January-February 2009 / Scandinavian Cultural Center

NEW EXHIBIT: In Nicholas Delin's Footsteps

Begins in early February 2009

Dehlin The Scandinavian Cultural Center is very proud to present In Nicholas Delins Footsteps, a photo exhibition on the historical Swedes and Swedish-speaking Finns who were influential in early Tacoma and Pierce County, Washington, from 1850 to 2000. Nicholas Delin was the first Swede to come to Tacoma--and the city has honored Delin by naming a downtown street after him. The exhibit is produced by Professor Brian B. Magnusson, in conjunction with the Swedish Sesquicentennial, and it is being donated by Professor Magnuson to the Scandinavian Cultural Center as one of its permanent artifacts. We are grateful for this outstanding and generous donation!

Brian Magnusson was born and raised in Tacoma. He holds an M.A. in Scandinavian Studies with supporting areas in Art History from University of Washington and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he produced "A Cross-Cultural, Interdisciplinary Study of North European Prehistory (and Art)”. He is currently serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Culture (Nordic and American Art and Culture) at Jyväskylä University in Jyväskylä, Finland.

In 1980, he presented a paper on Jonas Olof Grafström at a symposium at Pacific Lutheran University. It was at this time that Dr. Magnusson “realized ... that virtually no research had been done in these areas in the Pacific Northwest. For that reason I decided to focus on both Nordic-American painting and early Nordic-American building traditions in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.” He is currently working on an exhibition catalog, titled “From Parlour, Boarding House, and Atelier: 150 Years of Swedish Art in Tacoma, Washington.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, Dr. Magnusson will be scheduling a lecture under the heading "Some observations on the early English settlement in North West America". Please check our website, or call the Scandinavian Cultural Center, for final date and time information.

Pekka and Perttu – Fire and Ice Accordion and Fiddle

Friday, February 20^th 7pm in the SCC Pekka and Perttu

Pekka Pentikäinen, accordionist, composer and accordion teacher, has a master´s degree in music from The Sibelius Music Academy. He recently finished an EU sponsored project called The Village Musician. His job included performing, teaching, and conducting music workshops, thereby increasing awareness of folk music as well as developing and initiating involvement in folk music. He performs with various music groups representing the diverse styles of music in Finland, Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. Currently Pekka works with violinists Kukka Lehto (Finland), Perttu Paappanen (Finland), Ruthie Dornfield (USA), Mary Ann Sereth (USA), Chris Duncan (Australia) and pianist Catherine Strutt (Australia). In 2005 the The Finnish Folk Music Association awarded Pekka a silver medal for his exceptional contributions to Finnish folk music.

Perttu Paappanen has been working as a theatre musician in different kinds of productions, as a solo artist and as a folk music teacher in workshops, which have been scattered widely in Finland and in other countries. He has been playing in severals bands besides Koinurit, which performed in many countries. It won the 1st prize in a competition for folk music bands in Finland 1990 and 1991. Perttu’s current band is Progmatics which has released one album: Lethal Cowbell.

For additional information about the musicians, see their website at:

www.folkvoiceband.com/PekkaPerttu

Join us on Friday, February 20^th for this exceptional event! $8 Members $10 Non-Members

News from the SCC Council President

Smuler fra den SCCC Presidenten . . .

Lisa M Ottoson A very HAPPY NEW YEAR wish to all members and friends of the Scandinavian Cultural Center (SCC). As we embark upon a new year I feel ever hopeful and pray that the challenges facing our world will be met with grace, thoughtful consideration and purity of heart. As the festive glow of a new year and a new American president still fill the headlines, we also anticipate great things at the SCC!

I am pleased to report that the business of the SCC is moving forward and positive things are in store for us. The biggest news is that Audun Toven has agreed to act as Interim Director of the SCC while Director, Susan Young, completes her family medical leave. Audun is a blessing to the center and to PLU and we are pleased that he will be stepping in during this time.

A heartfelt ‘thank you’ from Susan Young to all who have asked about her and who have prayed for her and her family. She is sincerely grateful to each of you.

Finally, I extend a special welcome to the newest member of the SCC Council: Kim Kittilsby. We look forward to her participation and contribution of skill and wisdom.

Blessings to all for a fabulous 2009!

