Holidazzle Market

[Didier]

Despite our proud Nordic roots, our local celebration of Scandinavian culture feels pretty limited. The focus seems to be more on old lady traditions — lefse, dala horses — and not much on the progressive, modern Sweden and Norway, unless you count Ikea and H&M. The only place I can really think of is the American Swedish Institute, which is awesome but also kind of cheating. Apparently the Bachelor Farmer is Scandinavian influenced, but it's not an obvious connection and I don't think it's really advertised. What else is there? Moods of Norway opened in the Mall of America, though, so I guess there's that.

I'm also slightly surprised we don't have a Midsummer festival that's geared toward younger people. You'd think finding enough blonde-haired, blue-eyed 20-somethings to populate a block party on a summer Friday night in Uptown would be easy.

I'm also pretty sure we don't have any sort of local Canada Day celebration, but that's for another day.

[LakeCharles]

Apparently the Bachelor Farmer is Scandinavian influenced, but it's not an obvious connection and I don't think it's really advertised.

The one sentence description if you google Bachelor Farmer is "The Bachelor Farmer serves fresh and simple food that honors Minnesota's Nordic heritage." They also have a few Scandinavian clothing lines in Askov Finlayson, which is named after two MN towns, one Danish and one Finnish. So i'd say that place is pretty Scandinavian and proud of it.

[Silophant]

Stopped in after work. They took the opportunity while they were closed yesterday to move some of the stalls around, which should alleviate the worst of the chokepoint problems.

[Moderato]

Didier,
The midsummer festival takes place annually at Minnehaha Falls:
www.sveskarnasdag.com
There's Ingebretsen's, the forthcoming Norwegian American center, our Vikings NFL team, Gustavus Adolphus and St. Olaf Colleges and all of the Scandinavian traditions there, Garrison Keillor/Lake Wobegone, the abundant Lutheran churches and Luther Seminary itself, the Hjemkomst Interpretive Center in Moorhead, etc. For me growing up there seemed to be so much Swedish/Scandihoovian stuff in Mpls and MN I hardly knew what else there was! I'm not saying that the theme couldn't be successfully exploited at the holiday market, only arguing that there is quite a lot already.

[nickmgray]

I've heard great thing about the holiday market from a few people who have gone. The wife and I are planning to take our kids the week of Christmas, so we'll report back then and share any pictures we take while there.

This isn't directed specifically at the holiday market, but I wish Minneapolis would plaster the mall with 10 million lights and put on a light show. That's something that would get people to come downtown. When I lived in Rome, we would always go out of our way to drive or walk through different neighborhood because they all competed for the best light displays.

[Didier]

I guess my logic in regards to the Bachelor Farmer is totally random. To be sure, I wasn't trying to bash the restaurant at all; I actually really like it. I guess my qualm was just that "Minnesota's Nordic heritage" is kind of generic and doesn't even necessarily mean Scandinavian. In practice, though, the Bachelor Farmer is pretty much the epitome of what I said I'd like to see more of. I guess I'd just like the connection to be a little more direct.

To Moderato, though, my point was more about contemporary Scandinavian culture, which I don't think is represented in most of the places you mentioned.

Also, that link is broken, and nothing comes up when I search for the name. I do know that there are Midsummer celebrations here, but again the ones I saw all looked like heritage festivals where you eat lefse and buy crafts made by old Lutheran women. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just that not that many people in Norway regularly eat lefse, and that's not really what I'd envision doing if I celebrated Midsummer in Sweden. I'd be interested to find out that I'm wrong about the local celebration, though.

Also, I'm fully aware that Minnesota has many broad cultural similarities to Scandinavia, and also that most people could care less if a local restaurant advertises as "Scandinavian," so I'm really just kind of typing for my own interest.

[LakeCharles]

I agree that we don't necessarily celebrate modern Scandinavia much, but I'd say that is pretty common. A lot of people have ties to Scandinavia, but through their great-grandparents, so their culture is tied to Scandinavia as it was 100 years ago. We do not have many ties to modern Scandinavia. This is also true of other cities and their cultural ties. Milwaukee celebrates a particular idea of "Germany" that doesn't really exist anymore, same with Chicago and Poland, New York and Italy, or whatever combo you want.

Btw, the definition of Nordic: of or relating to Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. I guess if your objection is that we shouldn't be including Finn's I get you, otherwise it seems like really splitting hairs to prefer "Scandinavian" over it's synonym "Nordic."

[Didier]

I prefer to leave the Finns in Thunder Bay.

