Viking Magazine - August 2014 - 9

Aug. 5-9, Oslo
Øya Festival
Robyn and Röyksopp, two
names synonymous with
Scandinavian pop culture, will
headline this 16th annual music
festival alongside American
artists Janelle Monáe and The
National. oyafestivalen.com
Aug. 16-22, Haugesund, Norway
Blueberry Memories
T
he sweet memory of gathering blueberries
lingers far longer than a purple tongue or
ink-stained fi ngers. Impressions sometimes
transcend generations and across lands. Echoes
of a grandmother stating, " If you don't pick, you
don't eat, " the delicious Norwegian blueberry
buckle mother used to make, or a child lugging
a half-empty pail, face smeared, blue-stained
pants attesting to a hard day of picking.
The family lore of Mary Ellen Isaacson, born
in 1851 in Aanerud, Norway, tells of a young
girl who loved to pick and eat blueberries from
the hills near her home. In 1859, her parents
converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, setting in motion a plan to
immigrate to Utah, but without Mary Ellen's
blessings, as she did not want to give up her
precious berries. Her mother, unaware of the
arid Utah climate, told her not to worry, as the
state's bounty would provide all the berries
and more.
Picking blueberries impacted another family.
According to her daughter, Patricia Marton,
one of Signe Marie Clausen's fi nal wishes was
to spend an entire year in Norway to " watch
the seasons change, to take a weaving course,
and to pick blueberries. " At age 22, Clausen
had emigrated in 1923 from Fjærvoll, Norway.
BY JEFF M. SAUVE
Throughout her life, she held her heritage close
to her heart and found ways to share it with
her daughters like singing Norwegian lullabies
when they were young.
Years later, Marton experienced a memorable
moment when picking blueberries on a hillside
above her mother's childhood farm: " Two young
girls gathering berries near me, began to sing
a song my mother had sung to me when I was
a child . . . Through such experiences, I realized
my deep connection both to her and her land. "
" I still remember the days my parents took
me blueberry picking as a child, " wrote Kari
Svenneby. Now a mother herself, she recounted
how on a recent visit to Norway her nearly
1-year-old daughter was picking the same
blueberry bushes she had harvested from in
her youth. Her daughter, wholly innocent of
any meaningful connection to the land or the
memory, gleefully indulged in the bountiful
summer blessings. Svenneby attested, " I halfcringed,
half-celebrated the blueberry stains she
made as she sat in the bush and picked berries
and greedily stuffed them in her mouth. "
Jeff M. Sauve serves as an archivist for the
Norwegian-American Historical Association
in Northfi eld, Minn.
Norwegian International
Film Festival
Situated in the seaside town of
Haugesund, otherwise known
as " The Nordic Cannes, " this
famed fi lm festival celebrates
Norwegian cinema.
+47 52 74 33 70, fi lmfestivalen.no
Aug. 22, 2014-April 19, 2015,
Decorah, Iowa
Scandinavian Modern Design:
Norwegian Enamel
Works from several artists
including Grete Prytz Kittelsen,
pay tribute to Norway's
involvement in mid-20th
century enamel design.
563-382-9681, vesterheim.org
Aug. 31, Budd Lake, N.J.
Scandinavian Fest
Now in its 30th year,
Scandinavian Fest celebrates
Nordic culture with food and
entertainment at Vasa Park.
scanfest.org
sonsofnorway.com VIKING AUGUST 2014 0
PHOTO (FAR RIGHT) COURTSEY OF VESTERHEIM NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN MUSEUM, DECORAH, IOWA
http://www.oyafestivalen.com http://www.lmfestivalen.no http://www.vesterheim.org http://www.scanfest.org http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - August 2014

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