Newsletter January 2009 Godt Nyttaar! January Lodge Meeting Saturday January 10th 11:00 am Heritage Room at Bethlehem Lutheran Church Program: Lake Mills, Iowa "Homeland" video January Serving Chairs: Audrey Morken, Mark/Peggy Harstad January Serving Committee: Curt Eidhammer/Karen Abbott, Robin/Synnove Grinnell, Viola Gunsolus, Byron/Karen McGregor, Elizabeth Mueller, Joyce Savage, Rita Schoenstedt and Jean Sorensen, Hilsen fra Presidentene Paul Olson og Phil Wold: Despite the inclement weather, we had great attendance at the annual Julebord. As usual, the food was great--as was the service. We thank the serving committee chairs (Lois Anderson, Jim and Linda Bristol, and Pat Jensen) and the helpful members of their committee (Sharon Hanson, Arlo and Carolyn Hovick, Jean Schimmele, and Harland Vee). We enjoyed beautiful Christmas music performed by Bethany College bell-ringers, accompanied by music professor, Dennis Marzolf. We thank them for that. We even sang Christmas carols in Norwegian--and one in English. Thanks to all who helped create such a great evening! One way or another we got all the OFFICERS FOR 2009 installed: Paul Olson, president; Mark Harstad, vice president; Lois Kitzmann, secretary; Owen Viker, treasurer; Arlo Hovick, financial secretary; Linda Stelter, membership secretary; Karen Abbott and Jodie Wallschlaeger, co-cultural/social directors; Tom Sheimo, newsletter editor; and Philip Wold, counselor. It should be a great board that will take us into 2009. Contact any of us with lodge concerns or suggestions. Tusen tak for the time and efforts extended by lodge members to make the BAKE SALE such a great success. Headed by Irene Mickelson and Dorothy Viker, many were involved in preparing and baking our SIGNATURE lefse, including Marilyn Bigbee, Delores Buege, Ann Carlberg, Linda Eisenbeis, Donna Else, Synnove Grinell, Mary Lou Haldorson, Helen Hanson, Peggy Harstad, Janet Hoffman, Carolyn Hovick, Judy Lokensgard, Lois Kitzmann, Irene Mickelson, June Nelson, Phyllis Olson, Phyllis Spangrud, Jane Torgerson, and Jodie Wallschlaeger. Marlys and Bernie Heller buttered and sugared the lefse sold as individual snacks. Most of us at the Julebord were able to sample some of the product! Thanks to all who donated baked goods. Your contributions are much appreciated! The Sons of Norway organization supports the humanitarian TUBFRIM organization, which is owned by the Norwegian Health Service. They collect used postage stamps, package them, and resell them to wholesalers and world-wide stamp collectors. The profits earned from these sales are used to provide care and aid to handicapped children in Norway. Save your canceled stamps and bring them to the next lodge meeting on January 10th. Our next meeting will held midday--SOMETHING NEW--for the first three months in 2009. Given the shortened daylight hours and the risk of snow and ice underfoot, it was felt reasonable to meet at 11AM so members can return home before dark. NOTE THE CHANGE IN TIME! Plan to attend Saturday, January 10th, when the program--Lake Mills, Iowa "Homeland" video--will be held in the Heritage Room at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. We want to see you all there! Page 1 of 6 Newsletter January 2009 LODGE MEETING CHANGE FOR JANUARY-FEBRUARY-MARCH Due to anticipated lower attendance during January, February and March, our monthly Lodge meetings will be held in the Heritage Room at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. During these three months only, the meetings will begin at 11:00 a.m. and follow a brunch format. We are so grateful to Bethlehem for continuing to provide meeting space for us – mange tusen takk. How will you know if a Lodge meeting has been cancelled due to bad weather? We have been very fortunate recently to not have to cancel a Lodge meeting due to bad weather. However, to be well-prepared, your Board of Directors has approved the following procedure to notify members and the serving committee, in the event a Lodge meeting does need to be cancelled. - A cancellation decision will be made as follows: > for a 11:00 a.m. brunch meeting: Decision by 7:00 p.m. the night prior to the meeting > for a 5:30 p.m. evening meeting: Decision by 8:00 a.m. the morning of the meeting - Members will have several methods by which they can find out about a cancellation 1) if you have a internet connection: - log on to the KEYC Web-site www.keyctv.tv *a message will scroll across top of the web page OR *click on “School Closings” in the left sidebar - we will also plan to send out a notification via your e-mail address. 