So anyway, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. There's leftover Christmas lutefisk in the freezer. Help yourself!
Showing posts with label Syttende Mai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syttende Mai. Show all posts
Friday, May 17, 2019
Happy Syttende Mai!
[break it down: sytten = seventeen, de = of, Mai = May]
As I'm sure the endless media coverage has made you thoroughly aware, today is Norwegian Constitution Day--celebrating the 1814 Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold where we signed our new Constitution and began our quest for independence after 400 years under the oppressive reign of the (not so great, it would seem) Danes. (We joined into an unholy union on this day with Sweden and didn't gain our full independence until 1905, but that's a whole different fjord to climb.)
So anyway, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. There's leftover Christmas lutefisk in the freezer. Help yourself!
So anyway, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. There's leftover Christmas lutefisk in the freezer. Help yourself!
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Happy Syttende Mai!
[break it down: sytten = seventeen, de = of, Mai = May]
As I'm sure the endless media coverage has made you thoroughly aware, today is Norwegian Constitution Day--celebrating the 1814 Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold where we signed our new Constitution and began our quest for independence after 400 years under the oppressive reign of the (not so great, it would seem) Danes. (We joined into an unholy union on this day with Sweden and didn't gain our full independence until 1905, but that's a whole different fjord to climb.)
So anyway, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. There's leftover Christmas lutefisk in the freezer. Help yourself!
So anyway, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. There's leftover Christmas lutefisk in the freezer. Help yourself!
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Happy Syttende Mai!
[break it down: sytten = seventeen, de = of, Mai = May]
As I'm sure the endless media coverage has made you thoroughly aware, today is Norwegian Constitution Day -- celebrating the 1814 Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold where we signed our new Constitution and began our quest for independence after 400 years under the oppressive reign of the (not so great, it would seem) Danes. (We joined into an unholy union on this day with Sweden and didn't gain our full independence until 1905, but that's a whole different fjord to climb.)
So anyway, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. There's leftover Christmas lutefisk in the freezer. Help yourself!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Three ways I'm celebrating Syttende Mai
1. Forgetting to wear red. Though there is a red star on my fancy reversible belt buckle and my trendy shoes have red detailing. For those of you inclined to oppress us Norwegians with your selfish ignorance of our rich, lutefisk-and-sweater-based culture, Syttende Mai—literally “The Seventeenth of May”—is Norwegian Independence Day, which celebrates the day Norway declared itself to be an independent nation from those oppressive Swedes in 1814. I have no idea if wearing red is any official way to celebrate this day, but I’ve always worn a red shirt on May 17 so I could be my own one-man Borgertoget. Except today, obviously. But I am wearing a pale gray shirt that pays tribute to the pale white palette of Norwegian foods and food-covering sauces. So there’s that. Ett språk er aldri nok!
2. Getting two fillings replaced. I haven’t had a cavity since junior high school, so these dull silver bad boys in my molars have to be almost 30 years old. My dentist says they’re cracked, and since the gums around these teeth always bleed when I floss, I’m inclined to think it’s time to go under the drill again. Traditionally Norwegian Independence Day is not celebrated by attacking Norwegian-Americans with drills, but replacing fillings carries with it a high probability of wearing a paper bib with blood on it. Which equals red. Which equals Norwegian pride. Vær vennlig og snakk saktere!
3. Writing my monthly blog post. Seriously, I have no idea why I’ve been so not-bloggy lately. I’ve had a ton of adventures to write about. And tons of snarky thoughts I wanted to share. (Sarah Palin was in Chicago last week! Which means puppies died and blood ran out of our faucets and thinking people got scabby rashes on our asses.) And I’ve even enjoyed two stay-all-day-in-front-of-the-TV days in the last month. Which means I’ve had time to write. Or time to be a complete vegetable. But since vegetables are good for you, the TV won. Luftputefartøyet mitt er fullt av ål!
2. Getting two fillings replaced. I haven’t had a cavity since junior high school, so these dull silver bad boys in my molars have to be almost 30 years old. My dentist says they’re cracked, and since the gums around these teeth always bleed when I floss, I’m inclined to think it’s time to go under the drill again. Traditionally Norwegian Independence Day is not celebrated by attacking Norwegian-Americans with drills, but replacing fillings carries with it a high probability of wearing a paper bib with blood on it. Which equals red. Which equals Norwegian pride. Vær vennlig og snakk saktere!
