Bunads

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With Norway's national day coming soon (May 17th) I thought it would be fitting to talk a bit about bunads. I just love old culture preserved in bunads! It's such a great dose of Norwegian culture to go to an event and be surrounded by people wearing bunads that in a way it kind of feels like you've stepped back in time a couple hundred years. In fact, it is what people wore a few centuries ago in Norway. Today the traditional clothing can be worn to weddings, folk festivals and church events like baptisms and confirmations, as well as on May 17th of course. What better way to celebrate nationalism than to wear traditional folk clothing from the 1800s?

I'm absolutely excited to celebrate this holiday for the first time. It's tradition for there to be parades with small children and school kids, some of which are dressed in bunads. Afterwards, the day is celebrated with ice cream and waffles.

I have been looking at baby bunads lately. I know it's too early to get one as I really don't know how fast or slow our baby will be growing by next 17. mai (May 17th in Norwegian). To get a custom bunad for an adult, you'd be looking at spending hundreds to thousands of dollars/kroner, but many stores sell inexpensive bunads for babies and children for around NOK 500 or $85 USD. However, you can find gently used bunads for babies and children at very reasonable prices - around NOK 150-200 or $25-34 USD. Anyways, I really look forward to taking our little one to next year's 17. mai parade dressed in a bunad for the first time. Of course, she'll have 2 national days to celebrate - 17. mai dressed in a bunad, holding a Norwegian flag and being treated to ice cream and waffles after a parade and 4th of July waving an American flag and eating barbecue. :-)  (Sadly, when we celebrate July 4th in Norway, it has to be done without fireworks as they're only legal on New Year's Eve!)

My husband and I have been looking through baby pictures and before we were married his dad sent me some of Arild's cute bunad pictures. Here's one:


However, little girls wear a dress similar to this:
From: http://www.foreldreportalen.no/forum/showthread.php?t=92077
Adult bunads look similar to the children's bunads, just bigger! Also, bunads come in many different patterns and it is generally worn to represent the area in Norway you're from. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi, i was in Oslo at 17mai last year.it was nice and i remember a dog wearing bunad too, hehehe..
May 16, 2013 at 7:16 AM
Evelyn Sand said…
HAHA! I've never seen a dog in a bunad, but that doesn't surprise me! :-)
May 17, 2013 at 12:52 AM
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