The world of the 11th century was bound together less by nations and more by people — by families, whose loyalties crossed seas, by dynasties with roots in several lands at once. A Scandinavian noble ...

The future of Vebjørn Sand's acclaimed Roseslottet art installation in Oslo is uncertain after a rejected permit. This open-air gallery honoring WWII resistance is a democratic monument, but faces ...

The look on the lady’s face said it all as she grabbed at the Thor’s hammer dangling from my necklace. “Skinheads wear these,” she snarled. “Racists and Nazis!” “I do Viking reenactment,” I explained, ...

Though Norwegian Americans practically define who they are through the eating of lutefisk during the Christmas season, I have found to my surprise that the vast majority of Norwegian Americans know ...

Today is Friday the 13th, a day for bad luck and fear. Does anyone know why? According to folklorists, there is no evidence for the superstition of an unlucky Friday the 13th before the 19th century.

Midtsommer is approaching—that magical evening—and it’s time to beware for all kinds of spirits, especially the alluring water sprite, the Nøkk (nynorsk Nykk) in Norway, otherwise known as the Nix or ...

Mindekirken pastor Gunnar Kristiansen retires, leaving a legacy of music-filled ministry, Norwegian-American leadership, and ...

In medieval literature prior to Christianity, supernatural powers were an accepted fact. The practice of magic, changing shapes, flying, and spells to control the elements and conjure up the dead were ...

After helping me with the solution to the “Great Lutefisk Mystery,” Kari-Anne Pedersen of the Norsk Folkemuseum suggested that I might be interested in the “Norwegian Porridge Feud” of the 19th ...

There are about half a million sheep in Iceland but only around 360,000 people. The sheep are bred almost exclusively for the meat and the wool. They are usually shorn twice a year, in spring and fall ...

A few months after turning 15, Edvard Grieg began his music studies at the famous Leipzig Conservatory in Germany. What did he learn there? What did he experience? Before enrolling at the conservatory ...

Spring is officially here with the rhubarb harvest. I’ve been a rhubarb enthusiast since I was a kid, and my love for the vegetable grows stronger by the year. Rhubarb was the first thing I planted ...