Norwegian national costumes

Main Menu

Stats

Content View Hits : 560968

A well-known bunad from Setesdal National costumes ("bunad") have long traditions in Norway, and when you look at the national costumes in the nordic countries, you will see many similarities, but also with some Eastern European national costumes, e.g. in the Baltic states. They are officially allowed as formal dress for both men and women and can be found in many national romantic paintings. The royal family and members of the government are also often seen wearing bunad. On May 17th you get a good opportunity to study them, as they appear in thousands in the parades and festivities on the National Day.

The bunad has been standardized for different parts of the country, but still quite a few "inofficial" variants exist and can be seen often. There are probably at least 200 different bunads. The official version is very expensive (around 15 000-30 000 NOK - approximately 3000-6000 USD), but the inofficial ones are "only" half this price. In addition, special silver jewelry is used, special shoes and so on. You can even buy a matching umbrella.

The association promoting the standardisations (nicknamed "the bunad police") is known to be very strict, there was once a story in the papers about an American tourist wanting to buy a bunad scarf, but was denied this as she could not prove that she originated from the part of Norway the bunad belonged to!

You can read more about the history and the different costumes in this Wiki article.