SONS OF FAGERNES LODGE 5-616 JULY-AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015

Skål to Aquavit Made in the pairings options. Infused with fresh dill, caraway seed and juniper berry USA this aquavit is sure to catch you by pleasant surprise. Learn more at When you think of aquavit you Upcoming Events www.gamleode.com probably think of Norway’s Linie July 29, 2015 Aquavit, the most widely available in Aquavit Ð Private Reserve Ð the US, right? Well did you know Distilled by North Shore Distillery, 1:00 p.m. there are several aquavits on the just north of Chicago, Illinois, this market that are distilled right here in private reserve aquavit is spicy and Trip to Norskedalen - the United States? Derived from the savory all at once. With a hint of the see page 5 words aqua vitae, Latin for water of oak barrel it ages in, the yellowish life, aquavit is a popular spirit has been described as August 22, 2015 Scandinavian liquor and Norway’s “Incredibly smooth and seductively national drink. Typically yellowish in aromatic” and “Rich, full-bodied and noon - potluck tint and distilled with grain or complex.” Read more at potatoes, the liquor is spiced with a www.northshoredistillery.com. Picnic in the Blair Park variety of herbs including caraway, cardamom, cumin, anise, fennel, and Krogstad Aquavit Ð Distilled by Sing-a-long citrus peel. Here are four of the more House Spirits Distillery in Portland, September 26, prominent American made Aquavits: Oregon’s famous Distillery Row, 2015 Krogstad Aquavit is crafted with Vikre ¯vrevann Ð Based in Duluth, ethically sourced ingredients. House 1:00 p.m. Minnesota, Vikre Distillery creates Spirits Distillery crafts Krogstad so it their liquor with local grains and can be enjoyed on its own, with ice, some Northwood’s love. Literally Cultural Program by or in a cocktail. They even offer Charlotte & Shirley translated to upper water, ¯vrevann recipes for a Norwegian Bloody Mary is a light aquavit with strong caraway or a Scandinavian Evening cocktail. Servers: Galen and and cardamom flavors. Vikre says Get recipes - www.housespirits.com. Marleen Berg their “Rich and aromatic, ¯vrevann Aquavit is piquant and refreshing to Each having their own distinct and Judy Bleken sip alongside smoked fish or to cut flavors, these distilleries are building Parades: July 12th the fat after a heavy holiday meal.” up a Scandinavian tradition for To learn more visit their webpage at in Trempealeau, America to adopt and enjoy. August 23rd in www.vikredistillery.com. Ettrick, and ! September 20th in Dill Aquavit Ð Distilled in New Blair Richmond, Wisconsin at the 45th Our Financial Benefits Counselor Parallel Distillery for Gamle Ode is Tom Kunkel. Contact him at based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [email protected], or This spirit is Gamle Ode’s call 1-844-233-7667. He’d be Save your printer cartridges (Norwegian for old ode) most popular happy to talk to you! and bring them to LaVonne. aquavit because of its unique We get $2.00 credit for refreshing flavor and versatile each cartridge to use toward ! new cartridges and paper! July-Aug-Sept 2015 1 Fagernes Lodge 5-616 a little in English… Saunas are Good has similar effects as exercising. But it can also be that the sauna is good because those men can easily relax in for the Heart the heat, often in good company, comments the editor of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, Rita F. Redberg. Hot, relaxing, sweaty and communal. The sauna is an essential part of the Finnish culture. So it is maybe not The researchers have not investigated the mental health so surprising that Finnish scientists are taking the time of the participants, and there are many other to study the effects of the sauna on people. A new study characteristics of the participants that were not taken investigates whether saunas have an effect on male into account. Perhaps there is something inherently mortality. All of the men in the study were regular sauna unique about those who choose to sauna frequently. users. Researchers wanted to find out whether there was More research