Hilsen, Lisa Marie

The Greater Tacoma Peace Prize Committee

is now accepting nominations from individuals and organizations in the Greater Tacoma area for the Fifth Annual Greater Tacoma Peace Prize. The GTPP is endorsed by the Pierce County Council and the Tacoma County Council. The committee relies on sponsorships and contributions from local businesses and individuals. To find out how you can help, and/or make a nomination for 2009, please visit the GTPP website, or contact a committee member. www.tacomapeaceprize.org.

2009 Committee

Thomas Heavey, Lisa Ottoson,
Janet Ruud, Tonia Simpson,

Andreas Udbye, and Susan Young

Scandinavian Studies Program

A Message from the Chair, Troy Storfjell

A well-known, legendary Chinese curse is purported to say, “May you live in interesting times.” These are clearly interesting times, even for those of us whose attention is focused on the Nordic region. A lot is happening.

Some of it is good news, such as the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari for his extensive peacemaking efforts in places like Namibia, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and Iraq. But much of the news coming out of Scandinavia over the last few months has been disturbing. The Icelandic economy crashed in October, sending the country’s krona into free-fall. The other Nordic states have also suffered economic setbacks, and even oil-rich Norway has been looking at the future with a little less certainty, as millions of kroner from its Oil Fund disappeared in last fall’s American investment banking crisis.

More recently the violence in Gaza has triggered violent outbursts on the streets of Oslo and Copenhagen, where hundreds of Norwegian and Danish youths have been arrested for taking part in protracted riots that at times have resembled running street battles with the police. Media coverage of these events has tended to sensationalize them, attempting to exoticize the rioters and sharpen ethnic tensions and divides in these cosmopolitan cities and societies, while others question what has led to a generation of severely disaffected youth.

As I write this, Professor Claudia Berguson is leading a group of PLU students on a January study-away course that is investigating the connections between language, culture, and identity in Iceland and Norway, and in a couple weeks I will begin teaching a course on Scandinavia in world issues here on campus. Both of these courses address topics whose relevance is confirmed daily by ongoing events. We are studying things that matter ‘on the ground’ in the Nordic region.

We can only hope that careful analysis and thoughtful examination will foster understanding, and that that understanding will lead to solutions to problems like these, both in Scandinavia, and in our students’ own homelands.

Sankta Lucia Fest Opened the Christmas Season

Kerstin Ringdahl Lucia

Emma Kane, a sophomore from Portland. Oregon presided over this year’s Lucia festival at Lagerquist Hall. Emma who has a Swedish mother remembers growing up with the tradition in her home as her family celebrated each December 13.

The Lucia tradition at PLU was started in 1951 by the Rev. E. Arthur Larson who introduced it to his Swedish language class. To show the longstanding tradition at PLU, a slide show was presented before the program depicting all the Lucias that have been chosen through the years. Students compete for the honor of being Lucia by writing an essay on the importance of cultural diversity in their lives. They also have to learn all the Lucia songs in Swedish. The student chosen as Lucia receives a $500 scholarship

The sight of Lucia with a crown of candles in her hair and all her white--clad attendants carrying candles, the starboys and stargirls and small “tomtar” singing the Lucia song was appreciated by the large attendance at the event. And the visit from Jultomten (Santa Claus) was especially welcomed by the children.

This year’s ceremony was enhanced by performances from the Södra Vätterbygdens Folkhögskola Choir that visited from Jönköping, Sweden. They sang three beautiful Swedish Christmas songs.

After the ceremony everyone met at the Scandinavian Cultural Center for coffee, punch and cookies and then everyone danced traditional Swedish dances around the Christmas tree. Of course, the dancing and especially the singing was enhanced by having the Swedish Choir in attendance!

NORSK JULEGUDSTJENESTE – a Yule-time Tradition

Audun Toven

Christmas tree The Norwegian Christmas Service -- now in its fourth decade -- is a cooperative effort between the Center and the Scandinavian Area Studies Program (SASP). It was started to celebrate PLU’s Scandinavian heritage, to give the students in the program an opportunity to use their language skills in a festive and familiar setting, and to provide a venue for Scandinavians in the community to come together and worship in the language of the “Old Country”. A regular event in many Scandinavian-American churches for decades, the PLU “Gudstjeneste” is now the only Christmas service in the Tacoma area conducted entirely in Norwegian.

