Recently I succumbed to the lure of Ancestry.com and gave them up fifty bucks or so to find out what they knew about my origins.
I expected it would be heavily English or Scottish.
I was surprised to find it was 75% Norwegian!
Now I knew my mother's family was pure Norwegian, having come over from the old country only a few generations back but to learn that I was three-quarters Norsk took me back.
So today I wish you fellow Scandinavians a Happy Saami People's Day.
The Saami or Sami People are the indigenous folk who originate in the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
And February 6th is celebrated as the official day although it is not recognized as a national holiday.
But reindeer races take place and attention is paid to the cultural heritage of hunting and fishing, and recognition of the crafts.
The Sami Flag is flown proudly alongside the Norwegian Flag on this day.
So here's the closest I get to the Sami Flag.
Of course, you know May 17th is Norway's Independence Day from Sweden. Petersberg, Alaska, has a wild celebration that day, complete with Vikings kidnapping women.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting. I've been wanting to do that for a long time. I've been told my linage is German mostly but it would be great to see for sure.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the other 25%? I took a year of Norwegian in college and I enjoyed it. We even went to a festival for den syttende mai (17 May) which is their Constitution Day. It was in Ballard, a heavily Norwegian area of Seattle, and there was much dancing and yummy food. And traditional garb! Bare bra.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, 18% England and Northwestern Europe, 7 percent Scotland. And May 17th also was the birthday of my favorite uncle. And I've said ever since I met her that I can easily remember my wife's birthday because it's 5 days before Norwegian Independence Day!
ReplyDeleteThere are always some surprises in DNA, it seems. Many mysteries! I'm hoping that your readers don't think I wrote my last two words in English because they wouldn't make any sense. "Bare bra" means very good in Norwegian, as you probably already know. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting surprise. I did 23@Me a while back and just had confirmed what I already knew...99.9% Ashkenazi.
ReplyDeleteThe Sami flag has a good design.
ReplyDeleteNo Neanderthal in your DNA? I'm sure there's a couple percent or so in mine.
Reindeer meat it great. I've had it.
ReplyDeleteHow about that! Those DNA tests are cool. Were they able to pinpoint your ancestral home in Norway, or communities of similarly genotyped people here in the USA? Sometimes they can go into great detail about such things.
ReplyDeleteLutefisk? How do you feel about lutefisk?
ReplyDeleteWilliam - Not that I know of but it could be way back before the Vikings.
ReplyDeleteRed - Tastes just like chicken, right?
Steve - Yes to both of your questions.
Debby - Lutefisk? Fish brined in lye? I skipped on that, the smell was more than enough. Thank goodness those church suppers always had Swedish meatballs too.