is definitely needed to find out what it is a difference between those who spent a lot of time in that links men who sauna with living longer. saunas and those who were more infrequent users. litt på norsk...Badstue bra for hjertet In the 1980s they asked a random selection of 2,315 middle aged men from Eastern Finland about their Varme, avslapning, svetting og fellesskap. Badstue er en sauna habits. Afterwards, they checked in on those were del av finsk kultur. Da er det kanskje ikke så rart at det still alive 21 years later. It turned out that there was a nettopp er finske forskere som bruker tid på å unders¿ke higher mortality rate among those who took a sauna hva badstua gj¿r med folk. En ny studie går grundig til once a week than those who warmed themselves two to verks for å se om den har noe å si for d¿dsfall blant three times a week. Those who went four to seven times menn. Alle mennene i studien brukte badstue. Forskerne a week ran even lower risks of death. And those risks ville finne ut om det var en forskjell blant dem som didn’t just resonate with those who died of heart failure tilbrakte mye tid der og dem som stakk sjeldnere innom. and cardiovascular diseases. It also resonated with those På 1980-tallet spurte de et tilfeldig utvalg på 2315 who died of other causes. middelaldrende, ¿stfinske menn om badstuevanene deres. Deretter så de hvem som levde 21 år seinere. The duration of the sauna visit was also significant. The men who spend more than 19 minutes in the sauna each Det viste seg at det var h¿yere d¿delighet blant dem time ran only half the risk of dying from heart failure som tok badstue én gang i uka enn blant dem som than those who were in less than 11 minutes each time. varmet seg to-tre ganger per uke. De som var i innom The amount of time spent in the sauna, however, had no fire til sju ganger i uka, hadde enda lavere risiko for å direct impact on general mortality rates. Those who d¿. Og det gjaldt ikke bare dem som d¿de av hjertestans were more frequent sauna visitors chose to use them at og karsykdommer. Det gjaldt også dem som d¿de av lower temperatures. The average sauna temperature andre årsaker. during this test was 80 degrees Fahrenheit. So those who took a trip to the sauna at least four times a week Varigheten på badstubes¿ket hadde også betydning. kept the heat down to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Mennene som tilbrakte mer enn 19 minutter i badstua hver gang, hadde bare halvparten så stor risiko for å d¿ Researchers have taken a number of different factors av hjertestans som de som var der mindre enn 11 into account that may influence mortality, such as minutter av gangen. smoking, alcohol use, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, exercising, household income and education. Yet, those Tid i badstua hadde imidlertid ingenting å si for men who spent more time in the sauna had a greater d¿delighet generelt. De som var oftest innom, valgte chance of living longer. badstuer med noe lavere temperatur. I snitt holdt badstuene nærmere 80 varmegrader, mens de som tok The researchers believe that one explanation could be turen minst fire ganger i uka, n¿yde seg med 77 grader. that the temperature causes a higher pulse rate which in turn improves blood pressure. This has been specifically shown in other studies. Within this context, the sauna ! July-Aug-Sept 2015 2 Fagernes Lodge 5-616 litt på norsk...Badstue bra for hjertet, Forskerne tror at det blant annet kan skyldes at temperaturen gir h¿yere hjertefrekvens og dermed (continued) bedringer i blodtrykket. Det har nemlig andre forskere vist. På dette området kan badstua ha lignende effekter Forskerne har tatt hensyn til en rekke andre forhold som det trening har. Men det kan også være at badstue som kan påvirke d¿deligheten, som r¿yking, er bra fordi de slapper så godt av der inne i varmen, alkoholbruk, kroppsmasseindeks (BMI), diabetes, ofte i godt lag, kommenterer redakt¿ren av tidsskriftet trening, ¿konomi og utdanning. Likevel hadde JAMA Internal Medicine, Rita F. Redberg. mennene som var ofte i badstua, st¿rre sjanse for å overleve.

