from their parents and sent to "Norwegianizing" boarding schools to have their Sami cultures and languages beaten out of them. :sami: #NorwayFacts#SamiNationalDay
In Norway, "Thor" is such a common given name that "with the hammer" is almost always added when talking about the thunder god to avoid confusion. #NorwayFacts
The Norwegian language has this delightfully sussinct way of begging someone's pardon and inquiring about their well-being, for instance after having bumped into them, that's just "oj!" #NorwayFacts
The Norwegian language can seem a bit blunt to the anglophone ear, somewhat lacking in the softening euphemisms department. For instance, the hospital is simply called the sick house and the vehicle that takes you there, sirens blaring, is called the sick car. If the sick house healers and sick nurses cannot help you, you'll leave the premises in a corpse car after a few nights in the sick house-adjacent corpse house. #NorwayFacts
In Norwegian, "moose at sunset" (elg i solnedgang) is an expression meaning kitschy and tasteless. This stems from the extreme popularity of the motif in folk art during the decades following WW2 to the point where most homes would have a painting of a contemplative moose at sunset, perhaps standing by a small lake in the forest, hanging on their walls. #NorwayFacts