Photographer Captures Norway’s Beauty in Stunning Video

Norway is known for its diverse and dramatic landscape. Home to natural wonders like the fjords, midnight sun and the northern lights and boasting one of the longest and most rugged coastlines in the world, the natural beauty of Norway is nothing short of spectacular.

Inspired by the drama of his home country’s varied landscape, photographer Morten Rustad set out on a five month journey to chronicle all 19 of Norway’s counties, capturing “everything from the deep fjords in the Southwest, to the moon landscape in the North, the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and settlements and cities around the country, both in summer and wintertime.” The result of his 10,000-mile trek is a remarkable time-lapse video comprised of tens of thousands of images that showcase Norway in a truly vibrant display. 

Released in late September by Rustad Media, the video already has over 869,000 views on Vimeo and over 410,000 on YouTube.



Interested in seeing more of Rustad Media’s work? Visit http://vimeo.com/rustadmedia to see some of their other time-lapse videos. You can also get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the journey and its filming locations by checking out the news section of http://www.rustadmedia.com

Do You Remember: Viking magazine Q&A with Ane Brun

In the August issue of Viking magazine there’s an interesting profile and Q&A with Norwegian singer-songwriter, Ane Brun. Though I had never heard of her before reading the early drafts of the article, I’ve quickly become a big fan of her work. In fact, her latest single is so catchy that I predict it’s going to be a big hit for her.

Check out the video for that single, “Do You Remember” below. The video definitely has a Nordic feel to it, in its simplicity and sparing use of visuals, but it adds a whole new facet to the song as well.

If you’d like to learn more about this great, though somewhat lesser-known Norwegian singer, click here to visit her webpage.

Tubfrim Winner Announced!

As you may, Sons of Norway is an annual contributor to the Norwegian Tubfrim program, which raises money to help children. For the past 27 years, our members have been clipping canceled postage stamps and sending them to Tubfrim, who then turns around and sells them to dealers and collectors.

Originally the money went to assist children afflicted by tuberculosis. Today, however, the organization also works to improve the quality of life for children and youth living with a variety of handicaps. Sons of Norway members play an integral role in providing this much-needed assistance.

Here's some of fun facts about Sons of Norway's participation in Tubfrim:

•   From January 1, 2010 to January 31st 2011, Sons of Norway members contributed more than 4,000lbs (1,835 kilos)! That's nearly 2 TONS of postage stamps! 
• Sons of Norway's contribution equals nearly 50% of all stamps sent to Tubfrim in a given year!
•  Tubfrim has a Facebook page.
• Tubfrim is owned by the Norwegian Health Association (Nasjonalforeningen for folkehelsen).
  Today the profits are used to help handicapped children and youth in Norway, and to finance the efforts to eradicate tuberculosis.

While helping children is probably incentive enough for our members, Sons of Norway does something to thank those who participate by holding an annual drawing for a free plane ticket to Norway. For every pound of stamps collected, the member or lodge is entered into the drawing which is held every January.

This year’s winner was drawn during an installation ceremony held at the Sons of Norway Valhall lodge 6-025 in San Diego, California. I’m pleased to announce that the winner is Lollo Sievert, a member from Vegas Viking lodge 6-152! Congratulations, Lollo and have a great time in Norway!

If you’d like to participate in the Tubfrim contest and get the chance to win a free ticket to Norway, visit the Tubfrim page on the Sons of Norway website.

Genealogists: Have You Tried the Digitalarkivet?

Exciting news for genealogy researchers—I received an e-mail the other day from a colleague about the Norway’s National Archives. Apparently the NNA has created a free, online, searchable archive of census information dating back to 1910!

Admittedly I’m no genealogist, but after spending a little time playing around with the archive interface, I can see how it would be super-helpful to anyone researching family history in Norway. The website allows you to search by inputting as much or as little info as you have. Some of the standard search fields include name, gender, marital status, occupation, DOB and DOD. But, if you have more information, there are other fields you can add to the search, like assumed residence, habitual residence, ethnicity, language and year of emigration. Even cooler than that is that the search doesn’t stop when your ancestor left Norway—the digital archive also allows you to search by last known residence in America and occupation in America.

Also, the searchable archive allows you to narrow your search by geographic region or fylke. This would probably be helpful for people doing geological research who are unsure about the specific city or farm where their ancestors came from.