Stave Church Returns to Norway There are those who leave their home country for a new life, get comfortable in their new surroundings and eventually put down roots. On occasion they decide to move back home in their retirement. This is sometimes the case with people, but not usually with buildings—until now.

In 1892, a stavkirke (stave church) was constructed in , west of , then dismantled and shipped in pieces to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The medieval-style church was on display for six months, after which it moved to the Wrigley family property along Lake Geneva, WI. It wasn’t until 1935 that the church had another bout of wanderlust and packed up again. Isak Dahle purchased the church and had it moved to his land near Blue Mounds, Wisconsin.

The structure is known as Thams pavilion, named for its builder, Norwegian industrialist Christian Thams, and it became part of an open-air museum called Little Norway, where tourists came to experience Norwegian architecture, culture and folk art for 80 years. In 2012, the museum closed its doors due to flagging attendance and since then, the owner, Scott Winner has been selling off and donating Little Norway’s 7,000 artifacts, including all of the structures. Word about the museum’s closure reached Norway, and Winner was approached by a group of Norwegians interested in the church’s “repatriation.”

A group of four representatives from the area came to Blue Mounds in April 2015 to assess the condition of the church. The team consisted of a project manager, a cultural representative, a construction expert and a media manager. The hope was that the 122 year-old structure would be sound enough to withstand shipping and reassembly to become a historical attraction in the town where it was designed and built. Two of the representatives from Norway are descendants of Peder O. Kvaale, who carved the detailed relief patterns and dragon-head designs that are typical stave church adornments. After the inspection, the Norwegians could hardly contain themselves. They liked what they saw. They will report their findings to the Orkdal City Council and if all goes well, the church will be dismantled over the summer and shipped “back home.”

If the building does indeed move, it will be the fourth time it has been deconstructed and fifth time being assembled. But it was made to do so. The inspection team was able to find painted numbers from the 1935 move that will help with reassembly. Winner said he is sad that the church may be leaving, but finds it romantic that it would return to its place of origin. ! July-Aug-Sept 2015 3 Fagernes Lodge 5-616 Spotlight on a Fagernes! Lodge Member! This quarter we hear from one of our !charter members, Beverly Solberg. I was the firstborn child of Mildred O (Linerud) and Arthur O Thompson, French Creek, rural Ettrick. My sister, (Genevieve) LaMae was my only sibling, and the two of us had a very close relationship throughout life. I lived on a farm and attended Wayside School for 8 years before graduating from Galesville High in 1944. I loved everything about my school years, and decided to pursue a degree !as an elementary education teacher. I graduated from LaCrosse Teachers College, as it was known at that time. After graduating, I taught 5th grade in Galesville. I married Francis R Solberg in 1948. We spent the first years of our marriage in Ettrick and Whitehall. After my dad had a massive heart attack and could not continue farming, we returned to the farm where I had grown up and purchased it. Francis and I continued a !dairy farm operation until retirement. I did some substitute teaching and tutoring. We especially enjoyed the time when our children, Pauline, Ralph, and Ryan were growing up. My most important job was being a good wife and mother and instilling values in my children. I have 5 !grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. I have been active at French Creek Lutheran Church, serving as president of the women’s group 3 times, taught vacation Bible school, was Superintendent of the Sunday School, and served on the Endowment Foundation. I have special memories of the long train trip to Portland, Oregon when a church delegate. Francis and I enjoyed many years as general leaders of the Frenchville !Cloverleaves 4-H Club. I am a charter member of the Sons of Norway Fagernes Lodge and enjoyed planning the programs !and meeting new and old friends throughout the years. Francis and I enjoyed riding on the float. In retirement we enjoyed traveling by car and by bus. Francis loved to drive and was not concerned about traffic in cities. I especially enjoyed trips to Washington, D.C., the Smoky Mountains, New York and New England in the fall, our special trip to Scandinavia. Francis and I had a wonderful life !of over 65 years together. !Some of my interesting memories… We had been to visit a relative of my dad’s on a Sunday afternoon. When we were on the way home, we heard on the radio that war would be declared. I remember exactly where we were when we heard this grim news in December 1941. ! When World War II ended, I was attending college. Everything came to a stop. I got on the bus in LaCrosse that day and headed home, getting off the bus at Frenchville.

We collect cancelled postage stamps for the Tubfrim project. Please trim the cancelled stamps with a 1/4 inch border before bringing them to a meeting. We will turn them into our Zone Director when he visits us. Thank you! ! July-Aug-Sept 2015 4 Fagernes Lodge 5-616 PAST HAPPENINGS AT FAGERNES 5-616

Frokost and Bake Sale Eddie Thompson, Charlotte Our ambassadors, Charlotte Dahl and Serene Dahl doing Dahl and Eileen Trim, reigning the handkerchief dance at May 16, 2015 over their last parade as lodge royalty in Taylor, May 31, 2015 Grand View, May 15, 2015

