# Norwegian:  Happy May Day!



## Grefsen

Is there a special greeting that is used in Norway on May Day?  Isn't today also a holiday for most Norwegians as well as a National Flag Day?


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## Grefsen

Here's something I just found about May Day celebrations in Nordic Countries:



> *Nordic Countries*
> 
> In Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland, Labour Day is a public holiday, celebrated by many different socialist parties and groups with political demonstrations and speeches. In recent years the focus of the day in both Norway and Finland has become more of a partying one rather than a political one - the most actively celebrating group of people being university and High School students.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day#Nordic_Countries


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## Grefsen

Grefsen said:


> Is there a special greeting that is used in Norway on May Day?  Isn't today also a holiday for most Norwegians as well as a National Flag Day?



Would it be more appropriate to use "Gratulerer med Arbeidsdag" as a greeting for today than "Gratulerer med første mai" f.ek.?


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## jonquiliser

The wiki quote in your second post is certainly true at least for Finland. What there still is of political in it, has been transformed and snitched by other political (and religious) groupings and parties.

As for the translation, I have no idea, but I would say it's more likely to be something with "nice" than "congratulations" (the latter tend to be for something you are congratulating a person/group of people about, at any rate in Swedish).


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## Grefsen

jonquiliser said:


> As for the translation, I have no idea, but I would say it's more likely to be something with "nice" than "congratulations" (the latter tend to be for something you are congratulating a person/group of people about, at any rate in Swedish).



I think you are probably correct about using something other than "Gratulerer" for a Norwegian "Labor Day/May Day" greeting.  The only times I recall "Gratulerer Med Dagen" being used is for Constitution Day (17th of May) and for someone's birthday.


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## Saipal

You may use _"Gratulerer med dagen!"_ (Lit: congratulations with the day) for any day of celebration, including Labour Day, e.g. birthday, promotion, anniversary etc.

In fact, _"Gratulerer med dagen!"_ would be the preferred way of greeting any "worker" or otherwise leftist person on Labour Day. An alternative, maybe more formal way, would be: _"God første mai!"_ (Lit: good/happy first May). We would never mix these (as has been suggested).

We don't celebrate Flag Day in Norway (they do in Sweden), we celebrate Constitution Day, on May 17.  Officially the day is called _"grunnlovsdagen"_ (Lit: the constitution day), but we almost always say/ write _"søttende mai/ 17. mai"_.

As for partying rather than celebrating socialism: I guess that depends on which age group and political wing (if any) you belong to. Keep in mind though, that Norway has been called "the last remaining communist state in Europe" (sarcasm) by a Swedish member of Cabinet )


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## Grefsen

"Tusen takk" for your very complete and very helpful reply.  



Saipal said:


> You may use _"Gratulerer med dagen!"_ (Lit: congratulations with the day) for any day of celebration, including Labour Day, e.g. birthday, promotion, anniversary etc.
> 
> In fact, _"Gratulerer med dagen!"_ would be the preferred way of greeting any "worker" or otherwise leftist person on Labour Day. An alternative, maybe more formal way, would be: _"God første mai!"_ (Lit: good/happy first May). We would never mix these (as has been suggested).



So if you aren't sure about the political leanings of the person you are greeting, would _"God første mai!"_ be the safest alternative to use?


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## Grefsen

Saipal said:


> We don't celebrate Flag Day in Norway (they do in Sweden), we celebrate Constitution Day, on May 17.  Officially the day is called _"grunnlovsdagen"_ (Lit: the constitution day), but we almost always say/ write _"Søttende mai/ 17. mai"_.



I'm not completely clear about this part of your reply, but perhaps I wasn't as clear as I could have been with my post.  I didn't mean that May 1 was "the Flag Day," but instead just one of many national flag days in Norway.


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## Saipal

Grefsen said:


> So if you aren't sure about the political leanings of the person you are greeting, would _"God første mai!"_ be the safest alternative to use?



Bulls-eye! Allthough most sane people appreciate the day off and would not be offended by any such greeting, it may be that some business owners (and some of our 2% unemployed) are less than enthusiastic about it ;-)


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## Saipal

Grefsen said:


> I'm not completely clear about this part of your reply, but perhaps I wasn't as clear as I could have been with my post.  I didn't mean that May 1 was "the Flag Day," but instead just one of many national flag days in Norway.



Right! May 1 is _an _official flag day in Norway.


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## Grefsen

Saipal said:


> Right! May 1 is _an _official flag day in Norway.



"Tusen takk" for confirming this for me.  Also "velkommen til" WordReference.    I really appreciate all of the help you have given me today.

Hilsen!


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## Saipal

Thank you, Grefsentrikken! I have received help in exactly the same matter (Happy Labour Day) in Sloveninan myself  I'll be sure to check in regularly, as this seems like a rather interesting place for a language geek like me.


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## Grefsen

Since this year *"første mai" *happens to be on *en fredag* (a Friday), would it be appropriate to refer to this coming weekend as *"første mai helgen" på norsk?*


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## vestfoldlilja

Yes, but it seems more correct, to me at least, with 1 mai helg/helgen. 

Nå er det 1 mai helg. 

Det er 1 mai helg denne helgen.


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## Grefsen

vestfoldlilja said:


> Yes, but it seems more correct, to me at least, with 1 mai helg/helgen.



*Tusen takk for det!  

Jeg håper du **får** en kjempefin 1 mai helg!*


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## OroRojo

vestfoldlilja said:


> Nå er det 1 mai helg.



Nå er det 1. mai-helg.

Punktum etter 1 for at det skal bli første. Og så synes jeg man bør bruke bindestrek for å knytte ordet helg til datoen.


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## Huffameg

Grefsen said:


> "Tusen takk" for your very complete and very helpful reply.
> 
> 
> 
> So if you aren't sure about the political leanings of the person you are greeting, would _"God første mai!"_ be the safest alternative to use?



I have never heard "God første mai" and I think "Gratulerer med dagen" would go quite well with everyone. If you say it to someone you know to be either ideologically right winged or a capitalist they would in most cases not be offended but they migth take it as a cute sarcastic comment. 

I disagree with May Day not being a political celebration. As the "russefeiring" is at it's heights there should be no surprise to anyone that teenagers party the night before a holiday.


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## henbjo

I have to disagree with you, Huffameg. I would definitely find it odd to be greeted with "gratulerer med dagen" on May Day, precisely because of the political implications.

"God første mai", on the other hand sounds perfectly fine to my ears, and I think I have heard it in use as well.

However, the focus of May Day in Norway is probably most often pointed to the fact that it's a holiday, not the political aspects of it. Especially so when it happens to be on a monday or friday like this year, and you get the extended weekend. Therefore you probably hear more sentences like "Ha en fin langhelg", "Kos deg i første Mai-helga", "Ha en fin første Mai" or simply "Nyt fridagen i morgen" (which I thoroughly did, by the way). 

Ha en fortsatt fin helg!


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