– It’s because Norway has a birthday! says NRK profile Fantorangen (known from “Barne-TV” and “Maskorama”) to presenter Nadia Hasnaoui during this year’s May 17 broadcast on the state channel – when asked if she knows why we celebrate May 17.
But apparently not everyone agrees with the popular felt dot.
In a congratulatory video published in social media Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) says the following about National Day:
– This day is a day of celebration. Some call it the country’s birthday, but actually it is the constitution’s birthday.
Dagbladet immediately glimpsed the contours of a debate with far-reaching consequences for the actual understanding of the kingdom’s origins.
Is May 17 really “Norway’s birthday”?
Who is right – the Prime Minister or the Fantorange?
– They are both somewhat right. That’s the boring answer. 17 May is the date of the constitution. The text of the constitution was finished on 16 May, and many of those who signed it did not finish it until 18 May. But they chose one date, and it was May 17. It says on the last page of the constitution: “Eidsvoll works, 17 May, 1814”.
– Hold on to the stack!
– Had to choose a date
That’s what Bård Frydenlund, historian and director at the museum, says Eidsvoll 1814to Dagbladet.
– 17 May is the birthday of modern Norway, at least you can say that. This is not to belittle medieval and Viking-era Norway already in the 8th century, but “the birthday of modern Norway” – that is absolutely correct.
– But is it really accurate to say that 17 May is “the constitution’s birthday” if the constitution was finalized the day before?
– No, there are some who believe that it is actually 16 May which is the constitution’s birthday. But then there’s this thing about dating. They had to choose a date, and it is the 17th that has remained. That’s what it says in the document that was signed – it’s an accepted date by elected men. That makes it legitimate.
– So Fantorangen and the prime minister are basically both right – but both are also slightly wrong?
– Yes. You can say that. The Prime Minister perhaps undercuts something of the larger national dimension by saying that it is “only” Constitution Day – while Fantorangen probably hits a bit too hard by calling it “Norway’s birthday”, says Frydenlund.
– But on a festive day such as 17 May, both are equally permitted, he adds.
Europe’s broadest right to vote
The constitution was radical and “very modern” by 1814 standards, Frydenlund insists.
– Contemporary times taken into account, and taken into account that we were, after all, in a corner of Europe. We had lived in a dictatorship that said one thing: That only the king in Copenhagen rules, everyone else is subordinate, he says.
Political freedoms in Denmark-Norway were limited to absolute necessities such as property rights, Frydenlund maintains.
– Freedom of speech, for example, should relate to what the king said at any given time. The big break was in 1814, with a radical constitution of its own, says the historian.
The constitution gave the right to vote to all male citizens over the age of 25 – with certain reservations. In the cities, it applied to civil servants, merchants and those who owned property of a certain value, according to The Storting’s website.
In the countryside, it applied to all men who owned or rented registered farms, and thus paid state tax, according to UiO’s website History of Norway.
The right to vote applied to all government officials – and no women. Equally, it was Europe’s widest in 1814.
The school’s flag line was cut
Norway’s old Royal Throne
Despite the fact that they all functioned as midwives in the birth of modern Norway, the Eidsvollmen also consciously related to the Norway that existed before the union with Denmark.
Frydenlund quotes the professor and the politician Georg Sverdrup – who was a member of the Constitutional Committee and acted as president on 17 May.
– After the Norwegian king has been elected, he says: “Reist is therefore before Norway’s Enemærk Norway’s old royal throne, which nobles and swords covered, and from which they ruled old Norway with wisdom and strength.” He says in a way: “The restoration of old Norway is now complete”.
Frydenlund emphasizes that there are many understandings of what Norway is, and many opinions about how the country’s origins should be dated.
– The battle in Hafrsfjord, the battle at Stiklestad. There are many who want to say: “It was and! It is the which is Norway”. It’s hard to say – it’s medieval Norway, old Norway. But that is not the Norway we have today. It does not come until the 1814 constitution.
Given the understanding of the nation of Norway (where both Jonas Gahr Støre and Fantorangen live) that most people operate with today, one should get away with both “constitutional day” and “Norway’s birthday”, Frydenlund believes.
– You have to be able to convey it to a wide audience, and then I also think that you should be able to afford to make some pocket mail. At least it is inside if you are going down to kindergarten level, he says.
2023-05-17 18:33:45
#slightly #wrong
