For Children of Norway, a Rift With the Mother Country
By MONICA DAVEY
New York Times
MINNEAPOLIS — Around a table at Ingebretsen’s, an 86-year-old market stocked with Norwegian staples like lutefisk, meatballs and fruit soup, the women of the Monday knitting club were upset.
“This is a bit of a slap in the face,” Janet Rog, 74, said of Norway’s recent announcement that it would shut its career consulate here next year and send the diplomats home.
The consulate, opened in 1906 and upgraded in 1946 to its current status as consulate general, is a point of pride for the Upper Midwest, which is home to more Norwegian-Americans than any other region of the country.
It is hardly a question of their needing a nearby office to get passport updates or the like. The families of most, after all, have lived in America for generations, and many confess that they have never actually set foot inside the consulate. Rather, this is a matter of respect, of recognition.
“We’re very proud of our roots, and we’ve tried really hard to preserve them,” said Shirley Hansen, another knitter at a table bursting with the bright geometric patterns Norway is known for. “Norway is near and dear to us, but now we feel like maybe they haven’t considered us quite so important.”
Reminders of their roots are all around, especially in Minnesota, which claims 850,000 people of Norwegian descent, far more than any other state. Residents fly Norwegian flags. They worship in Lutheran congregations like the one at Mindekirken here, the old stone church where 100 people gather for the Sunday sermon in Norwegian. They hold parades and street fairs each May 17, or Syttende Mai, to honor Norway’s constitution day.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
MINNEAPOLIS — Around a table at Ingebretsen’s, an 86-year-old market stocked with Norwegian staples like lutefisk, meatballs and fruit soup, the women of the Monday knitting club were upset.
“This is a bit of a slap in the face,” Janet Rog, 74, said of Norway’s recent announcement that it would shut its career consulate here next year and send the diplomats home.
The consulate, opened in 1906 and upgraded in 1946 to its current status as consulate general, is a point of pride for the Upper Midwest, which is home to more Norwegian-Americans than any other region of the country.
It is hardly a question of their needing a nearby office to get passport updates or the like. The families of most, after all, have lived in America for generations, and many confess that they have never actually set foot inside the consulate. Rather, this is a matter of respect, of recognition.
“We’re very proud of our roots, and we’ve tried really hard to preserve them,” said Shirley Hansen, another knitter at a table bursting with the bright geometric patterns Norway is known for. “Norway is near and dear to us, but now we feel like maybe they haven’t considered us quite so important.”
Reminders of their roots are all around, especially in Minnesota, which claims 850,000 people of Norwegian descent, far more than any other state. Residents fly Norwegian flags. They worship in Lutheran congregations like the one at Mindekirken here, the old stone church where 100 people gather for the Sunday sermon in Norwegian. They hold parades and street fairs each May 17, or Syttende Mai, to honor Norway’s constitution day.
(Continued here.)
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