The Scandinavian Community in Albuquerque

Overview and Brief History:
Scandinavia is a term that refers to a group of countries located in Northern Europe. The term Scandinavia comes from the Skanderna mountain range that straddles Sweden and Norway. In its strictest definition Scandinavia refers only to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, all three of which share a common language family. Geographically, however, the northernmost part of Finland is located on the Scandinavian Peninsula (Denmark is not) and so this country is typically included. Recently, the term has been used interchangeably with Nordic, referring to the lands once held by the Norsemen. In this, the broadest definition of the term, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland are considered Scandinavian countries. The 2000 census lists 9,197 Norwegians, 8, 682 of Swedish descent, and 3,810 Danes in Albuquerque.

Immigration to the United States and Albuquerque:
There is evidence to show that Vikings reached Northeastern Canada in the tenth century AD, five hundred years before Christopher Columbus. Their descendants followed suit centuries later when two and a half million Scandinavians immigrated to North America during the hundred year period between 1830 and1930. That is roughly one third of the combined population of the five countries at that time. The number of immigrants who left Norway for America is second only to Ireland.

Most Scandinavian immigrants came to the United States because of overpopulation, which forced fisherman inland and caused a lack of good and available farmland. Inheritance traditions gave farms to the eldest son, leaving younger sons to seek their own land, force the division of the larger family farm, or to relocate to urban centers to learn a trade. When immigration to North America became a possibility, many Scandinavians saw the opportunity for prosperous farming and a return to fishing in the new country. Scandinavian immigrants took advantage of the American Homestead Act of 1862, which gave settlers 160 acres of public land for no more than a filing fee and a five-year commitment to the land. They established numerous settlements in the northern Midwest, many of which grew up alongside railroads. While farming was the primary draw, Scandinavians also came to work as miners, on the railroad, and in the lumber industry.

Norwegians settled primarily in Minnesota and Wisconsin and, along with the farmers, came many immigrants from cities who brought with them skills as engineers, architects, and carpenters. Swedish immigrants came to Minnesota (called the “Swede State of America”), Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington State. Danes settled in Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and California. While other Scandinavian communities tended toward in-marriage, Danes intermarried with other immigrant communities and thus lost cohesion as a culture more quickly.

At the turn of the twentieth century, many Finns fleeing Russian oppression immigrated to America. During the Second World War 1939-44, many Finnish-Americans actually went back to Finland to help fight the war against Germany. Finns immigrated to the northern parts of Michigan and Minnesota and Finnish fishermen settled in Oregon and Washington. Astoria, Oregon became known as the Finn Town.

Finns were the least likely to farm, and came instead to copper and iron mines, to fish, and to the railroads. Finns also fled Finland during and after Russian attacks from 1939-1944, when Finland became a Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire. There is less information about Icelandic immigrants, simply because there are fewer of them. Icelanders also came to North America to escape overpopulation, as well as to escape difficult living conditions brought on by the harsh climate. They settled primarily in Canada, but did settle small communities in the U.S. such as Spanish Fork, Utah, established in the 1850’s.

Most Scandinavians in Albuquerque are second, third, and fourth generation descendants of earlier immigrants who settled in the Midwest. Many miners left the heavy metal mines of Illinois and Michigan because activity there had slowed, because of fighting between unions and mining bosses, and because of the physical dangers. New Mexico’s potash mining was seen as being much less dangerous. The climate in New Mexico also drew a large number of people to the area to recover from tuberculosis. More recent arrivals to Albuquerque have come as members of the military, or as students at UNM, and have stayed. Some have come for employment at Sandia Labs; others, to retire in the warm, dry climate.

Language and Cultural Traditions:
While certain words and phrases are commonly used to keep cultural traditions alive, language fluency is quite rare among Scandinavians in Albuquerque. Many who know the languages did not formally attempt to teach them to their children, although some in these younger generations were sent or went of their own accord to school, or to spend a few years in their native countries, and learned the language in that way.

One exception to the loss of language is the Finnish community. Many third generation Finns still speak the language fluently. While other Scandinavian languages are Germanic, Finnish is not. Finns were set apart. They had a desire to remain “pure.” Language came to be seen as a marker of this purity. Finns in Albuquerque get together regularly to do work with their hands while, at the same time, conversing in their language.

During the time of Summerfest, the Scandinavian community would use some of the proceeds to send a child or two to language camp over the summer. For now, no Scandinavian language classes are being offered in Albuquerque. At one time, however, the Scandinavian Club did offer informal Swedish language classes taught by a native speaker.

