May 16th!

The seventeenth of May is the National Day for Norway, and there are countless traditions and celebrations as part of this day. They actually start the day before, on the sixteenth of May. The 17th fell on a Sunday this year, which made for a very very crazy, fun-filled weekend. This post is about Saturday, May 16th. It would be too much to do one blog post about the whole weekend, so the post about the 17th will follow soon.

In Bergen, on May 16th, the biggest tradition is that there is always a home game for the city's soccer team, Brann (fire). They are the most coveted tickets of the season and people sleep out over night outside of the ticket sales office to be first in line for the tickets. The stadium is not that big, only 20,000, so the tickets are very hard to come by. Somehow, I was lucky enough to get a ticket! The chefs from our restaurant went and waited in the line hours before the office opened and each bought the maximum number of tickets, and through a series of incredibly fortunate events, I was able to get one of their tickets. It was for standing room only, but, let's be serious, who would want to sit down anyway!

So, days before the match, I went to the official Brann store and bought myself a jersey and a scarf. I had planned on buying these anyway as I think they make for great souvenirs. And, ever since I was a very little girl, my great uncle Henry, who was born here in Bergen, taught me about Brann and instilled in me his love for the team. He would always sing and chant "Heia Brann!" when he was playing soccer with us in his front yard at the ripe young age of 92! So I guess being a supporter of Brann is in my blood. I bleed Brann red.

With my jersey and scarf, feeling like a true supporter, I rode the bus into the city and sat outdoors at a cafe for breakfast. It was great, everyone was walking around with their red on, jerseys, scarves, and the football pub was becoming crowded at around 11am (5 hours before the game) with people drinking and reserving the seats with the best view of the tvs. (I would have been there had I not been lucky enough to get a ticket). After my coffee I went to meet my friends/coworkers for a pre-game party followed by a walk to the stadium. I was even involved in some friendly screaming/trash-talking with supporters of the other team, walking around Bergen in their bright yellow jerseys! (I have had a lot of practice with this at Redskins-Cowboys games, just not in Norwegian, so I was much less creative "You (not their team, I don't know that word, so I was being personal) are not good! Brann is good! We are good!" I think I really got them...

Anyway, we went to our friends house where they had the traditional 17th of May food (I'll tell more about that in the next post) and we watched DVD's of old Brann highlights, when they won the league, famous goals, etc. to get ourselves pumped up for the game. It worked! At one point, I was moved to tears (thanks, Dad, love you!)

Then we walked to the stadium which is beautiful and nestled in the mountains, so even if the team plays terribly, you have great views all around. The game was not that exciting, except that the fans are awesome and we were close to the field. Brann scored a great goal at about the 70th minute, and we went wild! But then the other team scored about about the 85th minute, and we were less excited. It ended with a tie, 1-1, and the fans were disappointed.

After the game we went back to our friend's house, relaxed a bit, changed, and then walked into town to party with every other person in Bergen (the 16th of May is one of the biggest nights for going out and partying because everyone is off work the next day and celebrating).

Which brings me to the 16th of May tradition in Bergen that is a close second to the Brann home match: a fantastic 80's coverband playing a live show at Rick's, one of the more popular clubs in town! There weren't quite as many people, and you didn't have to camp out for tickets, we actually just walked in, but I think it is still pretty important to the 17th of May weekend traditions.

The band was hilarious, half the members of the band were crossdressers, they did all the popular American, and some Norwegian, songs from the 80's, and they were the most energetic, fun, strange, performers I have seen! One tall, lanky, hairy man with very very long curly hair dressed in all women's clothes and removed one article of clothing at the start of each song, until he was in an itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny-pink bikini at the last song. Fortunately for you, I filmed the band performing "Take on Me" by the most internationally famous Norwegian band, A-ha. It was also a huge song in America, which is why you can hear me singing along embarrassingly loudly (I was closest to the camera). Enjoy!

Here are some pictures (and videos) from the day:

A friend of mine and me sitting on the blue rock in the center of town, where everyone meets (He had to work that day, so it's okay that he wasn't wearing red...)


Some friends at the pre-game party. (The guy on the left is from Scotland, so it's okay that he wasn't wearing red... although he did put a borrowed t-shirt on later)


Me, all dressed up and ready, walking down to the stadium! (The two girls in the middle of the picture are Swedish and Danish, and weren't going to the game, so it's okay that they weren't wearing red... )


Heia Brann!


A sea of red in the stadium


The view of Ulriken (the mountain) from the stadium. There's a soccer game going on as well...


Walking back to our friend's after the game.


The fountain downtown on a beautiful evening.


The lead singer of the band...


The man removing articles of clothing...


And here are two videos:

The first is the craziest fan section of the stadium celebrating when the team comes out on the field, and the second is the band performing "Take on Me". Again, please do not judge me and my singing along, I really like the song!