From Oz to Oslo

An Introduction to Norwegian Wedding Traditions

I first began writing a blog post about wedding traditions in Norway back in May 2010, shortly before I attended my first Norwegian wedding. I researched so much about bachelor and bachelorette parties, traditions, statistics and such that I ended up overwhelming myself with the details and never finished writing the blog post. Now that I'm planning my own wedding (yes, wedding planning is why I've been too busy to blog for the last 10 months ), I find myself looking again at Norwegian wedding customs and was excited again to write on this theme. To make the process easier I thought I might divide this topic into a series of blog posts, looking at a new aspect of weddings each time. So, here we go! (Pictured: Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit on their wedding day in 2001.)

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Like many cities, Norway’s capital Oslo is divided by a river. Running north to south, Akerselva (“elv” meaning river and “Aker” referring to the name of the area) forces an east and west bank through the city, before flowing out into the Oslo Fjord. And like many cities, the river divides more than just soil and property. Having heard much about "west-side people" and "east-side people" since arriving in Oslo, I thought it was high time I found out what all the geographical fuss is about...

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I must begin with an apology for the long absence from my blog. Around mid-year, I moved into a new apartment (which required much setting up) and I began a new job (which required much overtime during transition). I hope you haven’t suffered too much without me. Now that things have calmed down and the Christmas holidays are upon us, I find myself with a few spare hours to blog my little heart out – and what better a topic for this time of year than an obscure Christmas tradition here in Norway.

I speak of an old short film entitled Grevinnen og Hovmesteren ('The Duchess and the Butler'), which screens in Norway every December 23rd as part of the NRK1 channel’s 'Lillejuleaften' ('Little Christmas Eve', essentially Christmas Eve Eve) variety show. It's such a cultural fixture that it is referenced, along with many other Norwegian Christmas traditions, in the national railways' Christmas commercial.

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Interested in seeing the experiences of foreigners trying out life in Norway? Local television channel TV Norge is airing a reality series entitled Alt for Norge (All for Norway) which follows 10 Americans of Norwegian descent as they strive to prove who among them can become the most Norwegian, and compete to win the opportunity to meet their long-lost relatives.

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For two weeks in February, Olympic fever warmed up the chilly winter in Norway, as anxious Norwegians sat glued to their television sets, cheering on their sporting heroes in Vancouver. As you can imagine for a country that is buried under snow almost half the year, Norway is nigh-on obsessed with the Winter Games - as well as being highly talented at them. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal proclaimed that Norway had not received the global snaps deserved for its Winter Olympic triumphs, so as an adopted Norwegian I feel it is my sworn duty to draw the world's (or at least the blogosphere's) attention to our snowy achievements.

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