I know there's already lots of great tools our there for conducting genealogical research, but from what I hear there’s always room for more.  This reminds me, I’ll have to make sure this site gets added to the Genealogy Cultural Skills unit. If you aren’t familiar with it, its one of the many Cultural Skills units that Sons of Norway offers to members. Other units include rosemaling, hardanger embroidery, Norwegian language and folk dancing. If you’ve never taken the time to check them out, I highly recommend it!

Ok, that’s all for today, now go try out the digital archives and let me know if its helped you make any breakthroughs in your familial search!

Live from the 2010 International Convention!

Hei everyone! As promised, we are bringing the convention experience to everyone in Sons of Norway who wasn't able to join us in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, ID!

Today was a set-up day at the hotel, where a couple colleagues and I began to set up the HQ office, review docs and tour the areas of the hotel we will be using come Saturday. It's been a full day, but it doesn't make for super-exciting blog posts, so I'll keep it short today.

One item of interest is that I've updated the Sons of Norway YouTube channel with a couple of videos. There will be more exciting vids coming over the next few days, though. I promise!

More tomorrow!

It's Festival Season

It’s high summer, and that means that there are events celebrating our Norwegian heritage happening all over North America. Two events featured in the July Viking calendar are coming up this weekend. The Hardanger Fiddle Association of America is holding its annual music and dance workshops in Dodgeville, Wis., July 22-26. Also, the city of Decorah, Iowa will celebrate its 44th annual Nordic Fest, July 22-24.

Each month, the Viking staff receives many submissions to be considered for our calendar. While we can only feature a few events, the Sons of Norway website provides a much more extensive calendar. Check it out to find some Nordic fun in your area this summer!

Image courtesy of Flickr user billrdio.

Amy Boxrud is editor of Viking magazine. She lives with her family in
Northfield, Minnesota, where she’s a member of Nordmarka 1-585. Amy is a Nordic folk music enthusiast, and when she’s not working or parenting, she can often be found making music with friends.

Knitting Fever

When I was a college student living on a tight budget during a semester in Oslo, I tried to save money almost everywhere I could. Yarn, however, was another story. I was surrounded by knitters, yarn stores and gorgeous hand knit sweaters everywhere I went. And while the prices of most items in Norway seemed high, yarn felt like a relatively good value. I bought far too much of it and I knit constantly that year—at home, at school, even on the subway. What didn’t get knit up got shipped home.

My knitting habit stalled a bit after leaving Norway. While I began working, got married, and started a family, my yarn collected dust. When I moved into a home with much less storage space, I confronted my yarn affliction head on and donated much of it to the local weavers’ guild. For a full 10 years, the knitting virus has been dormant in my system.

But in the past few weeks that’s all changed. I’ve been working on the September issue of Viking and I’ve got knitting fever again. I can’t wait to hit the yarn store and start in on the projects we’ll be featuring from Ingebretsen’s and Yarn Garage.

If you’ve got the yarn bug like me, beware. You’ll find patterns, resources and—perhaps most dangerous of all—inspiration in the September issue of Viking!

Image courtesy of Flickr user The Real Estreya.

Amy Boxrud is editor of Viking magazine. She lives with her family in Northfield, Minnesota, where she’s a member of Nordmarka 1-585. Amy is a Nordic folk music enthusiast, and when she’s not working or parenting, she can often be found making music with friends.

Is Oslo's Bysykkel Program in Jeopardy?

I found a real interesting article over at my favorite Norwegian news site (in English!), newsinenglish.no, about Oslo’s popular bysykkel program. Apparently the program is experiencing some difficulty due to vandalism and theft.

The reason I'm interested in this article is that Minneapolis, my fair city, has recently begun a similar program. In fact, there's a half dozen of these bikes stationed just across the street from the Sons of Norway headquarters.

I think this kind of offering is a great idea. It cuts down on traffic and pollution, while encouraging folks to be more active. However I have to wonder if we are having a similar experience? Does your city have a program like this? What's it like? Is it similar to Oslo's program? Leave a comment and let me know.

Since we're on the subject of bikes, have you seen this?

Greetings from the District 1 Convention!

As most Sons of Norway members know, we're in the middle of convention season. Well, just past the middle, actually--five down, two happening this weekend and one next week.