3. Writing my monthly blog post. Seriously, I have no idea why I’ve been so not-bloggy lately. I’ve had a ton of adventures to write about. And tons of snarky thoughts I wanted to share. (Sarah Palin was in Chicago last week! Which means puppies died and blood ran out of our faucets and thinking people got scabby rashes on our asses.) And I’ve even enjoyed two stay-all-day-in-front-of-the-TV days in the last month. Which means I’ve had time to write. Or time to be a complete vegetable. But since vegetables are good for you, the TV won. Luftputefartøyet mitt er fullt av ål!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Happy Syttende Mai!
[break it down: sytten = seventeen, de = of, Mai = May]
As I’m sure the endless media coverage has made you thoroughly aware, today is Norwegian Independence Day—celebrating the 1814 Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold where we signed our new Constitution and began our quest for independence after 400 years under the oppressive reign of the (not so great, it would seem) Danes. (We joined into an unholy union on this day with Sweden and didn’t gain our full independence until 1905, but that’s a topic for a different post.)
First of all, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. Even though I totally forgot myself and I’m wearing black dress pants and a dress shirt in stripes of blues and whites and teals. Which looks kind of red if you have blue-teal-red colorblindness.
Our office had a small Cuatro de Mayo celebration on May 4 (for those of you struggling with the translation), because the cincoth of Mayo was a Saturday and while I love free fajitas I’m not coming into work on a Saturday to eat them. I wanted to stage a similar Norwegian celebration today at work, but I ran out of time this week so I didn’t get any lefse or lutefisk or rommegrot made to bring in and share. And—as you can imagine—all the local Norwegian shouting choruses had been (regrettably but understandably) booked months in advance, so I couldn't even provide some basic background Norwegianness to put people in the mood. I’m sure we have some leftover piñatas lying around the office somewhere, though, and we could probably get a mariachi band here muy pronto, but I don’t think Great-Great Grandfather Gustav—who came to America on a boat with a fjord motor—would approve.
So I will just leave you with some Norwegian good cheer (which is easily confused with Norwegian bad cheer because we’re a stoic people) and sincere wishes for a very happy Syttende Mai.
I also leave you with last week’s marathon training photo, which only yesterday was made available to me so it’s totally not my fault you didn’t get to see what we looked like after running five miles until five days after the fact. And for the record, I look much younger today than I did last Saturday because I’ve been exfoliating.
Gø Nørsk!
As I’m sure the endless media coverage has made you thoroughly aware, today is Norwegian Independence Day—celebrating the 1814 Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold where we signed our new Constitution and began our quest for independence after 400 years under the oppressive reign of the (not so great, it would seem) Danes. (We joined into an unholy union on this day with Sweden and didn’t gain our full independence until 1905, but that’s a topic for a different post.)
First of all, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. Even though I totally forgot myself and I’m wearing black dress pants and a dress shirt in stripes of blues and whites and teals. Which looks kind of red if you have blue-teal-red colorblindness.
Our office had a small Cuatro de Mayo celebration on May 4 (for those of you struggling with the translation), because the cincoth of Mayo was a Saturday and while I love free fajitas I’m not coming into work on a Saturday to eat them. I wanted to stage a similar Norwegian celebration today at work, but I ran out of time this week so I didn’t get any lefse or lutefisk or rommegrot made to bring in and share. And—as you can imagine—all the local Norwegian shouting choruses had been (regrettably but understandably) booked months in advance, so I couldn't even provide some basic background Norwegianness to put people in the mood. I’m sure we have some leftover piñatas lying around the office somewhere, though, and we could probably get a mariachi band here muy pronto, but I don’t think Great-Great Grandfather Gustav—who came to America on a boat with a fjord motor—would approve.
So I will just leave you with some Norwegian good cheer (which is easily confused with Norwegian bad cheer because we’re a stoic people) and sincere wishes for a very happy Syttende Mai.
