Sons of Norway celebrates the season

VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – A local Sons of Norway lodge recently capped off its year of gatherings with a Nordic Christmas celebration.
Oslo Lodge No. 438, the chapter that meets at the Fayetteville Senior Center, belongs to the third district of the fraternal benefit organization which strives to preserve Norwegian culture. The lodge is assigned to Zone 4, which incorporates New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The local lodge, which now has about 50 members but is always looking for more to join, was chartered in 1949. It remained active through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, but its presence dwindled until it was resurrected in 2005 by then president Karin McCadam, who has since taken over that role once again.
Coming up on its 75th anniversary, Oslo Lodge No. 438 has, like the rest of the Sons of Norway lodges in the United States, Canada and Norway, a side that celebrates the culture of Nordic countries as well as a financial support side that provides insurance services.
Its meetings are typically held the second Saturday of each month in Parnell Hall at the senior center located at 584 E. Genesee St., but that’s subject to rescheduling if another event is taking place at the facility.
The meetings typically start at noon with Norwegian language lessons given by fluent native speakers in attendance.
The lodge members then briefly go into matters of business before talking about a variety of cultural topics over the course of a couple of hours.
Membership is open to anybody with an interest, not only those with Scandinavian heritage, and people can also stop by the meetings without officially joining. A small donation is requested to cover the cost of refreshments.
The lodge’s Dec. 9 gathering largely revolved around its annual celebration of Juletrefest, a traditional Christmas tree festival.
That holiday observance brought in over two dozen members and friends of the lodge and was preceded by a Nordic bazaar, also called a Viking butikk.
For that mini market there were various items for sale on the tables, including Scandinavian ornaments, authentic Norwegian wool sweaters, decorative folk paintings known as rosemaling, notecards and prints by local artist Milton Franson, and baked goods courtesy of McCadam.
At noon, coffee could be enjoyed with savory and sweet bites like fruit, cookies and canapés. That was followed by the sharing of recipes, the practicing of Norwegian greetings, and lessons about Christmas customs in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
At 1 p.m., there were Norwegian carols to be sung, and later on there was a gift exchange and a surprise visit from the Santa Claus equivalent Julenissen, who passed out wrapped toys in the children’s corner around 2:30.
Partway through the seasonal celebration, there was an observance of Sankta Lucia, or the feast day for the Roman Christian martyr St. Lucy that falls on Dec. 13 every year.
The program included participation of local children in the procession believed to date back to the Viking age that sees the eldest daughter in a family dress in a white gown and wear a crown of candles as she hands out sweet rolls and coffee. Typically, the girls involved in the procession awake early in the morning and are thought to illuminate the darkness of the longest winter night.
St. Lucy lived in Syracuse, Sicily, and was blinded after providing sustenance to the poor. She’s now recognized as the patron saint of those with visual impairments.
At the local Sons of Norway celebration on Dec. 9, the children donned electric candles and roamed the hall passing out treats as music played.
James Mostrom, a past president of Olso Lodge No. 438 who is now its secretary and newsletter editor, said houses are decorated with greenery and straw goats in time for Christmas Day in Norway, and either sour cream porridge called rømmegrøt or a fluffy rice pudding called riskrem is set out for Julenissen.
The local lodge usually takes breaks from organized meetings in January and during the summer months, though members will picnic together in June or July and they’ll usually have a booth set up at the Central New York Scottish Games & Celtic Festival that takes place in Long Branch Park in August. According to Mostrom, they have been accepted at those festivities because many Scottish and Irish clans originated with Viking chieftains that settled in those countries.
When the group members come back in February, they usually tie their meeting in with the Super Bowl by having everybody bring in soups and bread for a judging contest.
In March, they show movies associated with Nordic history and themes, such as the disaster film “The Wave” wherein a mountain pass collapses into a fjord and creates a tidal wave, or 2022’s “Narvik,” which is about a series of naval and land battles in parts of Norway during World War II.
For the May meetings, the members dress up for a parade to recognize Norwegian Constitution Day, or Syttende mai, on May 17, marking the anniversary of the document’s signing.
Upon returning in September, the lodge members will often host an ice cream social, and other times they’ll dine at restaurants, present travelogue slideshows, or host scholarship luncheons for students going to college.
The Sons of Norway was founded as a supportive cultural society in 1895 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In Mostrom’s case, his family on his father’s side came from Western Norway, and he’s always had an interest in his ancestry.
A Sons of Norway member for the past 18 years, Mostrom said he’s enjoyed congregating with friends who have common interests in all things Scandinavian.
He added that Norway and other Nordic countries tend to place at or near the top of happiness index rankings year to year. He also recommended visiting Norway in the summer when it’s the Land of the Midnight Sun, unless it’s preferred to see the aurora borealis in the middle of winter.
“It has spectacular, rugged, mountainous scenery,” Mostrom said. “Scandinavian people tend to be very friendly and open too, and they’re very much outdoors people who like to get out into the fresh air.”
Having visited Norway on a pair of occasions in his life, Mostrom said he would go back again “at the drop of a hat.”