Gratulerer med dagen! Crowds and sun turn out for 17.mai 2023 in Cardiff

2023 saw one of the largest celebrations of Norway’s Constitution Day in Cardiff for some years. Post-pandemic, and blessed with fine weather, almost 200 people turned up to join the celebrations, starting with a procession from the Wales Millennium Centre via the Senedd to the Norwegian Church on the bayside.

Martin Price, trustee of the Norwegian Church Cardiff Bay charity, welcomed the procession.

The flag was hoisted over Cardiff Bay after the singing of the National Anthem, Ja vi elsker, accompanied by the band of the Salvation Army.

Inside, the young talent of the Bute Wind Quintet, the artists in residence at the Norwegian Church, played from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite.

Torill Heavens, a committee member of the Welsh Norwegian Society, welcomed everybody and led proceedings in the hall. Torill is also a member of the Salvation Army Band that played for us throughout the afternoon.

Cato Syversen, the CEO of the Cardiff-based Norwegian company Creditsafe, and a trustee of the Norwegian Church Cardiff Bay, gave the traditional 17th May speech, explaining the date’s significance to Norway and Norwegians.

The Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Councillor Graham Hinchey​, wished everyone “gratulerer med dagen“. The city council looked after church after it closed for services until last year, when it was handed over to a new charity, the Norwegian Church Cardiff Bay.

Nine-year-old Eira Oseng-Rees is a typical member of our community. With a Welsh father and Norwegian mother, she has grown up bilingually in south Wales – which she demonstrated by reading the poem “17. mai er jeg så glad i” – “I love 17th May so much” in both Norwegian and English.

The Church in Norway continues to support Norwegians living, working and studying abroad, even if it has far fewer physical places of worship than in the peak days of Norway’s merchant navy.

Ingrid Ims is a chaplain based at the Norwegian Church in London who works with communities throughout the UK and Ireland. She is especially keen to reach out to Norwegian students in Wales.

Ingrid expanded on Cato’s thoughts about the meaning of 17th May and its place in Norwegian independence.

Remembering the losses that Norway had suffered during its occupation during World War Two, she laid a wreath in the church to remember the fallen.

“Vi lyser fred over deres minne,” she said: We shine peace upon their memory.