Archive for 'Culture'
Fall food in Norway-Høstmat i Norge Posted by kari on Oct 29, 2010
While I have yet to experience an entire høst in Norway, I have been fortunate enough to enjoy mat that Norwegians typically enjoy at this time of year. The Norwegian National Dish is fårikål-lamb and cabbage stew. It is enjoyed at other times of the year as well and prepared in different ways, but is…
Haunting in Norway Posted by kari on Oct 28, 2010
Now that Halloween is just around the corner and I have, as I write this, friends exploring an old abandoned farm house which was the site of brutal murders a century ago, I thought it would be a good time to do a little research on spøkelser (ghosts) in Norway. Oh, and that´s not…
Norwegian first names-norske fornavn Posted by kari on Oct 26, 2010
Now that you have learned about norske etternavn, it only makes sense to learn about norske fornavn. There are many different origins of norske fornavn, such as biblical, historical, mythological, descriptive, or place-related. Nearly every navn has a meaning which can be understood in most cases by simply picking up an ordbok (dictionary) or a bibel…
Norwegian last names-norske etternavn Posted by kari on Oct 21, 2010
You may wonder why so many people with Scandinavian heritage have an etternavn (last name or surname) that ends in ‘son’ or ‘sen.’ There is a very simple answer and you will be much less perplexed to know the story behind the billion Johnsons of Olsons you know. Ok, maybe you don’t know that many…
Kristiansand Posted by kari on Oct 18, 2010
I´ve focused a lot of my writing energy on northern Norway lately since I was recently living there. Thus, I feel called to hone in on southern Norway now that it´s starting to get real dark up north:) My good friend from college is currently living in Kristiansand. I was with her in Bergen right…
Alternative Healing and Medicine in Norway Posted by kari on Oct 15, 2010
In the last couple of decades, alternative medicine and healing has really taken off in Norway, and Scandinavia as a whole. As in all cultures, complementary medicinal treatment has existed in traditional Norwegian folk medicine, which the Samí people have practiced since the beginning of their existence. I will re-iterate what I wrote in my…
Samí Religion Posted by kari on Oct 13, 2010
I don´t recall ever learning about Samí Shamanism in any of my Norwegian classes at St. Olaf and it is certainly not a topic of conversation with non-Samí Norwegians. In fact, in my classes in college we learned very little about the Samí people in general. Furthermore, I have observed from personal experience that many…