Almost as always

Yesterday we celebrated the Constitution Day. It was the traditional stuff going on; flags all over the place, the children's parade and then the citizens parade, brass bands playing in the streets.

We (as a country) are very proud of our Constitution Day. In particular, we appreciate that children are parading, and not the military.

There's a general consensus that parading children is a good idea.

I know there are some people (in particular European immigrants) who don't agree. To some, marching children are even more scaring than marching soldiers. Thousands of children waiving flags and praising the king can give an impression of indoctrination; a slight touch of North Korea.

Whatever, we've been doing this for almost 200 years, and probably will the next 200 years.

It was Constitution Day as always. The only thing unusual, was the nice and warm weather. No freezing in suit and tie, no need for gloves >:)

(I took the picture of the nurse's drum corps when we watched the citizen's parade.)

Constitution

Yesterday was our Constitution Day, and big celebrations.

In the morning it was the childrens parade, with all the elementary schools in town. Little boy is in 4th grade, and was participating with his school.

Then there was the citizens parade, with all the clubs and associations in town; the Kung Fu Club, Roller Derby Club, pro-football team, Students Society , Gay Association, Lions Club, Moto-Cross Club, Railroad-workers' Brass Band, Together for Jesus, and so on.

Same procedure as every year.

Our constitution is inspired by the French and the US, and builds on the principle of separation of powers; the executive, legislative and judicial, respectively.

Here are some punch-lines from the constitution, written about 200 years ago:
o All inhabitants of the Realm shall have the right to free exercise of their religion.
o The Evangelical-Lutheran religion shall remain the official religion of the State. The inhabitants professing it are bound to bring up their children in the same.
o Jesuits and monastic orders may not be tolerated. Jews remain excluded from admission to the kingdom.
o There shall be freedom of expression.
o Search of private homes shall not be made except in criminal cases.

My parents may have violated the 2nd statement, even though they possibly did their best to obey it (it just didn't work on me).

It's interesting that the most important statement is only six words.

One of the statements above has been removed from the constitution in modern times ... guess which.

(I don't take many pictures on the Constitution Day. It's the same every year, and I've seen it all before. The picture above is from the citizen's parade last year.)