A special feature of the PLU service is the involvement of current and former students as pastors, readers, musicians and choir members. Over the years, many alumni serving congregations around the area as pastors have returned to campus to conduct the “Julegudstjeneste”.

This year’s service was conducted by the Reverend John Beck (’72), pastor of St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon. In his sermon, he recognized that many people are fearful this year due to the darkness around them, not just the darkness of the season, but darkness caused by concerns as diverse as financial woes and fear of failing exams. However, he assured everybody that God has dwelt with His people from the beginning and He will also walk with us. Jesus comes at Christmas time to bring light into the darkness, said the Reverend Beck, and encouraged everyone to embrace hope and to “light a candle in the darkness!”

At the service, the Christmas mood was enhanced by senior Rebecca Richardson who sang “O Helga Natt”, and two class choirs, all accompanied by Professor Emeritus David Dahl (’60), the former university organist and professor of music. As usual, delicious Norwegian refreshments were provided by the Scandinavian Cultural Council.

The Nordic Christmas Fest—delayed but delightful

Gunnulf Myrbo

The Annual Nordic Christmas Fest, originally set for December 20^thbut rescheduled because of the snow, was held January 10^th. The Banquet was again a true feast and a delight.

Julefestbuffet4 We started with a Cold Table, a generous table of appetizers, which included cheeses (from Norwegian gjetost to Danish Bleu), liver paté (lever postei), pickled beets (syltede rødbeter), crisp bread (knäckebröd) and Danish pumpernickel bread. In addition there was, of course, the mandatory pickled herring, and gravlaks with mustard sauce, as well as traditional julegløgg to drink. The Main Table was a “Nordic Buffet” catered by PLU Food Services and Shirley Haukeli. A true feast! The many delicious dishes included Danish Fruit-Stuffed Roast Pork (fyldt fleskesteg), Norwegian Baked Salmon (ovnstekt laks), Swedish Meatballs (kjöttbullar), Icelandic Caramelized Potatoes (Brúnaðarkartöflur), and Finnish Rutabaga Puree (lanttulaatikko). And of course there was cardamom bread, rye bread, and limpa, well as home-made flatbread and potato lefse. The dessert was a wonderful Rice Cream with Red Sauce (riskrem med rødsaus). We applaud the PLU Food Services for yet another outstanding presentation.

In the course of the evening, George Merriam and Janet Ruud introduced us to Sankt Knud of Denmark, who was king of Denmark from 1080 to 1086 AD. Knud, we were told, was “martyred” at the hands of religious rebels and was later canonized. But while he reigned, Saint Canute (as he also was called) decreed that Christmas be celebrated for a whole twenty days. We, therefore, were invited to join with Saint Canute and his followers and celebrate the full twenty days of Christmas. This, of course, meant that the day of this julefest, January10, was still in the Christmas season. It was, in fact, the l7th day of Christmas, and the season still had three more days to go.

In order to properly celebrate this extended Christmas season, we were challenged to add eight more verses to the twelve verses of the traditional Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas. Each table had to come up with one new verse, and, in a burst of collective creativity, the banqueters produced some humorous though thoroughly improbable gifts from “my true love”: twenty accordions squeezing, nineteen norske nisser, twenty vikings ‘veeking,’ seventeen lutefisk swimming, sixteen svenske kjöttbullar, fifteen fjords a-flowing, fourteen fiskers filleting, and, finally, thirteen tomter tip-toeing. As a reward for our efforts, we had to sing The Twenty Days of Christmas with all of the twenty verses. Everyone obviously enjoyed the good fun!

We were royally entertained by Nordic Exposure, a Scandinavian dance band of six musicians led by Jane Johnson. Their instruments included a trerader (a three-row button accordion), fiddles (including a Hardanger fele) guitar, and flute. The performance of waltzes, hambos, pols and polkas from all the Nordic countries was truly delightful.

The riskrem med rødsaus dessert included one dish that had a whole almond in it, and, as tradition dictates, the person who found the almond (Carolle Kastelle) received a special prize - an almond paste Christmas pig (julegris). And the lucky winner of the door prize drawing was Marilyn Haugen, who took home a beautiful blue glass bowl from Hadeland Glassworks of Norway, compliments of the Garfield Book Company.

So, we thank—profusely—the SCC Council and all who planned this wonderful evening. And special thanks must go to Lisa Ottoson for spearheading the preparations. Tusen, tusen takk!