It's an exciting time for Sons of Norway because this is when members come together to participate in the governance of our beloved organization. At each district convention decisions are made that will potentially affect thousands of members within the district, or tens of thousands if the decision is passed on to the International Convention in August. What I'm trying to say is that this is a REALLY BIG DEAL for us!

That's why I'm so excited, because I have been invited to the District 1 convention to work with delegates and give a breakout session on lodge websites and using the web to promote your lodge. I always have a great time at District conventions, so I'm really looking forward to it. This is an important step in the charting the course for Sons of Norway and I'm grateful to be a witness to it.

Speaking of which, if you're interested in learning more about what this all is leading up to, check out the Sons of Norway International Convention website at www.sonsofnorway2010.com.

That's all for now--hope to see you later today in Rochester!

Andreas Viestad

If you haven't had a chance to read the Q & A with Adreas Viestad in the June Viking magazine, I highly recommend it. Not only is he supremely knowledgeable on all manner of food topics, I'm told he's a heck of a nice guy.

I've gotten a couple questions from folks looking for more info on Andreas. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of room in the Q & A for biographical info, because we really wanted to devote as much space to his answers as possible, but I've found another blog post over at transparent.com that helps a bit. Enjoy!

More Laus for the Masses!

You may remember a while back when I posted about my love for halling/laus dancing. Personally I find it to be incredibly fluid and a real treat. Well Nichole N. sent me a link to a clip from Norway's version of So You Think You Can Dance where a gentleman in full bunad performs the laus. Thanks, Nichole!

Viking’s Editor Meets The Cheese Guy

Here's another interesting post from Viking magazine editor, Amy Boxrud about her meeting with "The Cheese Guy."

Over the past few weeks, I’ve really enjoyed immersing myself in Viking magazine’s food issue, arriving in June. Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Patrick Moore, also known as “The Cheese Guy.” I first met Patrick went I lived in Minneapolis and did my grocery shopping at Lunds in Uptown (which happens to be right across the street from Sons of Norway headquarters). Whenever I saw Patrick working behind the cheese counter, I always stopped to browse, which inevitably led to samples, recommendations and Patrick’s entertaining commentary. I wasn’t the only person who appreciated Patrick’s advice; he’s now a specialty cheese consultant who also offers classes and tastings.

When I began working on an article about Norway’s cheeses, I knew Patrick would be a great source of information. We sat down over a cup of coffee spent an hour discussing Norwegian cheeses available in the U.S: Jarlsberg, Gjetost, Ridder and Snøfrisk. Now I've got cheese on the brain and I can't wait to hit the grocery store. Look for Patrick’s insights—along with five new ways to eat Jarlsberg cheese—in our upcoming June food issue.

Photo courtesy of Norseland Inc.

Amy Boxrud is editor of Viking magazine. The mother of two grade-schoolers, Amy and her family live in Northfield, Minnesota where she is a member of Nordmarka 1-585. Amy is a Nordic folk music enthusiast, and when she’s not working or parenting, she can often be found making music with friends. She is a founding member of Northfield’s Nordic Roots Session and performs with the groups Scandium and Hütenänny.

Scandinavia’s Best in Your Own Backyard

Is a trip to Norway not in your budget this summer? Me neither. But we can still enjoy some Scandinavian culture and learn something new, right?
Here are three upcoming opportunities to learn Nordic folk music and dance in the U.S.

If you live in the East, the Midwest or in the West, there’s an event taking place in your region in June:
• Nordic Fiddles and Feet, June 27-July 4, near Littleton, N.H.


• Nisswa-stämman, June 11-12, in Nisswa, Minn. 

• Scandia Camp Mendocino, June 12-19, near Mendicino, Calif.


All three of these events offer training in folk music and dance from top-notch Scandinavian instructors. As someone who’s attended Nisswa-stämman for the past 7 years, I can attest to what a great opportunity these events are for Nordic music and dance enthusiasts, whether you’re just beginning to explore your musical roots, or you’ve been at it for years.
PS: Look for more ways to experience Norway in your own backyard in the July issue of Viking!
Photo courtesy of Doug Bratland

Amy Boxrud is editor of Viking magazine. The mother of two grade-schoolers, Amy and her family live in Northfield, Minnesota where she is a member of Nordmarka 1-585. Amy is a Nordic folk music enthusiast, and when she’s not working or parenting, she can often be found making music with friends. She is a founding member of Northfield’s Nordic Roots Session and performs with the groups Scandium and Hütenänny.

