Norway has a slow-paced kind of lifestyle — much like Hawaii, but with a climate that’s more akin to here. It’s cold and mountainous, the Norwegians love coffee and flock outside when the sun comes out.
Members of the local Sons of Norway chapter talked about their heritage Thursday evening at Cascade Furniture. It was part of a promotion for a line of Norwegian-made chairs that the store began carrying.
Many Norwegians are known for their craftsmanship and being woodworkers, said Ole Olson, president of the organization.
“My father was a carpenter,” he said.
Scandinavians are also known for their minimalist home-decorating style, which the Swedish-based Ikea capitalizes upon.
Many members of the Vancouver Sons of Norway are interested in keeping up with tradition and learning their genealogy. Olson has roots that trace back to the 1330s in southern Norway, he said. He spent three weeks there with his children over the summer at a family farm in Buskerud.
While there, they visited the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway, to see authentic ships and Viking helmets, which, by the way, don’t actually have horns. The Sons of Norway has a model replica ship its brings out to community events, and it was on display in the store’s parking lot on Thursday.
“Vikings were real and real mean,” said Ken Johansen. They would raid towns and pillage whatever they wanted, or take over the town itself.
These days, Norway has a higher standard of living. It’s pretty expensive to live there, Johansen said. With several fjords along the coastline, long and narrow inlets of the sea bordered by cliffs, people have to take ferries or toll bridges to get around.
Many Norwegians who come to the United States flock to the Pacific Northwest, particularly Seattle and the Puget Sound area. It’s said that Icelandic explorer Leif Erickson was the first European to land in North America, hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus. So, the local Sons of Norway celebrate his birthday on Oct. 9, rather than Columbus Day.