I also leave you with last week’s marathon training photo, which only yesterday was made available to me so it’s totally not my fault you didn’t get to see what we looked like after running five miles until five days after the fact. And for the record, I look much younger today than I did last Saturday because I’ve been exfoliating.
Gø Nørsk!
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
My ancestors are spinning in their graves
and posthumously removing me from their wills because I totally forgot that today is Syttende Mai. Uff da!
Go here to read last year's over-researched post on this Norwegian high holiday.
Normally I wear something red on Syttende Mai. Today I'm head-to-toe in fetching shades of gray. But I'm wearing a new shirt with a collar that seems to have been sewn on with sharpened fishing wire, so a big chunk of my neck is turning all red in a scratchy, scabby kind of way. So there's that.
Of course, my true Norwegian nature would have me suffering in stoic silence. But instead I'm whining about it here like Tom DeLay with no homos to shoot.
Anyway, despite my abject failure as a son of Norway, I hope all of you have alutefisky happy Syttende Mai today. I'll be too busy looking for new ancestors to adopt me. (I've always thought it might be fun to be French. Because I can totally spell fromage without looking it up.)
Go here to read last year's over-researched post on this Norwegian high holiday.
Normally I wear something red on Syttende Mai. Today I'm head-to-toe in fetching shades of gray. But I'm wearing a new shirt with a collar that seems to have been sewn on with sharpened fishing wire, so a big chunk of my neck is turning all red in a scratchy, scabby kind of way. So there's that.
Of course, my true Norwegian nature would have me suffering in stoic silence. But instead I'm whining about it here like Tom DeLay with no homos to shoot.
Anyway, despite my abject failure as a son of Norway, I hope all of you have a
Monday, May 17, 2004
Happy Syttende Mai!
[break it down: sytten = seventeen, de = of, Mai = May]
As I'm sure the endless media coverage has made you thoroughly aware, today is Norwegian Independence Day -- celebrating the 1814 Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold where we signed our new Constitution and began our quest for independence after 400 years under the oppressive reign of the (not so great, it would seem) Danes. (We joined into an unholy union on this day with Sweden and didn't gain our full independence until 1905, but that's a rant for a different post.)
First of all, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. It's touching. Really.
Our office had a huge Cinco de Mayo celebration (on May 5, for those of you struggling with the translation) complete with margaritas, burritos and a roving mariachi band. I wanted to stage a similar Norwegian celebration today at work, but -- as you can imagine -- all the local Norwegian shouting choruses had been (regrettably but understandably) booked months in advance. And I ran out of time this weekend, so I didn't get any lefse or lutefisk or rommegrot made to bring in and share. I'm sure we have some leftover piñatas lying around somewhere and we could probably get that mariachi band back here muy pronto, but I don't think Great-Great Grandfather Gustav -- who came to America on a boat with a fjord motor -- would approve.
So I will just leave you with some Norwegian good cheer (which is easily confused with Norwegian bad cheer because we're a stoic people) and sincere wishes for a very happy Syttende Mai.
Go Norsk!
As I'm sure the endless media coverage has made you thoroughly aware, today is Norwegian Independence Day -- celebrating the 1814 Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold where we signed our new Constitution and began our quest for independence after 400 years under the oppressive reign of the (not so great, it would seem) Danes. (We joined into an unholy union on this day with Sweden and didn't gain our full independence until 1905, but that's a rant for a different post.)
First of all, I thank all of you for wearing red and blue today to help me honor my heritage. It's touching. Really.
Our office had a huge Cinco de Mayo celebration (on May 5, for those of you struggling with the translation) complete with margaritas, burritos and a roving mariachi band. I wanted to stage a similar Norwegian celebration today at work, but -- as you can imagine -- all the local Norwegian shouting choruses had been (regrettably but understandably) booked months in advance. And I ran out of time this weekend, so I didn't get any lefse or lutefisk or rommegrot made to bring in and share. I'm sure we have some leftover piñatas lying around somewhere and we could probably get that mariachi band back here muy pronto, but I don't think Great-Great Grandfather Gustav -- who came to America on a boat with a fjord motor -- would approve.
So I will just leave you with some Norwegian good cheer (which is easily confused with Norwegian bad cheer because we're a stoic people) and sincere wishes for a very happy Syttende Mai.
Go Norsk!
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