Norwegian Language Blog

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

While there are clearly worse things, the recent smør (butter) shortage in Norway is certainly proving to be a big deal for a country that uses as much smør as Norway.  There are seldom meals without a gob of smør in them.  Smør is a typical ingredient in sauser (sauces) and in julebaking (Chistmas baking).  Traditionally, Norwegians bake 7 different kinds of småkaker to serve with Christmas dinner.  No lefse is complete without a healthy spread of smør and sukker (sugar).

For instance, the following is a typical list of ingredients in lefse-you´ll notice quite a lot of smør and sukker are requested.

To make about 24 lefse:

• 5 lbs (2+ kg) or about 10 large potatoes
• 3/4 cup (6 oz) heavy cream
• 1/2 cup melted butter
  (= 8 tablespoons or 1/4 lb or 1 stick)

• 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4-5 cups all-purpose flour

Perhaps you have seen an article or heard about it on TV.  If not, brace yourself, young Norwegians who have secured significant access to smør, have devised a way to sell it online for $100 per kilo!  Companies are taking advantage of consumer´s major desire for smør and offering it as incentive to become a member or subscriber.  Although perhaps annoying for some, it´s a pretty good business strategy;)

Why, you might ask, does Norway not have any smør right now?  There are various reasons behind the smør shortage.  Some below the poor weather in the spring did not yield enough for healthy cows and thus there is less cream to make smør out of.  Others blame the matbutikker (grocery stores) for alleged manufacturing of the shortage.  Another reason includes the Norwegian governments import duty on smør and thus inhibiting import of this commodity.  Last but not least, the low-carb, high-fat diet is quite popular right now.  All of these reasons have presented Norway with a smør shortage.

It really is a bummer that this shortage comes right before the holidays, which is the time in Norway when the most smør is bought and used.

Please find here an entertaining part of the Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN´s newspaper):

´Neighboring Scandinavians, perhaps sick and tired of Norway always being “the richest” and “the safest” and “the most literate,” have smugly put on their earmuffs at Norway’s request for emergency supplies. Some small shipments arrived last week, but many households have given up on this year’s holiday baking.´

If you are in Norway, I hope you can secure some smør for your julebaking!

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.