Posts under "Culture"

Forlovelse-Norwegian for Engagement

Posted by kari 5 Comments
Dec 25 2011

I did not become engaged when I resided in Norway, nor am I
engaged to a Norwegian.  Better yet, I just
recently got engaged to a super great man from my hometown a few years older
than me who is half Brazilian (mother is Brazilian) and half Norwegian (father
comes from Norwegian descent).  So
there’s plenty of Norwegian blood in the line, plus the dark hair and skin;)

 

Years ago I often wondered if I’d end up with a native
Norwegian and live in Norway, but I am so excited to now be engaged to a guy
who I’ve spent time with in Norway, has Norwegian friends, and who has
Norwegian blood in him (not that that is the most important thing in the world!)
and who grew up in the same town as me (and all of our parents still live
there, as well as us)!

I understand many of you may not be interested in my
engagement, but it is obviously a big deal for me, my fiance, our families and
friends.  Vi er forlovet (We are engaged).  Han
spurte meg paa en kort tur til Breckenridge, Colorado (He asked me on a
short trip to Breckenridge, CO) forrige
helg (last weekend).  Det var fredagskveld (it was Friday
night) og vi hadde spist pizza (we
had eaten pizza).  Vi bestemte oss (We decided) at
vi skulle ikke bli ute lenge den kvelden (we shouldn’t stay out late that
night) paa grunn av at vi skulle gaa paa
ski neste dagen (because we were going to ski the next day).  Derfor,
bestemte vi oss (Therefore, we
decided) aa bare hoppe i varmebadet
(to just hop in the hot tub).

Jeg tenkte ikke noe
av det fordi vi har vaert borte sammen i flere helger i det siste at eg hadde
bestemt meg aa ikke tenkte at hanne skulle stille spoersmaalet da (I didn’t
think anything of it because we had been away together for several weekends
lately and I had decided that I wasn’t going to think that he was going to ask
the question then.  Jeg fortelte ham dette ogsaa (I told him
this also).

Vi maate ut av
varmebadet pga at det stengte og vi saa ganske rart ut kan jeg tro (We had
to leave the hot tub because it closed; we looked rather strange, I think).   Vi
hadde paa oss store [Sorel]
vinterstoevler, tykke jakker, og ei flaske vin i veska mi. (We had on big winter
boots, thick jackets, and a bottle of wine in my purse.  I was trailing behind him with the full maane (moon) behind me, as well as the
beautiful snow-covered fjell (mountains)
and he snudde rundt (turned around),
got down on one kne (knee), pulled
out a ring, and spurte meg om jeg ville gifte
meg med ham (asked me if I would marry him).  Of course the answer was JA!  With taare
(tears) J

 

Norwegian Wedding Preparation

Posted by kari 1 Comment
Dec 21 2011

 

 

 

 

 

Norwegian Wedding Traditions

 

There are few places more beautiful to hold a wedding than in the various beautiful and romantic landscapes of Norway.

 

In Norway, the brudgrom (groom) traditionally wears a hand-made woolen suit known as a bunad. The bunad consists of a white silk shirt, short pants and stockings that come up to the calf, a vest and topcoat. The bunad is covered with intricate and colorful designs, each of which is unique to the district of Norway where the brudgom was born or where the brudgoms ancestors came from.  I always think it’s fun to see a man in a bunad just because it is so different from anything else men wear on a regular basis.

 

Groomsmen and the best man traditionally wear their bunads, which come in a variety of colors, giving the wedding a traditional as well as colorful look and feel.

 

The brud (bride) traditionally wears a white or a silver brudekjole (wedding gown). It is also common to wear a silver or silver and gold krone (crown). Dangling around the krone will be small spoon-shaped bangles. The bangles produce a melodic  musikk when she moves her head. Norwegian tradition holds that the music from the brud’s bangles will ward off evil spirits. During the bryllupsfeiring (wedding reception) after the bryllup the brud will dance and the bangles will scare away the evil spirits which try to spoil the brud’s happiness.

