Caramel Cheese, Sun Mirror and Leadership in Suicide: Norway's National Character

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Among the Scandinavian countries, Norway is the sister with whom everyone is a little ashamed for making sincere statements, and in a difficult moment she is ready to fight a robber. For the whole world, Norway was previously associated with fish and pine furniture for export, and now - comics about the goth girl Nemi Montoya and the TV series "Lillehammer". And also this very calm and friendly country is the leader of Europe in suicide. And how does it all combine in her?

Descendants of the vikings

Norway has a long and difficult relationship with England and Scotland. Once upon a time, the Vikings from the Norwegian shores made terrible raids on the shores and islands that are now part of Great Britain. Returning to their homeland was simply called “the way to the north” (norðrvegr). Literally, it was this expression that became the name of the country.

Not all Vikings returned home. Over time, some of them colonized the English and Scottish shores. So, when an Englishman, getting acquainted with a Norwegian, exclaims: "Oh, bloodthirsty Viking!" After all, who then conquered North America, Australia and India? Definitely not Norwegians.

There are many Scandinavian roots in English: land (earth), grass (grass), bloom (flowering), root (root), plow (plow) and others. But the British took revenge on the Norwegians in some way. In the nineteenth century, the economic influence and presence in Britain was so great that many Norwegian townspeople spoke English. I mean, only in English, not using Norwegian dialects. And now the majority of Norwegians know English well.

During World War II, when Germany occupied the kingdom - and Norway is still a kingdom - the Norwegian fleet almost completely sailed to the shores of Britain to fight the Third Reich with its naval forces.

As for the language, the country's patriots made efforts to make the population speak Norwegian again in the nineteenth century. Book Norwegian, Bokmål, aka sovereign speech, Riksmål, developed over the centuries of Danish rule in Norway - this is the Norwegianized version of the Danish language. Even before independence from Denmark, Norwegian literature appeared on it, so teaching it to children in schools was easier than the truly Norwegian dialects that survived only in the villages.

But an enthusiast of native dialects, linguist Ivar Osen, based on village dialects and a small amount of Old Norse language (the very one that is still spoken in Iceland), managed not only to create a new literary language, which is called "New Norwegian" ("Nynorsk"), but also to promote its study and use among the population of the country. It was especially readily taught in village schools, since it looked like a familiar, daily speech. Little has changed now. Most of the townspeople speak Bokmål, and the majority of the villagers speak Nynorsk. Officially, these languages have an equal status, and at school you can choose which one you will study in depth.

Increased independence

Norwegians are traditionally very independent, even a little unsociable. It is psychologically uncomfortable for them to ask for and accept help even from relatives. Norwegians are independent and self-willed, and a group of Norwegians will never be at a loss when they lose a leader - and a lonely Norwegian will not be at a loss when they lose their group. Each of them is his own kingdom.

During World War II, this independence became a headache for the German occupiers. Usually, the resistance of the Europeans, according to their experience, was not too great if it was possible to seize official power, and even more so all or almost the entire territory of the country. According to the theory of the Third Reich, all true Aryans, Nordic handsome men with muscles, had to be united in spirit with each other. But the Norwegians did not like at all to be one in spirit with some crazy people, capturing foreign countries when they have their own.

The Norwegian Church became the ideologist of the resistance. Sermons were read in churches against the criminal decrees of the occupying government. The Norwegian Communist Party organized demonstrations and riots in the cities. But the resistance lived not only in large organizations. There is a known case when systematic resistance in the farms was created by one of the teachers, and other teachers were its main participants. They not only refused to teach according to the school curriculum approved by the Nazis (which would be expected), but also procured machine guns, warm boots, and skis for the partisans. The Nazis had to arrange a special operation to suppress the resistance of the Norwegian village teachers!

The Nazis had little pain from the armed partisans, many of whom were former soldiers and officers of the Norwegian army, and ordinary residents did not surrender. Despite the arrests and executions, workers and student riots were repeated on the streets, making the situation more and more ambiguous: the official guardians of the Nordic white race had to fight with much cleaner representatives of this race.

