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Easter in Norway

Category: Ramblings | Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:57 am

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Last week-end was Palm Sunday, and this week is called the silent week. Schools are closed all week. Monday and Tuesday are normal work days, but Wednesday is a half-day. Thursday and Friday are red days, the shops open briefly on Saturday, and both Sunday and Monday are red days. Many Norwegians take the opportunity to go away over Easter. Some are lucky enough to get to use some of their holiday and spend an entire week-and-a-half somewhere else. Others set out Wednesday afternoon, and most go in search of snow and fun.

The Norwegian mountains have lots of cabins, normally clustered together like a little village. Easter is the time of year when those little villages come to life. If you're not lucky enough to have someone to look after your cabin, you'll probably meet a huge pile of snow with a chimney sticking out, and then it's digging time. Once the front door's been found it's time to get the fire place started, unpack and head for the slopes or the cross-country trails. Not surprisingly, lots of cabin villages are located close to the slopes or prepared trails. People without cabins often rent one or stay in hotels.

To many, the perfect Easter vacation is hot sun, powdery snow and all the time in the world to enjoy it with family or friends. Imagine, sitting by the wall with the sun in your face, eating oranges and biscuit chocolate. Mmmm! And board games in the evenings. In order to make the most of the vacation, people get very stressed. Yesterday the police had speed controls all over the country and they fined a speeder every five minutes. That's a nice start to the vacation, isn't it? The Red Cross is very busy during Easter too. People don't stop to think that they're out of training before strapping the skis on, and subsequently lots of them get hurt and get to spend Easter in hospital.

For those staying at home, Easter is a good time to enjoy the family, make good food, invite friends and let the stress of everyday life evaporate. Lamb is popular food, and magazines have loads of tempting recipes. The chickens and other decorations are brought out of hiding, and most homes have a plethora of yellow around Easter. The children are looking forward to Easter Sunday, when the Easter bunny has left the big Easter eggs by their beds, filled with all kinds of goodies. And one for the grown-ups too, of course.


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Where do all the old words go?

Category: Ramblings | Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:08 pm

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I talked to an old farmer earlier this week. During the conversation he used words I haven't heard since my grandmother passed away, and words I didn't understand the meaning of at all. I was curious enough to ask him to explain them, and he had to use many words to replace the one he had used before. The words described bear cubs at different ages, the feel of dry hay, the amount of hay given to a cow, the quality of the wind blowing and the texture of melting snow, amongst other things.

As we talked, I realized that the words he used are needless these days. They're of no use to us anymore. Nobody has seen a bear cub in our area for nigh on 100 years, and their age-describing words are only used in place names. The names were probably given because there once was a bear den, and one shouldn't venture too near it. As for hay, well, no farmer will put poles in the ground, thread three heights of wire between them and hang grass to dry. It's too time consuming, it has to be done by hand, and the silage bales are easier to do, easier to store and easier to move with the tractor. If they want dry hay, they invest in a hay dryer and install it in their barns. The cows get to eat all the silage they want in order to keep the milk production up, and there's never a question of having to ration the hay to make it last all winter. The winds are measured and named according to Beaufort, and whether it's a cold one, chilly one, mild one or warm one is irrelevant information. We won't die from exposure in our heated cars anyway. As far as snow is concerned, we've either got too little, too much or too heavy. We don't need to know the texture, because we don't need to ski on it in order to get anywhere anymore.

I felt very sad when I realized that lots and lots of words that were crucial to our forefathers are now becoming obsolete. Of course, we've got new words that are crucial to us now, but I still can't help feeling sorry for all those old, well-worn words that are going out of use and into oblivion. Some of those words have been needed for hundreds of years. They've got places named after them, but we've forgotten what the words mean, and now they're just place names. And I started wondering where they all end up.

I'm picturing an old words' home somewhere, an ancient landscape where the words are gathering one after the other when people forget about them. There they are, all in a jumble, making sounds that are meaningless to our ears. We'll never find them there and get them back into everyday use. At least not until they're needed again.

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