Monday is 17th May, big nationalist holiday in Norway. Lots of flag waving, hot dog eating, song singing, band playing, people marching, and occasional Sweden bashing. I’ll be following my cousins Alex and Frida around and will do whatever they do. I saw something interesting on “children’s TV” this morning, which I was glued to with Frida. They were doing lots of 17th of May stuff, and being patriotic and all when suddenly one of the announcers jumps out in a Sami costume and says to the kids, “Norway has two national days, the 17th of May and February 6th. February 6th is when we celebrate the Sami people.” Then things got even more interesting. A line of kids made a dragon thingy, lining up under a green dragon outfit and the show cut to an explanation of Chinese dragon dances. Then some other kids come out wearing costumes from other cultures. “Hey, how about if we have a 17th of May parade combining all the cultures together!” The band then tried play a dozen different tunes at once. After it was over, the announcer adds, “Wow, this was sooo cool!” before going on to the next activity. Interesting…I don’t know where to start on this one…
May 17th, 2004 at 23:31
I know exactly how you feel - I didn’t even FEEL Norwegian when I was “home” last year for the first time in 7 years. It was rather sad to discover that, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy being there. However, it reinforced the feeling I’ve had ever since I started this moving around business in 1974: - What am I? Where do I belong? For instance, I feel different from Americans (different sense of humour, different way of viewing things), and now I even feel different from Norwegians. But then again, I guess I’ll have to admit I’ve always been “different” :-)
I think you and I both have the ability necessary to successfully do this - we can settle down anywhere and make the best of it, learn the new ways and try to do as “the Romans do”, instead of forcing the Romans to do as we do, plus learn their language, which makes it much easier to adjust. And having this ability, we are much richer for it; It enables us to create a heap of good memories rather than bad ones, and it teaches us tolerance and understanding of other ways and belief systems.
mom
May 17th, 2004 at 23:33
I know exactly how you feel - I didn’t even FEEL Norwegian when I was “home” last year for the first time in 7 years. It was rather sad to discover that, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy being there. However, it reinforced the feeling I’ve had ever since I started this moving around business in 1974: - What am I? Where do I belong? For instance, I feel different from Americans (different sense of humour, different way of viewing things), and now I even feel different from Norwegians. But then again, I guess I’ll have to admit I’ve always been “different” :-)
I think you and I both have the ability necessary to successfully do this - we can settle down anywhere and make the best of it, learn the new ways and try to do as “the Romans do”, instead of forcing the Romans to do as we do, plus learn their language, which makes it much easier to adjust. And having this ability, we are much richer for it; It enables us to create a heap of good memories rather than bad ones, and it teaches us tolerance and understanding of other ways and belief systems.
mom
May 17th, 2004 at 23:36
Sorry - this is in response to your nostalgia posting of course. (No idea how it ended up double)
mom
May 21st, 2004 at 4:50
So are the Sami the Lapplanders of Norway?
What was so interesting about the spot you mentioned, was it the ‘in your face’ multicultarilsm?
May 21st, 2004 at 17:31
Hi Derek, there was nothing necessarily negative in the TV spot. I’m going through a lot of thoughts about this now, and have done enough reading. I used to unabashedly celebrate this kind of multiculturalism, but I am growingly suspicious when it gets transformed into, or made to serve national rituals like 17th of May. I didn’t say anything specific in my posting since I just have read and thought enough about this.
May 27th, 2004 at 5:21
Man, I think this stuff is totally contradictive. Here we are, having just celebrated our 99th year of independence, and at the same time preparing the EU.
I try go by these words by Francois Fenelon: “All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers … Each one owes infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in which he was born.”
May 27th, 2004 at 5:23
s/preparing\ the/preparing\ to\ join\ the/g