News of Norway, issue 5, 1996
Norwegian immigrants to the United States came largely from rural areas in Norway. Uprooted from the security of native society, they reorganized their lives, restructured old institutions and created new ones. The bygdelag societies attempted to perpetuate intimate and cherished aspects of Norwegian heritage. These organizations revealed a strong attachment to old-country localities, to distinct scenic features and to regional traditions and values.
The Bygdelag Fellesraad, a national council celebrating its 80th anniversary this spring, defines the tradition this way: "The Norwegian-American Bygdelag is an organization of emigrant descendants from a particular area of Norway, now living in North America. Every lag seeks to preserve and strengthen bonds with its community-of-origin in Norway."
The bygdelags organize gatherings, or stevner, usually in the summer. They publish newsletters and the like to help members keep in touch. Likely to be featured at a stevne are Norwegian social and cultural activities such as arts and crafts, selection of banquet foods, books and readings, choral and instrumental music as well as fiddlers and folk dancing, films, genealogy workshops, noted speakers and visiting people from each specific group's place of origin. The Bygdelag may also organize occasional tours to Norway and help in tracing ancestry.
Bygdelags began to come into being about 1900. After almost 100 years of heavy immigration, each ethnic group saw the need to revive positive values from their homelands that would not be regarded as anti-American. The phenomenon of the bygdelags has been seen as a first-generation phenomenon.
A bygd is to be understood as a particular community, group of communities, a general district, even fjord region or valley. Of course, the strongest loyalty was toward the place where a person was born. Norwegian immigrants, more than some others, had strong links to rural areas. The establishment of the bygdelags was an intentionally conservative movement aimed at maintaining feelings and cultural memories that seemed to be fading.
Immigrants from Valdres organized the first bygdestevne in Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis on June 25, 1899. The next event in the bygdelag movement did not come until 1907 when the Telelaget and Hallinglaget were founded. Following this development, four new bygdelags were established in 1908, Sognalaget, Trønderlaget, Nordlandslaget and Numedalslaget.
All together, their stevner attracted about 75,000 people. Later about 20 new lags were founded. Today, there are 32 active bygdelags in North America, with a total of 4,000 members, generally people in middle age or older.
According to Professor Odd S. Lovoll of St. Olaf College two interesting tendencies appeared at annual stevner.
First was the obvious attempt to define a personal and Norwegian identity related to loyalty toward a local rural culture. There was a strong sense of competition among rival groups; they boasted of themselves and made good-natured fun of each other. They all claimed to be "the most original Norwegian."
The second theme stressed by Professor Lovoll was the expression of strong anti-modern sentiments at a time when both Norwegian heritage and Lutheranism seemed threatened. The bygdelags emerged during a general rise of antimodernism in America, a reaction against the constrictions and conformities of an urbanized, industrial and materialistic America and the over-achieving ethos it promoted. Revived interest in nature; enthusiasm for athletics and outdoor recreation, and a general distrust toward American city life emerged in many immigrant societies.
Bygdelag celebrations varied, but generally they had a pietistic character. For many people, to be Lutheran and Norwegian was one in the same. Also, the Bygdelag stevner helped maintain local dialects. Some bygdelags, such as Vossalaget, Sognalaget and Telelaget, used the local farm dialect in writing as well. The use of dialect supported the simple farm culture and gave it legitimacy as expressing a Norwegian cultural heritage.
There were strict rules governing membership in the bygdelags. Only people from an area, their children and descendants would be admitted to a given bygdelag. Today, this has changed of course.
All bygdelags have several things in common, among them the celebration of Norwegian nature and the honoring of the work and sacrifices that had to be made in the early days of settlement.
The year 1925 marks an important milestone in bygdelag history. When the twin cities, St. Paul and Minneapolis, celebrated a century of Norwegian immigration the bygdelags were the organizers of the impressive celebration. The event emphasized the Viking discovery of America and President Coolidge, who was in attendance, acknowledged the Norwegian wish to be recognized as discoverer of America. The pioneer history was also emphasized.
Annual stevner also pleased local business communities-by filling towns with potential customers. Often, more than a thousand people from one bygd could participate in the stevne. It was hardly true, as people jokingly said of the Rogalendings, that they came to town with a ten dollar bill in one hand, the Ten Commandments in the other and broke neither.
However, believers in a common Norwegian national identity saw the bygdelags as a splitting and disharmonic element. The real strife was how to define the national cultural heritage-the folk tradition in particular. Most bygdelags had no problem in defining their nationality to Norway; it was through their bygd that many recognized Norway as their homeland.
Today, there are 32 bygdelags in North America. Marilyn D. Somdahl, president of the Bygdelagenes Fellesraad since 1990, says that the primary function of the bygdelags today is family research. "Genealogy is a hobby that develops over the years, and with more free time and free money, and maybe a trip to Norway, many people have established the interest for membership in a bygdelag.
"Several bydgelags go on group trips to Norway. In the earlier days of the bygdelags, the people that knew each other from Norway used to meet at the stevne. The mission has changed over the years, and today, the majority of the people meet for the first time at the stevne."
If you are interested in joining a bygdelag, please write to Marilyn D. Somdahl, 10129 Goodrich Circle, Minneapolis, MN 55437.