Today we have a short post from Viking magazine editor, Amy B about the 13th Annual Ibsen Festival. If you have unique ways that Norwegian culture is celebrated in your area, share them with Viking magazine by e-mailing vikingeditor@mspcustomcontent.com.

This past weekend marked the Commonweal Theater’s 13th Annual Ibsen Festival in Lanesboro, Minn—a “weekend celebrating Scandinavian theater, visual art, music and dance.” This year’s festival centered around Ibsen’s lesser-known play “John Gabriel Borkman.” The story of a banker who steals from his customers, the play is a timely examination of greed, lust and power. (It’s funny how well Ibsen’s work holds up, isn’t it?)

Next spring, the Commonweal will stage a production of Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People” and will take its production on the road throughout the Midwest. Sounds like a great lodge outing to me!

April 9: Never Forget

Today is an important day in the history of Norway, as it marks the 70th anniversary of an event that would have a major impact on Norway’s national identity as a country that believed in freedom and independence above all else.

On April 9, 1940 Nazi Germany launched Operation Weserübung, the full invasion of Norway. By the end of the day, citizens of Norway would see German warships in the fjords leading to Oslo and hear the voice of Vidkun Quisling making the first-ever radio-effected coup d'etat. In memorial coverage of the invasion, Aftenposten recently wrote that, “Norway was woefully unprepared for the attack by the forces of Adolf Hitler. Norway had been neutral during World War I but reports of its horrors gave rise to widespread pacifism in Norway that extended through the 1930s. By the time Hitler’s aggression was finally recognized, it was too late to build up a military defense.”

It was a dark day for Norwegians to be sure.

But today, 70 years later, the event is memorialized in places like Oscarborg fortress and elsewhere throughout Norway. Many Norwegians are participating in some form of ceremony today, in remembrance of the events that kicked off Norway’s now famous resistance movement which led to the eventual reclaiming of their homeland. Additionally, Norway’s state archives, the Riksarkivet marked the anniversary by releasing thousands of pages of war documents, which reveal new details about the resistance effort, the deportation of Norwegian Jews and plans by Vidkun Quisling to set up a Norwegian Aryan colony in the former Soviet Union.

Events like this should never be forgotten, if for no other reason than to prevent them from happening again. That said, I’d like everyone reading this today to join Norwegians around the world in taking a moment to pause in reflection of the horrors of what happened in 1940, and during the war years that followed.

Sons of Norway members in New York in 1940, drawing up papers for a formal protest of Germany's invasion of Norway.

If Norway circa World War II, or its resistance movement are of interest to you, I highly recommend you check out the October 2008 issue of Viking magazine, or click here to read stories from the resistance that we posted on the blog last year. There's also some great articles over at newsinenglish.no on the remembrance and the release of war documents this year.

A Smorgasbord of Nordic Cinema

The Norwegian blockbuster, “Max Manus,” was highlighted in February’s issue of Viking magazine. If you live in or around the Twin Cities, now is your chance to see the WWII thriller, which sold more than 700,000 tickets in Norway. Not bad for a country of less than 5 million movie-goers!

The screening of “Max Manus” will kick off the 28th annual Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, which runs April 15-30 at St. Anthony Main Theater in Minneapolis. The film will be introduced by Norwegian resistance hero Gunnnar Sønsteby, who, at the age of 92, remains the most highly decorated citizen in Norwegian history.

This year’s film festival includes six films from Norway, plus nearly a dozen other Nordic films. Whether or not you live in the Twin Cities area, if you love the cinema, you’ll want to check out this year’s festival entries and add some to your must-see list.

Sven or Lena?

Our fourth child is due in two weeks. We don’t know if we’re having a little Sven or a little Lena, but given that we already have three boys, odds are good that our sons will get their wish with the arrival of a new brother. Either way, I’d love to order a few Norwegian clothing items once the little bundle is here. Last night I entered “Norwegian Baby Clothing” into a search engine. One of the results was the wonderful site mylittlenorway.com, and it gave me a great glimpse into dressing—and caring for—an infant in Norway (think layers and wool!). Even if you’re not in nesting mode like I am, I think you’ll enjoy the tips, insights, and adorable photos posted by L-Jay, the site’s author.