Food traditions are strongly upheld by the Scandinavian community in Albuquerque. Strong coffee and sweets are offered to guests. Many food traditions are shared among Scandinavian countries with some regional differences - Norwegians serve lutefisk, a white fish cured in lye, with butter, while Swedes have it with cream sauce to which they add dried mustard. Norwegians put butter on lefse while Swedes put sugar, and sometimes butter, on it.

There are many traditional foods that are prepared around the Christmas season. Both Swedish and Norwegian Christmas cookies, or spritz, as well as specific sweets such as krumkake and rosettes are typical of them. Many of these sweets require special cooking irons, which several members of this community said that they possess. Other Scandinavian Christmas foods that have been brought to Albuquerque include glug, a drink made of brandy, wine, cardamom, orange peel, and allspice that is consumed at Christmastime, herring, pickled beets, lutefisk, caraway cheese, which is called bondost and silte, which is pressed pork and veal and takes hours to make.

Albuquerque Scandinavians often gather together to make sweets for special occasions such as Julfest (the Scandinavian Christmas celebration), Summerfest, and the yearly art sale of the local rosmaling group. Some occasionally get together and bake things for the state fair and have even won some ribbons. One dauntingly difficult to prepare delicacy occasionally made in Albuquerque is the kransekake. This multi-layered ring cake is the national cake of Norway and is prepared for special occasions such as weddings, confirmation, and national holidays.

One traditional Scandinavian food commonly found in Albuquerque is lefsa. Lefsa is made from potatoes and flour. It is rolled out paper thin and fried on a griddle. The flat cake is then rolled up, and is usually eaten with butter. Here in the southwest, they are jokingly described as “tortillas made from potatoes.”

Several key ingredients in Scandinavian cuisine are inaccessible in Albuquerque and local cooks have had to make substitutions with what is available. Some ingredients, however, can be found here. The Bavarian Sausage House, which has since gone out of business, used to carry Swedish potato sausage during the Christmas season, as well as lutefisk, fresh lingonberries, and pickled herring made from scratch in big barrels. Sausages can be also be found at the Alpine Sausage Kitchen, and some kinds of Swedish hard bread, such as knäckbröd are available at Cost Plus.

Scandinavian folklore also finds its way into life in Albuquerque. Trolls are scary creatures who, in Scandinavian countries, live in the forests. Stories of trolls stealing children and replacing them with their own troll children serve to curb children’s behavior. Nisse are young gnome like creatures. or tomte, who live in barns and forests. In Scandinavia, nisse live on the family farm and, if there is a good relationship between the nisse and his farm’s human family, even works to make the farm a prosperous one. The family leaves a plate of milk or food each night to assure the nisse’s satisfaction. If, however, there is a negative relationship, an unkempt farmhouse, or a drunken farmer, the nisse lends no help, play tricks, and may even administer a warning box on the ear. In Albuquerque, Christmas, or Julfest, is the time when nisse emerge. Food is left out on Christmas Eve to appease the nisse and bring good fortune for the following year.

There is another mischievous being called Tomtegubbe. Tomtegubbe is an old tomte, as opposed to Nisse, who is a young one. They both help the Scandinavian equivalent of Santa Claus known as Jultomte. Often a relative will dress up and come to the door as Jultomte to ask the children if they have been good for the year. Jultomte has presents for the children who have been good, and if there is doubt, he may ask the child to pay some penalty, such as to sing a song, before any gifts are given. At the Albuquerque Julfest celebration held by the Scandinavian Club, Tomtegubbe appears and asks everyone to dance. Troll and nisse dolls, often handmade and with handmade and embroidered costumes, are present in some Albuquerque homes.

Artistic Traditions:
Many Scandinavian visual and performing arts can be found in Albuquerque. One of them, rosmaling is a form of Norwegian painting that has seen a resurgence in popularity in Norway since WWII, due to interest in the art here in the U.S. Maling means painting, and rosmaling translates as flower, or rose, painting. The flowers are stylized, fantastic, and not realistic. The style consists of single brush strokes for each line, not one on top of another, often with one of several finishes as background.

Rosmaling started as an occupation in the early 1700’s. Winters were long and dark in Norway; rosmalers would trade room and board for painting the inside of a person’s home. This would often take the entire season. They would paint walls, furniture, tools, and dishes. The symbols were large and the colors were bright. This would cheer up the winter, and also camouflage the soot around the edges of the unvented rooms. Rosmaling often included words such as bible verses or proverbs, which served as moral reminders. Rosmaling was functional in terms of light and mood, and also instructional.

With the passage of time and the advent of the fireplace rosmaling went from being a profession to being a folk art. Rosmaling reached its peak during the 1850’s, and died out significantly during the Great Depression, when people could no longer afford it. Rosmaling did not come back to popularity until after WWII when Per Lysne, a Norwegian-American rosmaler, decided to try to sell some of his work to earn extra cash. Interest in the art form developed in the US and then, in turn, rekindled an interest in Norway. In Norway, primarily men did rosmaling, whereas in the US it has been taken up by women. Per Lysne’s grandson lives in New Mexico.

