President’s Message

Greetings to all…

The holidays are coming and I thought I share some authentic Norwegian Christmas traditions to help us get in the “spirit”.

Did you know that, “Norwegians drink approximately 10 million liters of beer during December, a quantity surpassed only during the hottest July. Juleol (Christmas beer) — commercially brewed since 1936—accounts for over half of this amount.”

So writes Kathryn Stokker in her scholarly, but delightful, study of Norwegian and Norwegian American Christmas traditions, "Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land."

The time we now call Christmas, Stokker tells, was for the old Norwegians a harvest celebration more like an extended Halloween than what we call "the holidays." Not only were the Norwegian peasants seriously concerned about Halloween-type goblins, as they brought in the harvest during the shortening days, they had the “nisse” to honor.

Stokker's book shows us the deep meaning of the old Norwegian Christmas. And she shows how the Norwegians struggled to keep some vestige of the old Christmas while accepting the materialistic and hurried Christmas of the New World. For the practical minded, "Keeping Christmas" also includes some old-fashioned Norwegian recipes for delicacies such as Goro and Krumkaker.

While Stokker is spinning her wonderfully told stories of old and not so old . Norwegian Christmas, she puts meaning into all of our struggles to eke out joy and meaning from the rush and crush of our contemporary holiday season. Her book, published by the Minnesota Historical Society in both hardcover and soft, is a pleasure to read and contemplate.

I recently purchased two copies of this book and gave one copy to Per Flem and the other one to Linda Burge. I have placed the book in their hands so they can suggest, along with others, ideas and suggestions to help us to keep a “Norwegian Christmas” this year.

Cultural, language from Sons of Norway

Matpakke, pronounced ma’t/pakke (noun, common gender: lunch box, lunch bag.

In literal terms, the Norwegian matpakke, is just a lunch bag-or food pack, to be precise. Typically a matpakke is a small, square box with handles, just big enough for an open faced sandwich, a piece of fruit and perhaps a cookie or two. This humble conveyance is a Norwegian cultural icon. In Norway eating in restaurants can be extremely expensive; so packing a matpakke full of homemade food is both practical, and appeals to Norwegian cultural values like self-sufficiency and thrift.

“All this time when I packed peanut and butter sandwiches, I was being culturally thrifty, not cheap, as I thought”.(Editor)

Birthdays

October

Sean Erichsen O'Brien[8], Sally Lund[8], Patrick Johnson[8], Chris Buselmeier[9], Roby Bowman[12], Nelda Chandler[25], Birgit Jorgensen[25], Bailey Stone[28].

November

Peter Olson[1], Dianne Clark[5], Nina Downs[9], Ed Vallette[11], Ann Christiansen[12], Thomas Traut[14], Glenn Mikaloff[14], Annelise Sarwar[16], Kaleb Flem[30].

December

Bette Keppler[4], Lois Evensen[5], Susan Mikaloff[7], Kari Poe[8], Esther Charlton[12], Edmund Charlton[13], Neil Sorum[15], Carol Olson[16], Joe Santora[28], Konrad Nelson[29]

Membership

Good News! Nina Downs has joined our lodge. She has spent many summers in Norway staying with her grandmother. Nina is ready and willing to teach us some Norwegian. We might have a "phrase of the month" at our lodge meeting and figure out other times to get together to learn Norwegian.

There have been several inquires about our lodge via our lodge website. One is regarding the flyer that is posted in the Scandinavian room at Jungle Jim's. If you have suggestions or ideas on how to publicize our lodge contact me.

Thanks,

Esther Charlton, membership secretary

August Meeting Review

Our August meeting was hosted by Kurt, and Linda Burge at their Lake Loreli hutte. Kaleb went out on the jet ski before we had a little shower, but after a hot dog/hamburger/shrimp picnic, fishing was the focus, sporting-event wise. It proves that after a shower the fish like to bite. Isn’t that right Kaleb? A little planning started to take place regarding our Christmas program towards the end of the day. We are going to have the biggest party if all goes as planned, satisfying the youngest to oldest in our membership. The theme is based upon old time traditions in food and culture. Please plan on joining the group by participating in the planning, preparation and the party itself to get maximum enjoyment during the holiday season.

Linda and Kurt, we all thank you for your hospitality and graciousness in hosting our meeting.

Traffic News

From Aftenposten

Going to work in Norway sometimes has other challenges.

The highway, which links Trondheim and Flakk, was closed last Thursday morning and will likely not be open until later this week. Police were notified about the massive stone around 9 a.m. last Thursday.

"There were no cars when the stone came down. Now the road is blocked in both directions and will be for days. There are still some minor slides in the area and security measures must be taken before the highway can be reopened," said Tore Kyllo of South Trøndelag police district.

Kyllo said it was highly unlikely that the road could be opened by the weekend but said that no residences were in danger due to the minor avalanches along the mountainside.