July 29th trip - to Norskedalen! We are going on a summer trip! Many people have signed up. We will have a tour at Norskedalen at 1:00 after eating lunch at Westby. We will leave about 10:00. If you said you are going, you will be contacted with information about who you will be riding with and when to meet the driver. For more information, contact Mary Jo Fetsch at 608-323-3261.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Due to Shauna Jacobs Ruby Henderson privacy concerns, only the month Chynelle Koterwski Virgieann Stecha is listed. Lonnie Manske Terry Thompson July Eddie Thompson LaVonne Wier Bailey Anderson Sergei Wier ! Mary Jo Fetsch ! September Todd Fetsch August Cynthia Anderson Tarryn Hanson Brendan Berg Marleen Berg Haily Henderson Marlys Britten Gene Hogden Noelle Henderson Kaleb Dobson Ralph Solberg Alexis Jacobs Olin Fimreite ! ! July-Aug-Sept 2015 5 Fagernes Lodge 5-616

President’s Message Fra Presidentin:! ! ! Det er godt å leve!!!! ("Life is good”!) Summer is with us!! It has definitely warmed up! The corn is growing by leaps and bounds as well as the weeds in the garden!!! I've picked many buckets of cherries from our two cherry trees and made one cherry pie so far!! Yum! I think the robins can have the rest of the cherries too. Enough for everyone!! The beans are growing despite the nibbling by the bunny rabbits. I took the fencing off of them a bit too soon. The Peonies were awesome! Especially the yellow one.! Our Frokost in May for Syttende Mai went well. Takk fer hjelpen!!! It was the best Frokost yet!!! We cleared $743.00.! Our next event is (other than parades--see schedule) to travel to Norskedalen on July 29th. Rides will be organized.! Our parade float committee is active upgrading the authenticity and uniqueness of its appearance.We hope it meets the approval of the lodge and the parade onlookers. Photos will come later. So du har godt sommer!!! Beste Hilsen, Todd Fetsch, Presidenten!

Perk Spot. Note from LaVonne: I received an e-mail from Sons of Norway In an effort to provide as broad a set of benefits informing me of this program. I signed as possible, we have worked with PerkSpot to develop a discount program that offers savings on up for it. It gives decent discounts for the following products and services: many things, and it costs nothing to sign up. Another perk of being a Sons Apparel, Automotive, Beauty & Fragrances, Books, Cell Phones, Computers, Electronic, of Norway member! Financial Services, Food, Gifts, Health & ! Wellness Products, Home & Garden Magazines, As a Sons of Norway member you have access to Movies. Jewelry, Outdoor Equipment, Travel PerkSpot, a one-stop shop for thousands of ! discounts from hundreds of local and national Take advantage of these great discounts by retailers. And because these new discounts are signing in to the Sons of Norway website, click web based they are always just a click away. Member Benefits, then Member Discounts, and click on Perk Spot. You will be taken to a page By visiting Sons of Norway’s exclusive PerkSpot where you will be asked to register. Once you do portal you can start saving today on products and you can start saving thousands of items being services, like travel, clothing, food, entertainment offered by hundreds of local and national and electronics. But that’s not all! Every month retailers. If you have any questions regarding any new discounts are added to enhance the benefit of the discount providers, please contact and, once you create your account, the discounts PerkSpot at [email protected] or call (866) you see will be tailored to the area in which you 606-6057. live! ! July-Aug-Sept 2015 6 Fagernes Lodge 5-616

