Bunad for May 17th

May 17th is Norway's national day - our constitution day - and this year we celebrated 200 years!

Bunads - our National dresses are a big deal here in Norway. We can literally tell where someone comes from by the type of Bunad they're wearing.

My bunad is made by my mother and I - and it is from the county I live in  - Vest Agder  - and even further, the embroidery on my apron and shawl is from the farm my great grand father is from.

 This is my Vest Agder bunad! They are really expensive - like $ 3000 - and that's a cheap one. Very often we get them when we get confirmed at the age of 15.

 Detail of the back of the vest - notice the big knot there? That's so the women wouldn't fall asleep in church! It really hurts - right in the middle of the back.

 Woven suspenders - the skirt is very heavy, made of wool.

 This is the top of the skirt - I wove the band on top of the skirt myself!

 Detail from the embroidery.

 Detail of the embroidery on my shirt collar!

 One of the silver brooches 8this one is from my great grandmother)

 The vest - someone should have polished the silver!!!

 This year I made my daughters' dresses - they are not real bunads - they are more of a folk dress. They don't belong to a geographic region and I bought the ribbons instead of embroidering them.

 I really do love how they turned out, though, but since my girls are nine - I think I better start on their real bunads for their confirmation!

 In all my glory!

The back side - showing the shawl. I am so proud to wear a bunad, letting everyone know how much I love my country and letting them know where I belong. If you google bunad, you will get a lot of different ones up - and just know there is a different bunad for every part of the country!