Ah, the rich tapestry of culture
Went to a heartwarming event this morning.
About 50 local Norwegians turned out at city hall for a small, quiet recognition of their far-off homeland's independence day.
What struck me initially was that these people represented all that has become idealized in American history about those waves of immigrants in the 18th and 19th centuries. People with a quiet recognition of their homeland, but a fierce pride in America, and a clear hierarchy that put their adopted country ahead of that of their ancestors.
People who were determined to adapt to American culture as opposed to transplanting theirs here.
But then I talked to Pat Lindberg, whose grandparents came from Norway. Just two generations removed, he lamented that at age 41 he retained next to nothing of the culture - no language, no cooking talents, no rituals.
He said he wished his grandparents had better balanced their hunger to become American with an effort to preserve their cultural heritage.
I won't have it here, but it's an interesting debate. Assimilation versus preservation, and what kind of balance is desirable.
Lindberg actually mentioned Mexican and Asian immigrants, and the way some of today's immigrants speak their native language and observe their customs, as models of what he wished he had.
Thought provoking. Anyway, click below for a story ...
By Robert Rogers
SAN BERNARDINO - Pat Lindberg is Norwegian by blood only.
His grandparents, like most European immigrants of the era, strove hard to slough off the lives they left behind in Norway and fully adopt the mores of their adopted homeland.
Two generations later, Lindberg and his young children have scant linguistic or cultural links to their history, and it bothers him.
"I've been doing genealogy research," Lindberg said, keeping an eye on his blond, precocious 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter, dressed in traditional Norse garb. "I wish we had stronger cultural ties."
So Lindberg, for the first time, joined about 50 people whose bound to the to the land of the midnight sun are forged in history, culture and language.
For the 27th year, the local chapter of the Sons of Norway gathered at City Hall to hoist its red, white and blue Norwegian flag alongside the California state flag and Old Glory in celebration of Syttende Mai, or the 17th of May, the day Norway adopted its national constitution in 1814.
The event, which has drawn Mayor Pat Morris since he took office, provides locals of Norwegian - they all strongly assert the primacy of their American allegiance - descent a chance to observe the country's day of independence in a quiet ceremony.
In Norway, May 17 is the country's largest all-day nationwide celebration.
This year's event was held on May 16 because the actual holiday falls on a Saturday this year, but no one seemed to care about that technicality.
Lise Fleming who immigrated to the U.S. in 1968, comes to City Hall every year with about a dozen other Norsemen and women the Sundfjord Lodge in Pomona.
"When I was a schoolgirl we would march in the parade on this holiday," said Fleming, who like many of the attendees was dressed Friday in her black and embroidered Bunad, the traditional Norwegian dress.
Norwegians immigrated to the United States in the late 18th and early 20th centuries, settling mostly in the upper midwest. Today about 5 million people of Norwegian ancestry are in the country, with California the third largest population center.
Richard Fine, one of five Norwegian consulate generals in the U.S., said the small annual event is a cherished day for Norwegian-Americans.
"We briefly transplant the feeling of Norway to the U.S.," Fine said.
Sons of Norway member Roy Olson, told the crowd the holiday, which celebrates Norway's independence from Sweden, went dark in the early 1940s during Nazi occupation.
But in May 1945, the "hidden radios and the flags came out again," he said.
Morris regaled the crowd with a story about how he visited the Norwegian Assembly in Washington D.C., where he was received warmly on a Sunday morning, he said.
Officials there gave Morris a lapel pin with the U.S. and Norwegian flags, side-by-side, which the mayor presented to the group Friday.
"The irony is," Morris said, chuckling, "it says made in China."
Comments
Well if definitely wouldn't say "Made in San Bernardino" because our Mayor is too busy attending events like this and Run the Route (OH! Don't forget the photo op of riding his bike to work - that was NEWS!!!) instead of working on bringing jobs to this city.
Posted by: In Awe | May 20, 2008 12:03 PM