By: Elin

Absolutely - wear a bunad! I am sure someone has before - although it probably doesn't happen often. It is a very powerful way of showing respect for the day - we are lucky to have this tradition. I guess the only negative aspect of wearing a bunad to a defence is that it might feel more like you're wearing a uniform - it expresses less you and more Norway. Some extreme voices might also deem you unworthy of wearing a bunad - since your parents are Australian. There are some complicated rules that determines which kind of bunad you can wear as well. I think you'll find them online at http://www.husfliden.no . Have you ever thought of clothing in connection to avatars? Bunads would be perfect examples - they are all tied to space (you can't wear a Nordlands Bunad if you did not grow up there or your mother did) and I think we all feel different when wearing them(less ourselves and more part of a community) . And remember all the fuss around immigrants wearing Bunads in the 17 of May parades? They were said to be "misrepresenting" themselves, and worse, thus "tainting" the meaning of the Bunad.