Syttende mai i Trondheim

My brief comment on Constitution Day lacks color, ceremony, pageant, and a glimmer of the day’s importance. Fortunately Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland of Britt-Arnhild’s House in the Woods has supplied what I missed. See her photographs of this year’s day before and day of celebrations in Trondheim.

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Syttende mai (Constitution Day)

The 17th of May marks the day in 1814 when a group of delegates in Eidsvoll, Akershus, Norway, approved a constitution that declared Norway to be an independent country after nearly 400 years of Danish rule. Despite the fact that Norway remained under Swedish rule for the next 91 years, the constitution adopted in May [...]

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More About Trees

Today I happened to be looking out the window when a truck loaded with the drying bodies of small pines, spruces, and firs stopped by our house. A man stepped out of the cab, casually reached into a nondescript mound of snow, plucked out our Christmas tree, and tossed it into his truck. Thus one [...]

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Epiphany

6 January — Epiphany, Three Kings, Twelfth Night, Little Christmas, Christmas itself for Orthodox Christians, and the end of the Jule Month for us. The first of our decorations were up for Saint Nicholas Day, 31 days ago, and for us the holiday began. It was during this time each year that our ancestors strove [...]

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Between Holidays

A week ago our children, no longer children but our children nonetheless, were here, Christmas was approaching, and time was not ordinary. The amazing snow that preceded Christmas by a week, barely pausing to permit our drive to the Pittsburgh airport to retrieve the two, melted in the heat and rain that came just before [...]

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Peace, Joy, and Love Now and in the New Year We Wish You A Happy Holiday

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Julenissen

My grandmother brought Julenissen from Norway. I think she bought him during her visit there in 1937 and probably gave him to my mother, with two other nisser, as a Christmas present that year. Every Christmas when I was growing up these three nisser figures appeared on the top of our piano, sometimes standing nearly [...]

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Saint Nicholas Day

Saint Nicholas Day has arrived, and with it the beginning of our family’s Jule season. Tradition says that on Saint Nicholas Day the Julenisse arrives, riding the Julebukk, to distribute presents to the children of the household. The Julebukk and the Julenisse are echoes of ancient traditions, probably in existence at least in part long [...]

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