Community Scandinavian Folkdance Night

SCC Collaborates with the Anthropology Department

Dozens were in attendance on January 16^th and enjoyed the fun of learning Scandinavian Folkdances with instructors – and expert dancers – Milt and Bev Anderson. Together they led the class portion of the evening while Hale Bill and the Bopps played traditional tunes from Norway, Sweden, Denmark Finland and the Faroe Islands. The regular members of the group were joined by PLU’s own Svend Rønning on the violin! This event was sponsored by the Anthropology Department, Scandinavian Studies Program and the Scandinavian Cultural Center.

Hale Bill and the Bopps

**Beginning Hardanger Embroidery**

Hardanger tablecloth Learn the beautiful needle techniques of Edda Todd at the Hardanger Embroidery Class offered in a two session block on February 18^th & 25^th from 12:30 – 2:30 at the SCC. Cost $25

Class size is limited RSVP to Edda Todd @ 253-531-8523.

Scandinavian Cooking Classes are back this

Spring!

Cooking Classes are scheduled for this Spring are sponsored by:

§ Embla Lodge #2 - Daughters of Norway lefse

§ Norden Lodge #233 - Vasa Order of America

§ Thyra Lodge #19 - Danish Sisterhood

§ Scandinavian Cultural Center

Classes are $5 and are held at 10:00 AM in the SCC. Class participants receive samples of all foods demonstrated. Check the calendar for specific dates.

The Book Nook

A Time to Relax and Read

Karen Giguere, Garfield Book Company

A recent addition to the bookstore “In Cod We Trust” by Eric Dregni tells the tale of a young couple from Minnesota that go to Norway on a Fulbright scholarship. The very time the husband learns that he won, he finds out his wife is pregnant. So off they go to experience and discover the wonders of their Norwegian Heritage and the benefits of the health system in Norway. The book has a great deal of humor, as well as serious scholarship, letting us all share in the trials and tribulations of new babies, different foods, and a different culture that many of the modern Americans of Norwegian descent thought they knew.

CALENDAR

EXHIBIT & EVENTS

In Nicholas Delins Footsteps, is a phenomenal photography collection produced by Professor Brian B. Magnusson. We anticipate its arrival in early February.

Public Hours: Sundays, 1-4 PM, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11 AM-3 PM.

Pekka and Perttu: Fire and Ice Accordion and Fiddle. Join us on Friday, February 20^th at 7 pm in the SCC. Cost: $8 Members, $10 Non-Members. Questions: 253.535.7349.

Norwegian Heritage Festival. Saturday, April 11^th from 11 AM - 3 PM. Join us for an immersion into Nordic culture, music, dance, food, arts and crafts. Free admission with raffles and entertainment throughout the day!

CLASSES

Scandinavian Cooking Classes: 10 AM—Noon; $5 per class—No registration required

§ March 10 Swedish Cooking Class

§ March 11 Norwegian Cooking Class

§ March 21 Norwegian Cooking Class

§ March 24 Norwegian Cooking Class

§ March 28 Danish Cooking Class

Intermediate Norwegian Language Classes, Mondays, 6-9pm in the SCC

Beginning Norwegian Language Classes, Tuesdays, 6-9pm in the SCC

Contact: Audun Toven 253.536.8392 or tovenat@plu.edu

Beginning Hardanger Embroidery Class: February 18^th & 25^th from 12:30 – 2:30 pm in the SCC.

The cost is $25 (includes both sessions) but class size is limited! Please RSVP to Edda Todd at 253-531-8523.

MEETINGS
Danish Sisterhood, February 4, at 11 am. Questions, call 253.539.0587

Danish Sangaften, February 15, March 15, April 19, at 6 pm. Questions, call 253.984.6700

Executive Board, January 29 at 5 PM, February 17, 2009, at 12 Noon, UC 212

SCC Council Meeting, January 14 and February 11, 5:30 pm in the SCC

NEWS AND NOTES

Welcome to Our Newest Board Member: Kim Kittilsby.

Senior Helpers Needed—$10-$11/Hour With Benefits: Senior Helpers specializes in personal and companion in-home care. Individuals of Scandinavian decent often request a caregiver who understands their culture and in some instances speaks their native language. Contact Cindy Harrison-King, President/Client Service Manager, 1-888-591-0882; or email: cking@seniorhelpers.com