There have been several rosmaling classes offered in Albuquerque, both master classes taught by visiting artists, and academic classes taught at local community colleges. Albuquerque’s rosmaling group also does a form of Swedish painting called Dalamaling. This began as, but is not limited to today, the painting of wooden figures, and was named after the Dala Horse, a toy horse that originated during wartime. This rosmaling group meets once a week to paint and holds an annual art show and sale.

Music and dance were important forms of entertainment and community interaction for Scandinavians in their home countries and in America. Albuquerque has had Scandinavian fiddle groups, and currently has a Scandinavian musical group called Muggy’s Uff da Band or, more commonly, Uff da Band (Uff da is an expression which means Oops! or, Oh, no. It is also used to mean, Whew! as in relief).

Muggy’s Uff da Band

The group plays primarily Scandinavian immigrant music. The instruments they use are both traditional, such as the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, and the Swedish Nyckelharpa, and instruments that immigrants began using after arrival in America, such as the banjo and the accordion. Scandinavian music is generally played on stringed instruments, and the band also includes a string bass and a guitar.

The Hardanger fiddle, or Hardingfele, dates back the mid-seventeenth century, and is named for a fjord in Norway. It is a member of the violin family and looks like an ornate violin; but has a very different sound quality. This is because the Hardanger fiddle has a second set of four or five sympathetic strings that run beneath the fingerboard of the instrument. These strings are not bowed. Rather, they are tuned to harmonically resonate in sympathetic vibration to the notes being bowed above them. Their resonance gives the Hardanger fiddle its distinctive ethereal sound. Hardanger fiddles are typically highly decorated with mother of pearl, bone, and pen and ink drawings.

The Nyckelharpa is another bowed Scandinavian stringed instrument. However, instead of fretting the strings with one’s fingers, melodies are produced by rows of keys that are set at right angels to the strings. When the keys are pushed the pitch changes. There are three strings that are played, one drone string, and several sympathetic strings. The Nyckelharpa comes from a small area in Sweden, Medelpad, although it is possible that the instrument has German roots. There are very few Nyckelharpor (the plural) in the United States, but fortunately for us, two of them are in Albuquerque.

Most Scandinavian music is played to accompany dancing and this is also the case for Albuquerque’s Uff da Band. Their repertoire includes waltzes, polkas, Swedish schottisches, (which are in 4/4 time), Reinlenders, (which are the Norwegian equivalent of the Schottische), and hambos, (which accompany what is considered by many to be the Swedish national dance). Members of the Uff da Band wear traditional outfits when they play and they perform at various festivals around the southwest.

Albuquerque is also home to a Scandinavian folk dance troupe. This group performs three kinds of folk dances. The first group are called gammaldans (the Swedish word for old-time dancing). Gammaldans are what we might call the ballroom dances of Scandinavia. They are couple dances and can be either waltzes, schottisches, hambos, snoas, or polkas. These old style dances are not considered to be tied to any particular region.

The next style of dance is performance, or set, dancing. These are sixteen measure dances and are typically performed for an audience. Dances that fit into this genre are the Norwegian Klappdans, Pariser Polkas (which is not really a polka), Sexmansrils, or Six Man’s Circle Dance, and the Quadrille.

The third type of dances done by the group are called Bygdedans. These are the old traditional and regional dances. Dances in this family include springar, gangar, springleik, springdans, rudl/rull, pols, and halling in Norway, along with the polska and its many variants in Sweden. Bygdedans(es) are primarily danced to fiddle/violin or Hardanger fiddle, depending on the tradition of the area.

The Albuquerque dancers have learned many of these dances by attending workshops in California and Colorado, the East Coast, and even Sweden, as well as learning from videos purchased at these workshops. A Scandinavian dance troupe was once brought from Medelpad, Sweden to perform at Summerfest.

Traditional fiber arts popular among many Scandinavians are also popular in Albuquerque. Embroidery is used in the creation of bunads, the traditional outfit of Norway. Early bunads were varied in pattern, and worn every day. Modern bunads are worn on festive occasions and have distinct styles which are tied to specific regions. Bunads are made of wool, and are very heavy. They can be purchased complete, but some Albuquerque residents have had them custom made, or have even made them themselves. Because of the fine detail in the embroidery, a bunad takes from two the three years to complete. Some bunads have both embroidery and beadwork. A hat or purse often accompanies the bunad. Each region also has its own jewelry. The jewelry is used to ward off evil, and the older the jewelry, the more potent the energy. Silver is used to ward off trolls. Along with embroidery, the crocheting or knitting of tablecloths, doilies, sweaters, and bedspreads are also common in this community.

