Natives of and sojourners to America's Upper Midwest inescapably encounter an enduring, endearing Scandinavian presence. Although Germans are more populous in the region, their public visibility diminished greatly under the America-first pressures of successive World Wars. Thrust to the fore, Nordic Americans' more evident vibrant social history and folk/vernacular expressive culture-whether continuous, evolved, revived, or invented-are not only abundantly varied but also broadly accessible through a plethora of shared regional sayings, stories, sites, foodways, festivals, and more. Serious, significant, and deep, evincing pride, pluralism, and occasional pomposity, the deeply rooted expressive culture of Nordic America is also frequently suffused with zany self-deprecating humor.
Yet until now no one has charted and sketched the full extent of the Upper Midwest's Nordic cultural landscape. A Scandihoovian mongrel of mixed Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish ancestry, author Eric Dregni departs from the typically mono-ethnic limitations of prior chroniclers to include all three groups, as well as Finns and Icelanders. Understandably emphasizing his Minnesota home base, Dregni appropriately ranges to the Dakotas, northern Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. More than 100 illustrations, both credited historical images and the author's own artful photographs, grace the book. Best of all, the prose is consistently engaging, witty, and informed. Unlike many writers seeking a popular audience, Dregni commendably provides a substantial set of endnotes, followed by an all-seeing index.
Commencing with a short preface and an introduction, "The Immigrants Arrive," Dregni pointedly spurns the exceptionalism, boosterism, and excessive filiopiety marring too many tomes regarding American ethnic groups, as well as the prevailing preoccupations of historians with social institutions and chronological periods. Rather, Dregni's concern is with the existence and implications of oft-neglected historical forces and "hidden" patterns persisting in plain sight, with forces relentlessly fusing past with present that figure in the parlance of folklorists as "unofficial culture" and "tradition." Echoing Grass Roots History, an all-but-forgotten visionary 1947 treatise by fellow Minnesotan Theodore Blegen (likewise published by University of Minnesota Press), Dregni reveals a left-of-center populist engagement with the rich and ubiquitous, the everyday and seasonal, the largely unacknowledged and insufficiently documented collective experiences and folklore/folklife productions of common people.
The parade of chapters aptly begins with "Food." Drawing deftly on family memories, personal experiences, forays to cafes and church basements, published reminiscences, and the works of such folklorists as Anne Kaplan, Willard Moore, and Kathleen Stokker, Dregni cheekily chews over and savors the social context, custom and belief, verbal artistry, sources, and substance of "mush (rommegrøt), giant, rich potato dumplings (klubb), cod in drain cleaner (lutefisk), and-in spite of Andrew Volstead-beer." Hot dishes, especially "disturbing casserole concoction[s]" and similarly compelling desserts merit equal treatment, frequently through sentences like this one that dazzle with succinct and knowing elegance: "Cream of mushroom soup may be the 'binder' for hot dish, but Jell-O held together fruit, nuts, marshmallows, pretzels, and everything else the heart (or stomach) desired in colorful creations to impress the Lutheran crowd."
The final chapter's focus is "Festivals." Sketching the abundance and diversity of sponsoring Nordic organizations in the region, with attention to countless community meals centered on fish and pastry consumption, Dregni selectively highlights the universal presence of "Drunkards for Coffee" in Upper Midwestern Nordic festivals, while elaborating on "some of the most imaginative, unusual, and tasty" events and proclivities, especially as evident in Minnesota. Among them: the Danish community of Askov's "Rutabaga Days" where æbleskiver (round apple pancakes fried in cast metal pans) are shunted aside for such delicacies as rutabaga mush, rutabaga sausage, and even rutabaga malts; "St. Urho's Day" in Cloquet, Finland, and Menagha, featuring parades, polkas, and impersonations commemorating a grasshopper-killing Finnish saint invented on the Minnesota Iron Range; a celebration of soft Norwegian flatbread, "Lefse Dagen," in Starbuck where the "World's Largest Lefse" was created in 1983; and more.
Whereas the entirety of these bookend chapters engages longstanding interests of folklorists, other beguiling entries of folkloristic significance surface in each of five additional chapters. A short list includes: rampant Viking obsession evident in archeological hoaxes, legends, mascots, and giant statues; "Red Finn" laborlore; the profusion of saunas, log houses, stave churches, outdoor museums, and painted water towers masquerading as bottomless coffee pots; the enduring plethora of ethnic jokes along with repeated accounts of Yankee slurs denying Nordic immigrant "whiteness"; consideration of costumery ranging from sweaters to underwear; and such customary practices as night courting, folk remedies, and conjuring with the svarte bok/black book.
In keeping with the author's selectively inclusive and judiciously expansive purposes, none of the foregoing topics is examined in depth. That said, Dregni's vivid descriptions, sharp insights, and undeniable erudition make Vikings in the Attic a welcome overview of the Upper Midwest's interrelated yet diverse Nordic cultures. It would also serve as a useful text for courses concerning regional and ethnic cultures in the United States.
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[Review length: 798 words • Review posted on February 8, 2018]