Norwegian Easter

Considering how un-religious we are here in Norway, we sure use Easter as an excuse to have a lot of days off from work. In religious Ghana my bf worked Wedenesday and Thursday, and I didnt even work Wedenesday (even though I was supposed to..). In Norway when its Easter, people put out lots of chicken figures and pack all their stuff, food, clothes and skiis, and go to their cabin in the mountain somewhere. The more primitive the cabin, the more Norwegian and great you are. Though, nowadays people get richer and have fancier cabins, with electricity, water, dishwasher, TV, internet etc...the richer the better. But the ideal is really that "get away from busy city life, and sit in silence and darkness, enjoying nature and cross country skiing, eating good food and chocolate and enjoying board games in the lights of a candle, not offering Jesus on the cross a single thought"-thing.

I wonder how a Ghanaian would see us, knowing we get out of our comfortable homes, into the bush, in a cold, dark, and waterless old cabin, for days on end. I remember trying to convince a friend in Ghana that the use of candle lights at dinner was "cosy" and "romantic" but he didnt get it, as we didnt have light off at the moment...

Aaaaanyway, this is what my sister, her husband to be, my nephew and I did yesterday. We packed food and clothes into a car and went to HIS mother's cabin an hours drive north of Levanger. This one doesnt have lights or water, its by a lake, I think we drank water from the lake?, we cooked on a gas stove (which you dont find in regular households in Norway), and we played poker in candle lights at night and read old comic books, and we went to the toilet in a built on hole in the ground. In the daytime we did the ultimate wildlife Norwegian thing: grill hot dogs on a stick over a fire we made outside. So this was the lesson in Norwegian Easter culture. Here are some illustrations.

Arnulv is reading exciting Tarzan comic book from 1970

While the ladies are getting firewood

Someone stayed up too late and partied too hard :)

Head lights and candles are a must when you need the toilet at night..

Norwegian pure untouched nature... right.