Archive for 'Culture'
Sami music Posted by kari on Jun 30, 2009
Traditional Sami music revolves around singing rather than instruments. In fact, you probably will not find any purely instrumental pieces in true Sami music. It is the voice that is the most important. Although the joik (yoik) originally referred to several types of traditional Sami singing, today it refers to all types Sami singing. The sound of…
Sami Posted by kari on Jun 27, 2009
This is a picture of a Sami couple in traditional costume in Oslo on Syttende Mai in 2006. Upon first glance, this word looks like it could be Japanese, but it is not. The Sami people are the indigenous people that inhabit parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. They are among the largest…
Sankthansaften Posted by kari on Jun 22, 2009
This is the stavkirke (stave church) in Røldal where people would make pilgramages to the crucifix for it’s healing powers. Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, other northern European countries and even some eastern and southern countries celebrate midsummer, also known in Norway (and Denmark) as Sankthansaften or Jonsok. Sankt Hans is another way of saying St. Johannes or St. John…
How do Norwegians tie the knot? Posted by kari on May 29, 2009
Et bryllup. They have et bryllup (a wedding). Today Norwegian weddings look very similar to weddings in the U.S. and other European countries. However, historically, Norwegian weddings were much more ceremonial and traditional. First of all, all brides and grooms would wear bunads-traditional Norwegian costumes. Men wore white silk shirts, dark wool stockings and knickers…
Gratulerer med dagen! Posted by kari on May 16, 2009
In Norwegian, “gratulerer med dagen” can either mean “happy birthday” or it can be said on a day like syttende mai to mean something like “congratulations on this day!” It’s almost a happy birthday to Norway-to celebrate the day that the country adopted it’s own constitution. So at midnight tonight, you should all show off your Norwegian and…
Syttende Mai Posted by kari on May 14, 2009
Syttende mai is the 17th (syttende) of May (mai-notice months are not capitalized, unless of course they come at the beginning of a sentence). Norwegians celebrate syttende mai because it is the anniversary of their Constitution day or Grunnlovsdagen. In 1814, a small group of Norwegian men, the Constituent Assembly, signed the constitution on May…
Norway and film Posted by kari on May 10, 2009
I have had a lot of exposure to Norwegian language, culture, and people. I took Norwegian literature classes in college. However, Norwegian film is something I have never studied. When I was at St. Olaf, I watched a lot of Norwegian movies, but never really analyzed them. The University of Oslo showed Norwegian movies a…