Another traditional Scandinavian craft represented in Alburquerque is woodcarving. The Rio Grande Woodcarvers Club offers classes in Scandinavian woodcarving. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Scandinavian club in 2003, the Club held a woodcarving contest and brought in a judge from Minnesota. There was also a Scandinavian art contest some years ago to celebrate the second millennium anniversary of the Vikings landing in North America. And, finally, there is one notable example of Scandinavian architecture in Albuquerque. The Whittlesey House, which is home of the Albuquerque Press Club, was built by an architect who trained in Norway. It is a wood framed, log house modeled on a Scandinavian hunting lodge

Annual Events and Celebrations:
For many years, Albuquerque’s Scandinavian community used Summerfest as their celebration of the Summer Solstice. The community would gather together to make the maypole, which is at the center of the celebration (this is primarily a Swedish tradition). They would spend the month beforehand preparing and freezing the sweets that were sold. Once, in the 1980’s, the Albuquerque group got together with the Santa Fe group and held a large Midsummerfest at an outside venue in La Cienega.

The Midsummerfest, celebrating fertile land and bountiful harvest, and Jul (Finns call it Joulu), the festival that coincides with Christmas and celebrates the return of the sun, are the two biggest events of the Scandinavian year. The December 13th feast day of Santa Lucia, whose name means light, marks the beginning of the Jul season. Although Lucia is a Sicilian saint, Norwegians, Danes, and especially Swedes celebrate her feast day. Traditionally, the eldest daughter dresses in white, and wears a wreath of candles and lingonberries on her head. She brings saffron buns and coffee to the rest of the household. The modern Santa Lucia celebration has become more public, with candlelight parades and caroling. There are no community events held specifically for the celebration of Santa Lucia as of this writing, but some individual families celebrate the day within their own homes, and also by caroling. A dance in her honor has been performed by the children’s dance troupe at the annual Julfest. This event, which is sponsored by the Scandinavian Club, has become a mixture of traditional Jul season foods and practices and things associated with the American version of Christmas. Traditional music and dancing, coffee and sweets, and the arrival of the Jultomte with his bag of gifts mark this celebration.

Finns have another way of celebrating Joulu. Traditionally, Finns spend a good part of Christmas Eve out in the sauna. They do not eat, or speak loudly, in the sauna. It is seen as a time for meditation. In Finland during the break in between sauna rounds, it’s traditional to take a dip in the avanto, the hole-in-the-ice swimming pool. The avanto break tradition is not practiced in Albuquerque for obvious climatic reasons.

Another day of celebration for members of the Norwegian community is May 17th, the day Norway gained independence from Sweden. At one time, during the 1980’s, Norway’s flag flew on this day over Albuquerque’s city hall. It was the practice of the then mayor to honor the independence days of countries that had adopted the style of the US constitution in this way. This is no longer the practice and, as of this writing, there are no public celebrations of this holiday.

Other events include an annual “soup social,” also sponsored by the Scandinavia Club, and the annual art show and sale held by the Rosmaling group. Other Scandinavian arts and crafts are often represented at this yearly show, as well. A giant Dala Horse, wooden and painted a bright, orange-red, was made by a member of the community in the 80’s and is still used in some of these annual celebrations.

Conclusions:
While the Scandinavian community in Albuquerque is still a strong and vibrant one, many of its members remember a time, which had its peak in the 1980’s, when the culture was truly flourishing. There are several reasons that were cited for waning enthusiasm and participation. The group that was at the heart of the community then has aged, and some members are no longer able to participate as fully, or at all. The greater culture has changed, people don’t feel they have the time they once did to pull together and participate in so many community events. And, the city of Albuquerque itself, which was at one time seen as a willing partner in the drive to keep the culture alive, has pulled back much of its support. It is no longer simple, or even possible, to get publicity for cultural events. Then there is the discontinued practice of Independence Day flag raising. And, the loss felt most deeply by the Scandinavian community, the loss of Summerfest.

All of the traditional arts and crafts that are still alive in Albuquerque: embroidery, woodcarving, Rosmaling, dancing, music, etc. Summerfest helped to generate the spirit or the feeling or the motivation to continue learning those things, and to be able to pass them on. It was a way to bring new members in to the community, and to share the culture with the other cultures with which they share this city. It gave members something to work towards, and they always rose to the challenge. When asked what the city could do to help them to maintain their artistic and cultural traditions, every member asked replied, bring back Summerfest.

The Scandinavian Club, founded in 1973, meets once a month. The Scandinavian Club can be reached at by email at: president@scandinavianclubofabq.org or through their Website.