Happy 2025!  I’m sharing virtual events available to all as well as a special in-person event that might be of interest to local SoCal readers.

First off some local Nordic film news… After marking its 25th anniversary last year, the Scandinavian Film Festival LA with BalticFilmExpo @SFFLA is taking a hiatus this year. The festival eagerly anticipates its return in 2026!

In other Nordic news, registration is open for the 26th annual Nordic Spirit Symposium which will take place February 7-8 in Thousand Oaks, California. Entitled “Before the Vikings: The Scandinavian Bronze Age”, the symposium, co-hosted by the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation and California Lutheran University, will explore one of the most important and exciting periods in the history of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. For more details and registration information, visit the website.

Gnome Matter the Weather’s “15 Weeks of Friluftsliv” is in its fifth week. Friluftsliv is a Norwegian concept that can be translated to “open-air living” or “free-air life” and is all about embracing the outdoors. So far participants have been encouraged to welcome winter with a ceremonial celebration, take to the trails at twilight, enjoy a solstice adventure, and create nature-inspired thank you notes. All activities have included a special recipe or two, my favorites being their sweet and savory gnome boards. How are you enjoying the outdoors this winter? Subscribe to their newsletter and receive weekly inspiration straight to your inbox.

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Virtual Events for January and Bit Beyond

Online book clubs continue to meet. Visit Nordic Book Club Meetings: January 2025 to see details about book selections and meeting dates in the new year.

“How to Winter” with Dr. Kari Leibowitz (Tuesday, 1/7)

In the “How to Winter” workshop, Kari Leibowitz will share research and practical strategies participants can use to embrace winter wherever they live. Drawing from her psychological research experience, her time living in the Arctic of Norway, and her travels to Nordic countries researching how to embrace winter, Kari will help participants learn how to cultivate a more positive wintertime mindset. Kari will also share interactive exercises for making winter wonderful and highlight how these evidence-based practices can help you find meaning and opportunity in times of darkness or difficulty year-round. Join us to participate in the chat, to expand your mindset, and to embrace the cold, dark days of winter!

Sámi History 101 (Session 1 of 4) (Wednesday, 1/8)

This is the first in a series of four live lectures that will be held on Wednesdays in January. Each lecture has a separate registration. The Sámi are the only recognized Indigenous people in Europe whose lands, Sápmi, are claimed and divided by the Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Russian nation-states. Despite the central roles they’ve played in the political, economic, and cultural histories of Northern Europe, the Sámi are commonly depicted as ahistorical wildlings whose lands are an unused frontier, ripe for development today. This series illuminates how untrue those depictions are. “Sámi History 101” examines the fundaments of Sámi history and culture, surveying oral histories, subsistence practices, societal organization, symbols of Sámi culture, and historical relations with neighbors. For information on the other sessions, visit Session 2: Sámi History 102 (Jan. 15), Session 3: Sámi Histories of Colonization (Jan. 22), and Session 4: Sámi Today: Survivance (Jan. 29). A recommended reading and media list will be mailed out to all participants following the final session.

Nordic Table Event: Sourdough 101 with Kristi Bissell (Thursday, 1/9)

Before bakers bought yeast at the store, they captured and used natural yeasts at home, and these flavors and techniques are essential to recreating certain Nordic breads. While we can use commercial yeast today, baking with natural yeast, otherwise known as a sourdough starter, still adds nutrition, flavor, and good keeping quality to breads of all kinds. In this hour-long demo, Kristi Bissell of True North Kitchen will walk students through the basics of creating or acquiring, maintaining, and baking with a sourdough starter. Kristi will focus on using the starter in Danish-style rye breads and Scandinavian crisp flatbreads, both of which are great starter recipes for bakers new to sourdough baking. This class is presented as a demonstration, so students can watch the entire process and ask questions before tackling the dishes at home later. The recipe packet will be available for download one week in advance.

Sámi History 102 (Session 2 of 4) (Wednesday, 1/15)

This is the second in a series of four live lectures that will be held on Wednesdays in January. Each lecture has a separate registration. Session two, “Sámi History 102,” will expand on the work in session one by inspecting how archaeological, linguistic, and genetic studies contribute to the study of Sámi history, balancing our inquiry with Indigenous Studies methods. For information on the other sessions, visit Session 1: Sámi History 101 (Jan. 8), Session 3: Sámi Histories of Colonization (Jan. 22), and Session 4: Sámi Today: Survivance (Jan. 29). A recommended reading and media list will be mailed out to all participants following the final session.

