News
Sep
13
Ski for Light
FEB. 2, 2025 (a Sunday) was the start of this year’s Ski for Light week. Participants met at the Calgary airport to take a bus to Canmore. Lodge members helped participants find the airport room where they were able to store their luggage, have lunch, and meet old friends and new. Thanks go to the airport for supplying a room which was a good size, had kitchen amenities, and was convenient to the bus.
Please consider Ski for Light in your charitable giving. https://skiforlight.ca
Great Viking Survey
The University of Oslo has recently launched the Great Viking Survey, a wide-ranging study to explore how people across the world perceive and engage with the vikings as history and heritage, and to map the many ways in which contemporary media and academia shape these views. This online survey invites anyone, anywhere, over 18, to share their thoughts on the iconic viking warrior figure, as well as the enduring legacy and memory of the vikings in the modern world. In doing so, researchers will be able to shine an unprecedented light on the means and mechanisms that allow images and myths of the vikings to be shaped and spread in the public sphere.
The survey is part of the Making a Warrior-project, a pan-Nordic network of scholars examining the concept of viking ‘warriorhood’ and its representations past and present. By determining how ideas and images of vikings are shared among different communities and demographics, the project is able inform future outreach and cultural heritage initiatives that respond to public interest, while fostering a nuanced appreciation of the Viking Age.
The Great Viking Survey is now live at vikingsurvey.org, and remains open until mid-May 2025.
The associated press release from the University of Oslo can be found here.
Trollhaugen Camp
Volunteers needed for Trollhaugen casino in Edmonton Feb. 4-5. If you can help, please contact Arden Neustaedter, arden.neustaedter@gmail.com.
For camp information check out the website trollhaugenalberta.com and this Trollhaugen Brochure
Located at Deer Valley Meadows near Alix, Alberta, this family camp provides a week of Norwegian language, history, crafts and culture for all ages. Camp dates in 2025 are August 10-16, theme Norsk Mythology.
“Things Norsk”
Link to interesting articles about crafts, culture, genealogy, history, humour, news, and travel. If you would like to add to this collection, send your input to president@sofncalgary.ca or secretary@sofncalgary.ca
Newsletters
For Valhalla lodge information please check our various website pages, especially Meetings, Events.
Fabulous Fourth Footnotes (FFF), the newsletter for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana and North Dakota, is available here and at www.sofn-district4.com.
Laft Hus is a Norwegian museum and culture centre in Red Deer. Trollhaugen is the yearly week-long Norwegian cultural camp. Both Laft Hus and Trollhaugen distribute their newsletters to paid-up members.
If you would like to subscribe to Norge Nå, from the Norwegian embassy in Washington, please add your contact information to their Google Form.
Congratulations to Karen Larson of Red Deer, our new Zone 4 representative.