Formal Greetings

Twenty-one years ago, when Kory and I were heading to Norway for the first time together, I knew only a few words of Norwegian.  I asked him to teach me the proper greeting, when being introduced to someone.  I wanted to make a good impression.  Even though we were only dating, I knew the relationship would be forever.

I wanted to know the Norwegian equivalent of, “So nice to meet you.”  He told me when I greet someone I must make direct eye contact, shake their hand and say, “Jeg er med barn.”  I practiced that over and over so I would get it just right. 

On the flight over, Kory took out a family tree to show me all the relatives we’d be meeting on the trip.  It was written in Norwegian, and I saw the word “barn.”   I instantly got suspicious of this greeting he had taught me, since I could see the word was used in reference to the children of each person listed.  I questioned him on this phrase he’d taught me and he just smirked.  I knew instantly he was up to something, so I pestered him enough until he finally confessed that he was going to have me tell everyone, “I am with child.”  This was not at all funny to me and not just because I would have been proclaiming a miraculous conception.  Kory thought it was hilarious.  Kory’s aunts and uncles were very religious and I didn’t think they would see the humor in this statement either.  I was so thankful his little scheme did not play out.

After we’d been in Norway a few days, I confided in a cousin about Kory’s mischievous plan.  She thought it was hysterical and began to tell others.

Later that week, we were invited to tag along to a New Year’s Eve party.  Norwegians are extremely formal when they meet one another for the first time.  In fact, they are formal about a lot of things. Thankfully by then, I’d learned the proper greeting, which is, “Så hygelig å treffe deg.”

The party had been going on for hours before we arrived.  Once everyone saw us walk through the door, the Norwegians all quickly lined up across the room in a receiving line, somewhat like one would expect if they were waiting for royalty to arrive.  It was obvious the story of Kory’s mischievous practical joke on me had made its rounds.  Each person extended their hand to shake mine and greeted me with, “Jeg er med barn.”  

Others may think Norwegians are a bit prim and proper, but apparently some of them have a real warped sense of humor.

Strangers

Going for a walk in the neighborhood is a national pastime in Norway.  The term they use for this is “lufte seg” which literally translates as “airing myself.”  It’s funny when they say they are taking the dog out for a walk because the words translate as “airing the dog” as if it’s been stinking up the house.  I can’t help but laugh every time I hear someone say it. 

We were out walking with relatives one day and the first person we passed, my husband and I both greeted them with a “God dag”, which is a standard Norwegian greeting meaning “good day” but when pronounced sounds exactly like “good dog,” so that also cracks me up, since it’s something I often say to dogs.

After we’d passed them, Kory’s cousin asked us if we knew the people we had greeted.  We didn’t.  “Then why did you greet them?”  he asked.  We told him it’s because it’s just what we do – we greet people we pass on trails or in the street.  “We don’t do that in Norway,” he said.  “We only greet people we know.”  In fact, they don’t even make eye contact with people they don’t know.  The conversation went on from there about how Norwegians pretty much just keep to themselves and aren’t that welcoming to strangers. 

The foreign women in my Norwegian class often complained about how cold and uncaring Norwegians seemed to them and how hard it was to make friends with the locals.  I’ve even met Norwegians that have moved to America for that very reason – they hated how “closed” Norwegians are with their emotions.  Ironically though, that whole dynamic changes if there’s any common ancestry.

I have found the friendliest people in Norway when I have knocked on a complete stranger’s door, holding up a copy of the family tree, looking for a farm where one of my ancestors lived hundreds of years ago.  If there’s even a hint that I might be related to someone, they drop what they are doing, the door swings open wide, the coffee starts brewing in the pot, and I’m invited in for a good long chat.  Family is everything in Norway.

Based on my experience with doing family research on my husband’s side, if I go back far enough, he’s related to hundreds of people we know in Norway and thousands we don’t.  I guess that justifies us greeting strangers we meet when we’re out “airing ourselves.” 

I’m sure if every Norwegian had a copy of their pedigree, they’d realize they are all related, and perhaps then, they’d start saying, “good dog” to each other.

Winter Solstice

Norway, being as far north as they are on the planet, is one of the few countries in the world that still pay close attention to the position of the sun throughout the year.  In fact, they price houses there based upon how much sun they get in the wintertime, like Americans would price houses based on their view.  In Norway, almost every house has a view. 

In the summer, way up north, the sun never sets, but in winter, it only briefly rises. Part of the excitement in Norway during the Advent season – the days leading up to Christmas – is anticipating December 21^st – when the sun turns and the days start growing longer again. It is a cause for much celebration.

Actually, it’s only been in the last few hundred years that the Winter Solstice was more accurately placed on the 21^st.  Decades before Jesus was even born, Julius Caesar decreed the Winter Solstice should be December 25^th and it has been celebrated on that date up until the 16^th century.  So it’s no coincidence that Christmas falls on December 25^th as well.  Newly converted Christians wanted to keep celebrating on that date, but they had to give up their pagan ways, so they just designated the 25^th as the day to celebrate the birth of their Savior instead.  Surprisingly though, many countries throughout the world celebrate Christmas on a different date altogether.

Norwegians burn massive amounts of candles the whole month of December.  They say it’s to bring more light into their homes on the darkest month of the year, but I’m sure some of it harkens from their pre-Christian days of lighting bonfires and sacrificing animals and humans to the gods in hopes they’d end winter soon. 

There are no longer bonfires in Norway in December, but at the end of June, the night before the Summer Solstice, bonfires are a national obsession.  Neighborhoods all over Norway build huge bonfires and gather together with friends and family for Bar-B-Ques, games for the kids, and a night of socializing.  They carry on some of their pagan traditions with many locations still placing a dummy witch on top of the fire, which is then burned in effigy to ward off evil spirits that are thought to be lurking when the sun turns south. 

Since Norway is a Christian nation, this pagan ritual is problematic, but they solved the problem by wrapping Christianity into it.  The Bible says that Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, was born six months before Jesus, so conveniently now, the Summer Solstice is celebrated as John’s birthday, and the night before is called Santhansaften (Saint John’s Eve).  I’m sure, based on how they celebrate it, he would not be pleased.