Family Handcraft at Home: Kolrosing Inspired by the Sloop Restauration (Enrollment Deadline 1/19)

Join woodcarver Steph Hughes and learn the art of kolrosing while being inspired by the story of the sloop Restauration, which will be the subject of the kolrosing design. Come learn as a family by kolrosing the ship that brought some of the first Norwegian immigrant families to America. There is no live Zoom event and no scheduled class time – your family can participate anytime during the month when it works for your schedule. Price includes a special folk art class kit designed for two participants to explore kolrosing. The kit includes all materials needed, some images from the Vesterheim collection as inspiration, and a treat.

The Norwegian Mayflower: The Voyage of the Restauration (Monday, 1/20)

In the period beginning in 1825 and for about 100 years following, nearly 40% of the population of Norway – more than 800,000 Norwegians – immigrated to the United States. Most of those immigrants came for “economic opportunity,” but the first immigrants – known as the Sloopers of 1825 – came for religious freedom. The voyage was three years in the planning by an alliance of Quakers and Haugean Lutherans. Beginning on July 4th, 1825, a 54-foot sloop named Restaurasjonen (The Restauration) took 52 passengers on a 98-day journey from Stavanger, Norway to New York City. This presentation follows the story from its roots (in the Napoleonic Wars), through the voyage itself, the reception in New York City, and finally to the first Norwegian settlement in the United States in Kendall, New York.

Sámi Histories of Colonization (Session 3 of 4) (Wednesday, 1/22)

This is the third in a series of four live lectures that will be held on Wednesdays in January. Each lecture has a separate registration. Session three, “Sámi Histories of Colonization,” will dive into how encroachment, taxation, and borders constructed Fennoscandic forms of colonialism, creating a rough timeline of how colonization has looked and still looks like in Sápmi. For information on the other sessions, visit Session 1: Sámi History 101 (Jan. 8), Session 2: Sámi History 102 (Jan. 15), and Session 4: Sámi Today: Survivance (Jan. 29). A recommended reading and media list will be mailed out to all participants following the final session.

Swedish American Museum Genealogy Session (Saturday, 1/25)

The Museum hosts genealogy sessions the fourth Saturday of most months via Zoom. In January, Dan Hubbard will present “I” is for Identity Crisis: Part 1 of 2. We think of identity as something fixed and simple, but as we try to reconstruct the identities of long-gone people, we need to realize that identity is a much slipperier concept. The things we use to define a person’s identity can change during that person’s lifetime. There are also questions of how a person self-identifies, the motivations they can have for changing how they self-identify, and how those changes affect the records they leave behind. Part 2 will take place Saturday, 2/22 (details).

Intro to Finnish (Sunday, 1/26)

Are you curious about the Finnish language, but not ready yet to commit to a multi-date class? Are you looking for a quick and low-pressure way to get excited and prepare for an upcoming visit to Finland? This two-hour introductory workshop is the perfect way to get a feel for Finnish, pick up a bit of grammar, and learn how to pronounce some words as part of basic conversation.

Vesterheim Webinar: Bunad Handwork (Sunday, 1/26)

Norway has a variety of more than 450 different folk costumes, many of which feature highly embellished aprons, purses, beaded breastplates, and other adornment. Join textiles instructor Jane Addams and Vesterheim Chief Curator Laurann Gilbertson as they explore examples of the fine handcraft that makes each style of bunad so striking and special.

Sámi Today: Survivance (Session 4 of 4) (Wednesday, 1/29)

This is the last in a series of four live lectures that will be held on Wednesdays in January. Each lecture has a separate registration. This final segment, “Sámi Today: Survivance,” will trace past legacies to the present to contextualize Sámi survivance, or survival by resistance, by looking at political organizing, rights, and contemporary forms of colonization in Sápmi. For information on the other sessions, visit Session 1: Sámi History 101 (Jan. 8), Session 2: Sámi History 102 (Jan. 15), and Session 3: Sámi Histories of Colonization (Jan. 22). A recommended reading and media list will be mailed out to all participants following the final session.

Nordic Table Event: Cozy Winter Snacks with Kristi Bissell (Thursday, 2/6)

Open up those cupboards and freezers and dig out some pantry staples to whip up cozy snacks for cold winter days! Kristi Bissell of True North Kitchen will guide students through the steps for blueberry soup and a snackable spice cake using frozen berries and essential baking ingredients. This class is presented as a demonstration, so students can watch the entire process and ask questions before tackling the dishes later.

Virtual Sámi Film Festival (2/7-13)

The annual Sámi Film Festival celebrates the rich storytelling traditions of the Sámi, an Indigenous people of the northernmost parts of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Now in its 7th year, the festival presents a variety of newly released and classic Sámi features, documentaries, and short films, sharing Sámi film with a global audience. The festival will offer both in-person and online streaming options. In-person screenings will take place in New York City, Seattle, and Anchorage (see website for details). Online streaming will run from February 7 to 13. Tickets will be available soon.

Which events or experiences look interesting to you?