Race 11 - Day 17
Crew Diary - Race 11 Day 17
16 May
Hello all friends at CV22 Seattle and the other boats in the fleet. This is the Norwegian calling!
First of all, it has been a fantastic journey from Seattle to Mexico - and what a great crew to sail with!
Today is the 18th of May, the day after the Norwegian National Day. The day was celebrated with delicious cake in the colours of the Norwegian flag and a sing-off of the national hymn, followed by a few words for reflection as our tradition is. This will also be the theme of my blog this time.
The national day came from the signing of our constitution, on 17 May 1814. Norway was still governed by the Swedish Crown but the process of building an independent nation was on its way. In 1905 Norway became a fully independent monarchy. As you can see, Norway is a very young nation and the celebration of 17 May became an important part of building the identity of the nation. The day is celebrated by a people's parade. The parade will walk a route in their neighbourhood and the people will stand along the route cheering and waving flags as the parade walks by. In the schoolyard there is a cafe set up, a lot of games are arranged and the speech of the day is carried out by one of the 5th grade pupils. In our capital Oslo, all the classes of the 117 schools will be walking up our parade street to the Royal Castle where the Royal Family will be standing at the balcony waving to the pupils.
The ending of the Second World War became another important aspect of the day. Norway became free after German occupation in April 1945 and the King came back to Oslo from exile in London 8 May. The 17 May celebration 1945 became the biggest celebration Norway had ever seen. In this way the national day also became our Remembrance Day. The ending of the occupation became an important framework for the day. The speeches for the day would always honour our fallen during the war, embracing our freedom and independence and encouraging us to not take these values for granted.
But the world changes, and not many are left from the war generations. The young people are still the focus for the 17 May celebration and most of them have little knowledge of the fight for freedom during the Great War. In many ways we did what our parents and grandparents warned us about - we took our freedom and liberty for granted. And why wouldn't we? There was peace around Europe and we are living in a civilised world where conflicts are solved through talks and diplomacy.
But January 2022 showed us that history repeats itself. Russia invaded Ukraine and there is a big and very dangerous war in our neighbourhood. Norway shares about 200 kilometres of border with Russia - and Ukraine is about two days of driving from Amsterdam through Germany and Poland. People are killed and European countries are receiving refugees from Ukraine on a daily basis. The political landscape in Europe is changing dramatically.
So remember what history has taught us, peace and freedom is not to be taken for granted! It must be carefully guarded!
So dear friends, embrace these moments of pure happiness when we slide over the ocean during the night in a mild breeze with the moon throwing just enough moonlight upon us so we can see our direction! We are so privileged to experience these moments!
Until next time,
Bjorn Dalen, Oslo, Norway