Celebrate Norway's Constitution Day, Syttende Mai
The congregation of Mindekirken was formed in 1922 by the Norwegian Church of America in response to the rapid abandonment of Norwegian in favor of English among Norwegian Lutheran churches at that time.
The Norse-American Centennial Celebration that was held in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1925 to commemorate the 1825 arrival of the Norwegian Centennial ship Restauration (Restauration was a sloop built in 1801 in Hardanger, Norway. It became a symbol of Norwegian immigration) helped provide the impetus for a "memorial" church to be built to house the new congregation. Mindekirken was finally dedicated on May 4, 1930.
The church has been visited by members of the Norwegian Royal Family on several occasions, including King Olav V of Norway's visit on November 4, 1975. (King Olav was the father of the current King, HM Harald V of Norway.)
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I do not have ancestral roots in Scandanavia nor have I visited Norway; however, I have a neighbor who belongs to this church and I have Norwegian friends who are close to my heart, especially a childhood friend with whom I still correspond and visit whenever I go "home" to Wisconsin. While growing up I spent a great deal of time with her and her family and have pleasant memories of Norwegian hospitality.
I have visited the Mindekirken church to enjoy musical programs and have posted photos of it here and here. If you missed these photos earlier, check them out to see a Hardanger fiddle and a beautiful hand-painted cross. I intend to observe this celebration on Sunday, too.
Go here to see other entries for Norwegian Constitution Day.
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Sunday, May 19, 2013 at Mindekirken: Concert, Worship Service and Picnic.
Alle Velkommen!!
I do not have ancestral roots in Scandanavia nor have I visited Norway; however, I have a neighbor who belongs to this church and I have Norwegian friends who are close to my heart, especially a childhood friend with whom I still correspond and visit whenever I go "home" to Wisconsin. While growing up I spent a great deal of time with her and her family and have pleasant memories of Norwegian hospitality.
I have visited the Mindekirken church to enjoy musical programs and have posted photos of it here and here. If you missed these photos earlier, check them out to see a Hardanger fiddle and a beautiful hand-painted cross. I intend to observe this celebration on Sunday, too.
Go here to see other entries for Norwegian Constitution Day.
Beautiful entry...that fiddle is pretty too..no matter what it sounds like. :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post and picture too! I'd like to be there on Sunday:-)
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Tania in Norway
How interesting, Kate. Bet it is a beautiful church.
ReplyDeletei like to see cultures stay with their traditions.
ReplyDeleteGood job Kate!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I'm not going to tell any Norwegian jokes today, but us Swedes got lots of them! Funny about language. There was a Swedish Lutheran Church in Chicago that still had a Swedish service every Sunday until about 1970.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous church! It does everyone of Norwegian ancestry proud.
ReplyDeleteWhat a find! It's a beautiful church and of course you've such strong links to Norway there (I remember watching a 2005 movie, Sweet Land, set in Minnesota - and it had lovely visuals, while highlighting the story of Norwegian immigrants).
ReplyDeleteNice and really interesting contribution to this theme day.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post for today- you must be the Norwegian bachelors of Lake Wobegon? ;-)
ReplyDeleteGreat contribution, Kate, and to be able to personalise it in the way you have makes it more immediate for us. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteNice tie in for this theme, Kate. Your post makes me wonder if there are any church services in Norwegian in the Ballard (Nordic) neighborhood of Seattle. I hear Norwegian on the street occasionally, and there are literally 100 churches in this one neighborhood alone (supposedly there was an ordinance that there had to be a church built for every tavern opened, but I don't know how true that is :-) ). Probably the odds are good one of them might.
ReplyDelete-Kim
(PS,I wrote a comment and tried to post, but the embedded comment box will not accept comments from people using Firefox browsers or who have 3rd party cookies turned off. So I had to switch browsers to Safari and recompose my post. The pop up comment box choice works for all browsers).
It looks very regal.
ReplyDeleteWish I could go with you to the concert tomorrow and experience this Norwegian church.
ReplyDeleteGrander church than the one I featured.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see that the church is still maintained and used as intended. here was a large immigration to the US from Norway, and many of them settled in this area. I have visited two Norwegian Seaman's Churches i the US, San Francisco and New York. One of my daughters even got married in the last one!
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