 

Traditionally the brudepiker (bridesmaids), dressed similarly (but not the same) as the brud will confuse any evil spirits and further help protect the brud from evil influences.

 brylluper will use the traditional Norwegian tune “Come to the Wedding” and often the happy par (couple) will be escorted out of the church after the seremoni (ceremony) to the music of the trekkspill  (accordion).

 

At the conclusion of the seremoni the brud and brudgom exchange gold or silver gifteringer (wedding rings) and the traditional bryllup kiss (wedding kiss), which symbolically seals the relationship between the mann (husband) and his kone (wife). The round ring, with no beginning and no end traditionally represents never-ending love and the kiss historically represents the exchange of a portion of each other’s souls.

 

A lavish bryllupsfeiring follows the seremoni. At the reception there are many, many taler (speeches) as guests and family wish the new couple much happiness, and there is a great deal of music and dance as well. The tables at the reception are often decorated with blokaker (layer) cakes or with a “brudlaupskling” wedding cake which is a flour cake covered with a mixture of cheese, cream and syrup.

 

Then, finally, two small fir trees are planted on either side of the door to the couple’s home as a symbol of the children to come.

 

 

Christmas in Tromsø

Posted by kari 2 Comments
Dec 9 2011

Although I have not had the pleasure to spend Christmas in Tromsø (or any place in Norway), I can imagine what the island must feel like.  Even on nice summer nights, people would pack into the cafés, bars, and restaurants.  It was always very cozy, whether it was a Tuesday evening or a Saturday night.  I think the people that are from northern Norway and especially those that still reside in the arctic, find it natural to be social and close to one another.  Because the winter is so long and dark, people are forced to either find ways to cope with this or be miserable.  Therefore, most make it a priority to see friends and family often to maintain lots of human contact.

Folks around Tromsø start to get ready for Christmas in November where there are little markets that handicraft makers sell their goods at.  This is a good opportunity to get the holiday shopping started.  During the last weekend of November, the lights in the main square are lit.  The second weekend of November brings in a significant amount of inland folk.  Inhabitants expect lots of caroling, lefse making and coffee brewed outdoors.

While Tromsø is not a large city, I very much enjoyed browsing the stores downtown.  There are very nice home décor stores, gift stores, sports and outdoor stores, and of course souvenir shops.  Popular Christmas gifts that visitors purchase in Tromsø to take home include luer (hats) and votter (mittens).  If you go this route, be sure to ask about the felted wool products-these are extra warm and often more durable than the wool most people are used to.  I have a pair of cream colored felted votter that used to be my bestemor´s (grandmother´s), which were passed down to my aunt, and then me.  I believe it was my great-grandmother who knit them, so they are really old, but still super warm and in great shape!

Other great gifts include unique jewelry, sweets such as lefse, and a very lovely gift would be a hand-made blown glass ornament from the world´s northernmost glass-blowing studio!  I still would love to make it to one of these…

Why else might one want to go to Tromsø for Christmas you might ask?  Especially for those of us that already reside in a cold winter climate like MN?!  Several reasons:

-Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights.  Winter is a great time to see the Northern Lights because there is little to no light at all for months during the winter in the arctic.  Therefore, the Northern Lights are that much more prominent against a dark sky.

-You can go skiing, dog sledding, snow shoeing, etc.  Endless fun winter activities!

And if you stick around until New Year´s, you will see a graceful end to Christmas and a very festive welcoming of the nytt år (new year).

Norwegian Heart Basket Ornaments

Posted by kari 2 Comments
Dec 5 2011

 

I just returned from my company’s head office in the Netherlands.  I was there to preview our 2012 Jul Linje (Christmas 2012 line) of nearly 11,000  beautiful indoor home décor produkter, jul ornamenter(Christmas ornaments), kunstige trær (artificial trees), kranser (wreaths), kunstige blomsterdecoratør (artificial floristry), innendørs og utendørs (indoor and outdoor) LED and Durawise lys (lighting), tent keramiske landsbyer (lit Ceramic villages), and many other juleprodukter.  A couple of our temaer (themes) are heavily inspired with a skandinavisk look and I therefore was reminded of being in Norge right after jul one year, as well as the memorable norske julefeiringer (Norwegian Christmas celebrations) and aktiviteter I was involved in when I was part of the norsk dept. at St. Olaf.  I was also reminded of my family’s julepynt (Christmas decorations) and juletradisjoner (Christmas traditions).

