Today is syttende mai, the day when people all over Norway put on their best clothes (and smil ), pick a hand-held flagg and gather in the streets to celebrate the Norwegian constitution, which was signed on May 17th, 1814 (and formally ended the union with Denmark). As Kari wrote, ”the whole country of Norway is full of parades, music, food, and national costume”.

One of the most important parts of walking in a syttende mai-tog (May 17th parade) is – singing! As the tog proceed throughout the cities, towns and villages of Norway, there are few moments without music. Schoolchildren and other paraders form a marching chorus, singing songs about Norway and freedom while the local brass band plays along on trumpets, trombones, tubas and trommer (drums).

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Some headlines from Scandinavia last week:

• Anders Behring Breivik, the lone gunman of the July 22 attacks in Norway, has a shoe thrown at him during trial. (NRK)
• Random: Nine untranslatable Swedish words. (The Local)
• Copenhagen city council rejects legal marijuana. (The Copenhagen Post)
• Norway’s oldest WWII survior, Gunnar «Kjakan» Sønsteby, passes away. (E24)
• Russia upsets Sweden in the World Ice Hockey Championships. (The Local)

Anders Behring Breivik, the lone murderer from the July 22 attacks, gets a shoe thrown at him during the trial today by a man shouting, “You killed my brother. Go to hell! Go to hell.” Story and a video of the chaos here.

Do you think it has become harder for Norwegians, Swedes and Danes to understand one another? NRK takes a look at some of the language issues of the Scandinavian community (in Norwegian).