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<\/a>\u201cDon\u2019t worry, we will have meatballs, too, for those who don\u2019t like Lutefisk,\u201d Cody said.<\/p>\n
Other future events at Valhall Lodge include the Norwegian Juletrefest in December, and Syttende Mai, the Norwegian Constitution Day in May.<\/p>\n
Norwegians form a large group of more than 4.5 million people within the United States. According to the norway.org website, 21 percent of people with Norwegian descent live in the Pacific states of Washington, Oregon, and California. Norwegian-Americans celebrate and maintain their heritage in many ways, much of it centering on the Lutheran-Evangelical churches they were born into.<\/p>\n
Although the Norwegians were the most numerous of all the Scandinavian immigrant groups, other Scandinavians also immigrated to America during the same time period. Today, there are 11-12 million Americans of Scandinavian ancestry. Scandinavians represent about 6 percent of the white population in the U.S. as a whole, and more than 25 percent of the white population of the Upper Midwest.<\/p>\n
Jeanne Scott, who has been a member for six years of both the Sons of Norway and the House of Norway, is half-Norwegian.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing the elder members reminds me of my grandparents, father, aunts and uncles who, all but one, have passed. We never lived in the same towns so only at holidays, did I get to be with them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Scott\u2019s grandfather came from Teveldahl, Norway in 1908 to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and became a naturalized citizen in 1927. Scott\u2019s grandmother\u2019s parents emigrated from Norway as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learn a lot about my heritage that I would never have known \u2014 the food, the language, the customs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Being able to make Norwegian waffles is something in which Scott takes particular pride.<\/p>\n
Sigurd Stautland, Past President of Valhall Lodge, was born in Norway. He came to San Diego in 1966 by invitation from SDSU to serve as a visiting professor. \u201cTurned out that I taught there for 26 years, and I have continued to live in San Diego. I am the black sheep in my family, the only one who emigrated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, one does not have to be Norwegian in order to join and delight in the culinary, cultural and social benefits of membership in the Lodge.<\/p>\n
People from other Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands find the Valhall Lodge to be of great benefit for them personally and socially. The Lodge has offered classes in Norwegian language, rosemaling (a folk painting technique), cooking, knitting and other crafts.<\/p>\n