Adults and schoolchildren secretly collected and handed over food to Soviet prisoners of war in concentration camps organized on the territory of Norway, helped to escape before the location of Soviet troops. During the landing of the Soviet landing, Norwegian fishermen acted as accomplices. Glorified by the Nazis, the harsh northerners were among the main enemies of the Third Reich.

Participation in the resistance was so widespread that Norwegian schoolchildren, who read famous stories about dad, mom, eight children and a truck, easily read the past of dad. He was a sailor twenty years ago (in the forties) and, despite not being the most profitable business, owned a truck - apparently during the war he fought in the same Norwegian fleet that went to England to fight the Germans. The truck can be a reward, trophy, or a gift from allies.

And Grandmother - mother's mother - from the same story clearly shows the Norwegian independence. She lives in a nursing home, because she can no longer work on the farm, and visits her relatives only with her own money. When there is not enough for the return trip, she does not even think to ask her daughter. He just goes out on the road and votes.

Unfortunately, this unwillingness to ask for and accept help can be a disservice. Depressions develop easily in northern climates. If in Iceland in such cases they go to the doctor and start taking prescribed antidepressants, then in Norway many are trying to cope with themselves and … In terms of the number of suicides, Norway is the leader of Europe.

National spirit

Norwegians, like all Scandinavians, are simply obsessed with preserving the national spirit - when you move so quickly into the future, like these countries, you are constantly afraid of accidentally breaking away from your roots. On Norway's Day, many residents wear folk costumes, and often these are the authentic costumes of their rural ancestors, carefully preserved for years.

Norwegians are justly proud of their contributions to children's literature through two wonderful women writers, Anne-Cat. Westley and Selma Lagerlöf. And if the second was remembered only for the journey of the boy Niels with the wild geese, then the first created many stories touching on social themes: poverty, loss of loved ones, changes in gender roles in modern society, and even harassment of women at work. And all this is as delicate as you can imagine.

The works of the writers Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset entered the treasury of world literature, and every Russian probably heard and recognizes the arias and melodies of the Norwegian composer Edward Grick for Ibsen's play Peer Gynt.

Norwegians love their native cuisine, which includes dairy and fish dishes, as well as, of course, brunust - cheese, invented by a seventeen-year-old girl named Anna Howe back in the middle of the nineteenth century. Caramelized milk sugar gives it a peculiar taste and color. This cheese is one of the main sources of iron in the diet of the Norwegians, and for which Hove was even awarded a silver medal. In addition, her invention saved the economy of her native valley. There is only one oddity with this cheese - it is very flammable, and there are known cases of "cheese fires" in the country.

The series "Lillehammer", which shows the clash of an Italian American with criminal inclinations with the realities of Norwegian life, quite accurately conveys the Norwegian views on the world and the structure of life. Most Russians, when watching, however, sympathize with the passionate hero rather than his environment obsessed with equality and politeness. Oddly enough, one of the most famous fictional Norwegian heroines, Nemi, the girl from the comics, is not at all polite or trying not to stand out. But perhaps this is why the Norwegians like it: after all, recall, sincerity in expressing feelings and thoughts is much more inherent in them than the recently emerged fashion for "Swedish" restraint.

In Norway, girls in the army have recently been living in the same barracks and rooms with the guys, and this is not at all about the sexual revolution. On the contrary, the habit of seeing a girl as a comrade in arms should help against harassment in the service. And it seems to work. This is purely Norwegian know-how, which they are also very proud of.

And another very Norwegian thing: Ryukan mirrors. Rjukan City is located in a dark valley where the sun never looks. So that the children could walk a little in the light, their parents took them by cable car to the top of the mountain for years, but you won't do that every day. The sun is a jewel that every Scandinavian understands. And so that children could spend at least a little time in the light, mirrors were installed on one of the mountains, turning behind the sun. They reflect rays onto the city square, illuminating almost all of it. The authors of the project are Sam Eide and Martin Andersen. Where else, besides Norway, do they think about what equality means and when the sun is enough for everyone?

To get even more Norwegian spirit, take a look the most interesting sights of Norway in the painted photos from 100 years ago.

And a bonus! The cutest Norwegian mail ad and possibly the most Norwegian declaration of love.