Typical  julepynt in Norge include håndlaget ornamenter (homemade ornaments) made out of all kinds of materials, such as strikk (knit), and papir.  Perhaps the most popular juleornament is the kurv (basket)  made out of various farger (colors).

Here you will find instructions for making your own julekurv to hang on the juletre:

STEP 1)

Take two pieces of colored paper about 8×12 cm and fold them in half (where the scissor is) before rounding the edge on the top. Cut several slots 2/3 of the way up from the bottom on both halves.

STEP 2)

Weave the two sides together as shown. This isn’t as difficult as it seems. Weave the strips through each other by “opening” and closing” them.-

STEP 3)

Make a handle and glue it to the insides of the basket.

STEP 4)

Hang the basket on your Christmas tree and fill it up with nuts and candy !

This website gives extremely detailed instructions and many photos.

I will continue to publish Norwegian jul-related posts throughout the month to cover as much during the month of December regarding jul in Norway:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additionally, if you are a busy person with little free time or interest in making your own julepynt, there are plenty of stores to visit (including online) to purchase norske julepynt.

Smörgås Chef at Scandinavia House, New York City

Posted by kari 3 Comments
Nov 26 2011

chef and owner

As Thanksgiving was just a couple of days ago and holiday parties are finding their way on my calendar, mat er temaet på denne tiden av året (food is the theme at this time of year).  I was fortunate to attend 3 Thanksgiving celebrations on Thursday, 2 of which I consumed full meals at.  Some of the mat we consumed include the following:

kalkun (turkey)

flere typer poteter (several types of potatoes)

grønne bønner (green beans)

brød (bread)

stuffing (translation?)

salat (salad)

gresskar pai (pumpkin pie)

søtpotet pai (sweet potato pie)

Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite helligdag (holiday) of the year because it´s all about god mat og godt selskap (good food and good company).  It´s not a religious hellidag and gaver (gifts) are not typically involved.

As you probably know, Norwegians do not celebrate Thanksgiving.  I simply have mat on the brain right now and so I´ve been searching for Norwegian restaurants to attend in various cities around the country if and when I end up there.  I discovered the Smörgås Chef at Scandinavia House in New York City.  There are 3 locations in NYC:

1) Wall Street

2) Midtown

3) West Village

Both the mat and the atmosfære (atmosphere) look and sound amazing!

Smörgås Chef  ”is proud to serve a fresh and unique menu based on the principles of “New Nordic Cuisine,” which is deeply committed to using local, sustainable, and all-natural ingredients. Smorgas owns and operates its own 150-acre farm in the Catskills.”

The 150 acre farm in the Catskills is called Blenheim Hill Farm.  The farm has a 2 acre lake which provides plenty of water for the livestock and also a place to swim on hot summer days.  There is an abundance of lønnetrær (maple trees) from which sirup (syrup) is extracted.

 

There are kuer (cows), griser (pigs), kyllinger (chickens), and sauer (sheep) and Blenheim Hill.  They roam freely.

 

 

 

Items you will find on the menu include Nordic Chips with caviar dip, Smorgas Sliders, Goat Cheese and beet salad, Aquavit Cured Gravlaks (Aquavit cured salmon), Wild Mushroom Omelette, Herring Quartet, Ham and Jarlsberg Skillet, Duck Leg Confit with Cherries, and for dessert, your options include riskrem (rice cream), raspberry almond cake, and various vafler (waffles) and sorbets.  Special drinks include Norwegian Wood, Viking Burial, Miss Bliss, and many other creatively named and mixed beverages.  There are also a number of Scandinavian beers, various kinds of Aquavit, sodas, and coffee drinks.

I can´t wait to go to one of the 3 locations and enjoy a delicious Norwegian meal in NYC!

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