St Patrick's Day: A Norwegian Holiday?

Driving in to work today there certainly was a lot of green to be seen (and I don’t mean grass or blooming plants). It's St Patrick’s Day again and there are A LOT of folks “getting their Irish on” today. Be they Irish diaspora or fans of good old fashioned revelry, there’s never a shortage of people who like to make a big celebration of St Patrick’s Day and Irish heritage & culture around these parts.

That being the case, I thought it only fair to blog about Norway’s impact on Irish heritage and culture. For example, can you tell me what Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Limerick, Howth and Fingall all have in common? I’ll give you this one—at one point each of these well-known Irish cities were Norwegian/Viking settlements.

That’s right, in fact the Viking/Irish interaction was so well known it was not only documented in Viking saga’s, it was also detailed in the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters the Annals of Clonmacnoise and The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill. Further accounts can be found in the arabic writings of the accounts of Ibn Ghazal.

You see in the 700s, pressure on land in Scandanavia had forced many nobles and warriors to seek land elsewhere. Some of these were younger sons, who stood to inherit nothing of their father's estate. Noblemen with little to lose began to gather together groups of warriors and go down the coast pillaging settlements. With the invention of Viking long boats, the raiders eventually began reaching further across the cold waters of the North Sea. By the late 700’s the Vikings were finding themselves on the shores of modern day England and Ireland.

At first the Vikings came for riches and slaves, finding both in large supply within Ireland’s abundant Christian monasteries. Often, the slaves were sold to Vikings traveling back to Norway, but many were kept in Ireland working in a Viking-held town (I’ve heard that this was such a prevalent practice that even today there are remnants of Irish tartans found in Norwegian bunad materials).

However, this raiding period would not last long, and by 950 the Vikings had stopped raiding in Ireland altogether and developed instead as traders and settled in the lands around their towns. It was during this time that Norwegian culture really affected Ireland by providing place names, like Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford, Strangford, Leixlip, Carlingford, Youghal, Howth, Dalkey and Fingall [an area of modern-day Dublin]. Also a few of their words were also adopted into the Irish language.

So, today, when you celebrate St Patrick’s Day with a green beer and an old folk song, be sure to offer at least one toast to Norway.

If you want to read more about Norway’s interaction with Ireland, I suggest:

The Viking Answer Lady
and
Wesley Johnston's pre-Norman history

The Eggs Have Arrived! Can Easter Be Far Behind?

I'm no farm girl. While I was born and raised in a small, rural community, the closest thing to livestock in my childhood was a couple of cats. So when my family adopted seven chickens last summer, I really had no idea what to expect. I learned that chickens lay an egg about once every 26 hours during the summer, but their production drops off dramatically during the winter. This was true of our little flock. We went from collecting our usual six eggs a day to one or two eggs a day this winter. Some days, we found nothing in the nesting boxes.

In the upcoming April issue of Viking, Lene Johansen writes about celebrating Easter in her native Norway. Easter is generally the time when the hens really being laying again. That's why karamell pudding, Norway's answer to crème caramel, is a dessert eaten traditionally at Easter time, and Johansen shares her recipe with readers.

Well, I just happen to love karamell pudding. And Johansen was right: as if someone flipped the "egg switch" back on, our hens started laying in earnest again this week. While there's still plenty of snow in my yard, spring--and Easter--aren't far away. With the sudden abundance of fresh eggs around my house, you can bet I'll be trying the karamell pudding recipe. Look for it in the April issue of Viking, and try it yourself!

Does Conan O'Brien Have a Dobbeltgjenger?

Doppelgänger: a German word that in English vernacular refers to any double or look-alike of a person. In Norwegian the word is "dobbeltgjenger". The reason I mention this at all is because of something I came across the other day while surfing the blogosphere.

Apparently Statoil has a new head of media relations, named Jannik Lindbæk, who i think looks uncannily similar to Conan O'Brien. Could he be Conan's dobbeltgjenger? OR could "Mr. Lindbæk" and Conan be the same person?

Think about it--Conan is recently unemployed, in need of new challenges AND according to his Twitter account, he's getting desperate. Taken with the fact that you NEVER see "Mr. Lindbæk" and Conan together at parties, I have to wonder if Mr. O'Brien has pulled a Charlie Chaplain and forsaken America?

Look at the photographic evidence and you be the judge.