[mattaudio]

Plus, Finland isn't technically Scandanavian, right? Nordic / norsk, yes. Scandanavian, no. Same goes for Iceland IIRC.

[LakeCharles]

Yes, that's exactly the difference, but it seems like a strange thing to object to. Didier wants to celebrate ties to modern Scandinavian, but if anyone also celebrates Finland while doing so it''s too confusing?

[sdho]

I agree that we don't necessarily celebrate modern Scandinavia much, but I'd say that is pretty common. A lot of people have ties to Scandinavia, but through their great-grandparents, so their culture is tied to Scandinavia as it was 100 years ago. We do not have many ties to modern Scandinavia. This is also true of other cities and their cultural ties. Milwaukee celebrates a particular idea of "Germany" that doesn't really exist anymore, same with Chicago and Poland, New York and Italy, or whatever combo you want.

Btw, the definition of Nordic: of or relating to Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. I guess if your objection is that we shouldn't be including Finn's I get you, otherwise it seems like really splitting hairs to prefer "Scandinavian" over it's synonym "Nordic."

This is a good summary, and in that sense Bachelor Farmer is more based on the old immigrant vision than modern Scandinavian-American culture. Much like British and American English split and each continued to do their own thing separately, there are many ways that Scandinavia has evolved differently.

There are still cultural similarities, I think, in terms of social behavior and egalitarian political attitudes (although rightist American influences have gotten us off-track in the last several decades).

But then it that sense, can't we celebrate Scandinavian-American in its own right, not simply connection to Scandinavian?

[at40man]

Milwaukee celebrates a particular idea of "Germany" that doesn't really exist anymore, same with Chicago and Poland, New York and Italy, or whatever combo you want.

As a second-generation German-American who was steeped in German traditions growing up and having traveled all over Germany with my relatives who live there -- including visiting many Christkindlmarkts -- I can unequivocally say that this statement isn't really true. Obviously, we take things and can make them their own. But the celebrations taking place in Chicago aren't inauthentic or celebrating a Germany that doesn't exist.

Yes, there are people who have never been to Germany and have a quaint and cute idea of what it's like. The thing is, that "cute" and "quaint" Germany is still very much alive, dotting the country in countless small towns, including the town my grandparents are from. Saint Paul's Christmas Market was about as close to the real thing as I've experienced in our own country.

[Didier]

Yes, that's exactly the difference, but it seems like a strange thing to object to. Didier wants to celebrate ties to modern Scandinavian, but if anyone also celebrates Finland while doing so it''s too confusing?

It's as simple as my definition of Nordic being wrong. While knowing Nordic refers to those Scandinavian countries, I always thought it was also used as a general synonym for northern. So I read the Bachelor Farmer's description as being "Minnesota Nordic" as opposed to "Scandinavian Nordic."

Upon reading online, it's clear my understanding of the word was incorrect.

[Didier]

This is also true of other cities and their cultural ties. Milwaukee celebrates a particular idea of "Germany" that doesn't really exist anymore, same with Chicago and Poland, New York and Italy, or whatever combo you want.

That's a good point, and I agree from a "celebrating heritage" perspective. But there are definitely examples of modern culture from other European countries throughout the United States. At the top of the list if British culture. Notably, Brit's Pub.

[Moderato]

Sorry about that:
http://www.svenskarnasdag.com
You're right, it's a pretty folksy event and has dwindled over the years, but it used to be a big gathering.

Tangentially, I would say having Osmo Vanska as music director of MO appeals to the city's Nordic roots in a contemporary way. He has programmed a lot of Finnish and Scandinavian music over the years, some of which is cutting edge. There will be more of the same in St. Paul in coming years now that the SPCO has named the Swede Martin Frost as an artistic partner. He is the epitome of modern Nordic culture to me.

[Nick]

Different but related angle:

Minnesota: We've Got America's Twinkiest Twinks

[MNdible]

This is pretty Scandinavian Modern.

[Didier]

The only place I can really think of is the American Swedish Institute

[Didier]

Fika is really, really good, by the way. Food-wise, I think it's one of the best restaurants in the city.

[mplsjaromir]

I went to the market this weekend and I think it is a vast improvement over the parade. It was genuinely entertaining for more than twenty minutes. Most of the vendors seemed to be in the spirit of the market. Maybe it was the unseasonably warm weather but the whole thing seemed really great. The way it the wooden (admittedly cheap looking) sheds were organized in Peavy Plaza was even interesting. I will definitely go back before they close before Christmas Eve.

On a side note, I wanted to go to the St. Paul market, but it was only for three days?? It's pretty lame when your Christmas market is not even open in December.