Uniforms and banners
Each district with its own colour, drum and mark.
The national day, marking the signing of the Norwegian constitution in 1814. It is not celebrated with military parades but with children's parades: every school walks its pupils through the streets behind a band, people line the pavements waving flags, and many wear the bunad, the traditional dress whose design differs by region. In Bergen the Buekorps and their drums are added to that. The day is entirely family-centred and starts early, and the whole city is outdoors โ if you happen to be in Norway, do not miss it.
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The Buekorps is a tradition that exists nowhere but Bergen, and the small museum devoted to it is the best way to understand what you will see in the city's streets if you come in spring. The idea is that the boys of each neighbourhood have organised themselves since the 1850s into marching corps, each district with its own corps, uniform, drums and banner. They drill at marching and drumming carrying wooden rifles that fire nothing, and they are led by older boys rather than by adults โ the corps run themselves, and that is the heart of the tradition. All of them turn out on 17 May, Norway's national day. The museum shows uniforms, drums, banners and photographs across a century and a half, and explains how something that began as children's play became part of a city's identity. It is small and quick, and its value is that it explains a spectacle you would not otherwise follow.
Each district with its own colour, drum and mark.
Drill equipment, not weapons โ they fire nothing.
Bergen old town centre