St. Olav's Day two centuries after Olaf ’s policies were instrumental is death, these sagas recount the spreading the religion in the tales of many of Norway’s early predominantly pagan July 29th marks Olsok, or St. Kings. Norwegian interior. His impact Olaf’s Day in Norway and was so large that a year after his coincides with Olsokdagen, the It’s said that King Olaf was death, a Bishop named Grimkell official Flag Day in Norway, but born sometime around 995 near formed a cult to celebrate the it’s roots run much deeper. what is now Ringerike. He was king. Under the occupation of Originally celebrated to honor the great-great-grandson of the Danish forces, this served as the King, and later Saint, Olaf, Harald Fairhair, the first king of a unifier for the Norwegians. the day has more than 900 years Norway. Olaf himself would The early celebration of King of history behind it. Lavish take the throne in 1015 at about Olaf, coupled with his support feasts and pilgrimages have the age of 20. Within a few for Christianity, led the King to celebrated his name, but who short years, Olaf was able to be made a Saint and named the was Olaf II of Norway and why consolidate his power by Patron Saint of Norway soon are we celebrating him today? eliminating rivals to the throne. after. At the time, Norway was made Much of what we know about up of several petty kings who Today, St. Olaf continues to be King Olaf comes from the supported a central ruler. The a major influence in Norwegian sagas, first from an Icelandic wealthy men in Norway grew culture. Olav has been a popular writer who penned the discontent with King Olaf’s name amongst Norwegian Glælognskviða, written in the strong-handed ruling and males for centuries. The St. late twelfth century, about a supported Canute the Great’s Olav medal is the highest century after the king’s death. invasion of Norway in 1026. decoration the Norwegian Early Christian monks also After a series of battles, King crown awards. Even King contributed greatly to his story, Olaf would eventually die in the Haralad V proudly celebrates compiling tales in the late Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. his own lineage through one of twelfth and thirteenth centuries. St. Olaf’s many children. This Although it’s difficult to During his short reign, King year Olsok will be celebrated separate the man from the Olaf made several significant with festivals and feasts across legend, much of what we contributions to Norway, most Norway, to mark the official day celebrate comes from the notably the spread of of Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae, Heimskringla. Written almost Christianity. Many of his Norway’s eternal king.

Hello friends, We invite your lodge to attend a Men’s Choral group concert from Norway. It will be held at the Country Coon Prairie Church outside of Westby on Sunday July 26 at 7:00pm The group is the ORLAND SANGFORENING Their picture shows 28 men in the group. Country Coon Prairie is a beautiful old church on Coon Prairie Road. Go through Westby and turn first left after first passing Our Saviors Lutheran Church (chocolate church) then Westby Coon Prairie church (the vanilla church). The Country Coon Prairie church is approximately 2 miles out on that road. The acoustics are great in the church and we have had many concerts there. Solvang Lodge of Westby will serve coffee and cookies after the concert. The actual address of the church is: S2706 Coon Prairie Road, Westby, WI. If you have any questions please call me at 608 634-4165. Thanks and hope to see many of you. Sandy Iverson, Solvang Lodge Sons of Norway, 215 W. Ave. N., Westby, WI 54667, ! July-Aug-Sept 2015 7 Fagernes Lodge 5-616

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! Wier LaVonne Editor

Galesville, Wi 54630-8269 54630-8269 Wi Galesville,

N17787 Hammond Lane Lane Hammond N17787

Sons of Norway Fagernes Lodge 5-616 5-616 Lodge Fagernes Norway of Sons !

New Study Sheds Light on Viking Era Researchers believe that this new evidence provides important context to the development of The first known accounts of Viking raiding took Viking seafaring culture and helps shed light on place in the late eighth century in 793 at an English how the first Norwegian sailors might have gained monastery in Lindisfarne. Yet, recently discovered the skills, knowledge and wherewithal to embark evidence found in Denmark by archeologists from on extended sea voyages. “We can now show that the University of Aarhus and the University of York the famous Scandinavian sea voyages, which definitively supports earlier activity among Viking eventually lead to the discovery of Iceland and seafarers prior to the Viking age for the purpose of Greenland, have a history of commercial travel, not trade, not plunder. Uncovered in an archaeological just raids. Previously we were inclined to say that dig in Ribe—the oldest known town and yes, once you can sail across open water, you can commercial marketplace in Denmark—were antlers also sail to commercial towns—now we can turn belonging to Norwegian reindeer dating to before the equation around and say that trading towns may 725 AD. An abundant and easily accessible waste have been an important part of the drive behind product in Norway used to make combs, needles developing new technologies,” says Professor and small hand tools, deer antlers would have been S¿ren Sindbæk. “We can see for the first time why a valuable commodity to a budding commercial they started to invest in ships and develop the center like Ribe, where the raw material would technology. It’s interesting that when we have two have been scarce. Archeologists believe early such significant developments and changes— Norwegian Vikings likely capitalized on and urbanization and raids across open water—we can prospered from this opportunity. then say that they were in fact connected,” said ! Sindbæk. July-Aug-Sept 2015 8 Fagernes Lodge 5-616