2) listen to any of the following radio stations - KTOE AM 1420 - KDOG FM 96.7 - KATO FM 93.1 - KXLP FM 94.1 - KXAC FM 100.5 - KRRW (St. James) FM 101.5 - KYSM FM 103.5 - Z-99 FM 99.1 - Blaze FM 95.7 - Buzzard FM 105.5 - KHRS (New Ulm) FM 105.9 - Serving committee chair persons will be notified right away by phone – they are asked to call the other serving committee members. - Program presenters will be notified by telephone. Co- President Phil introducing the bell ringers A wonderful performance by the bell ringers from Bethany College from Bethany College Page 2 of 6 Newsletter January 2009 A great Julebord turn-out despite the weather Curt looking good and staying warm 2009 Elvesvingen Lodge Officers Mark leading us in song Language Camp Scholarships Scholarship applications will soon be available from our local Lodge for parents or grandparents interested in sending their children / grandchildren to next year’s summer language camps (Skogfjorden in Bemidji, MN or Masse Moro in Eau Claire, WI). The deadline for applications is February 1, 2009 and must be sent to our Elvesvingen Lodge first. We would like to see more of our members take advantage of this opportunity. Additional information will be available in the near future. Page 3 of 6 Newsletter January 2009 Heritage stories continue to come in – we hope more will participate. If you have pictures to go along with your story, please feel free to submit those also. Stories should be sent to Paul Olson by e-mail, at [email protected] or by regular mail. New Year Tradition in Norway New Year is the season of embracing the new time with fresh hope and aspiration marked by festive splendors. The most important of all New Year traditions in Norway is holding midnight parties that last until late into the night. People may dance, sing, and drink a toast to the year ahead. Whistles are blown at midnight, and people hug and kiss to begin the New Year with much love and happiness. There is a custom on the New Year morning when children dressed in colorful garments trot through the neighborhood singing carols. They go from door to door and are rewarded with candy, cookies or oranges. In a way, it resembles a fusion of trick & treating and caroling. The tradition is termed as Nyttarsbukk. Spectacular fireworks display begins from the evening of New Years Eve. Every household put up their own fireworks and celebrates the night with lights and colors. Noisemaking and fireworks on New Year's Eve is believed to have originated in ancient times, when noise and fire were thought to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. One unique tradition among the various New Year Traditions in Norway is to make special rice pudding for New Year lunch or dinner. The uniqueness lies in the fact that a whole almond is hidden inside the pudding. The person who serves the lucky almond is believed to have great wealth and luck on New Year. Tubfrim Stamps. If you have received extra mail over the holidays, please save those envelopes/stamps! Our lodge supports the Tubfrim organization in Norway. Cancelled postage stamps are sold to collectors and dealers- the profits assist disabled children via the Norwegian Health Service. If you can assist in this project, please call Jodie Wallschlaeger, 388-2303. Page 4 of 6 Newsletter January 2009 Interested in a bus trip to the American Swedish Institute? The VINE / Summit Center and Mankato’s Community Education & Recreation Program are co-sponsoring a bus trip to the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. The cost is $29 and includes a tour of the mansion, a program about Swedish holiday traditions, a full Swedish smorgasbord and roundtrip coach transportation. If you are interested, please call Mankato Community Education at 387-5501 AFTER JANUARY 1, 2009 to make arrangements. Learn more about Norway on-line There’s no end to the information you can find on the internet. In fact, there’s so much out there, sometimes it’s hard to focus in on just what you need. Here are a few valuable online resources for finding information about or from Norway. www.google.no This is the Norwegian version of the well-known internet search engine Google.com. Google.no gives you a few options for narrowing your search. Just check the box next to “Dokumenter på norsk” to search for websites in Norwegian only. Check “sider fra Norge” to search websites based in Norway. Otherwise, the default setting, “Nettet” searches the entire internet exactly as Google.com does. www.gulesider.no Gulesider is a Norwegian phone directory. Click “English” in the lower right corner for a complete English-language interface. You can use it to find phone numbers for businesses and private individuals in Norway, and also search for cities, towns and even farms by choosing the map option. www.wikipedia.org and www.no.wikipeidia.org Wikipedia is a massive online, user-edited encyclopedia in dozens of languages.