BRECKENRIDGE — Community members gathered Sunday afternoon at the Breckenridge Senior Citizens Center to celebrate Norway’s Constitution Day, also known as Syttende Mai, with Norwegian food, fellowship and cultural traditions hosted by the local Sons of Norway chapter.
The event, held May 17, featured traditional Norwegian delicacies including lefse, krumkake, rosettes and sandbakkels. Organizers estimated nearly 75 people attended throughout the afternoon.
Shoba Dasari / Wahpeton Daily News
“We just wanted to celebrate Syttende Mai,” said Colleen Engebretson, vice president of the local Sons of Norway chapter. “It’s really celebrated in Norway. They are spirited in their culture and they all go out and want parades and everything. That’s what we wanted to carry on — the experience, pride and culture.”
Engebretson said the celebration has been held in Breckenridge for approximately six or seven years.
Shoba Dasari / Wahpeton Daily News
The local chapter has around 50 members, with about a dozen active volunteers helping organize events. Planning for the annual celebration begins nearly a year in advance, she said, including reserving the venue, advertising and preparing food.
“It’s been a big job,” Engebretson said. “Everybody worked hard.”
Many of the baked goods and treats were homemade by members of the group. Volunteers gathered the day before the celebration to prepare lefse and other foods for attendees.
The event also highlighted Norwegian clothing traditions. Engebretson explained that some attendees wore bunads, traditional Norwegian costumes often connected to family heritage or specific regions in Norway.
“The bunads are the national costume in Norway,” she said. “The young girls always get one for confirmation, and they wear it forever.”
For Engebretson, preserving Norwegian traditions remains an important part of the organization’s mission.
“I think we have to remember where our people came from,” she said. “We’re also proud to be American, but it’s good to hang on to those cultural things.”
Engebretson and her husband, Mark, have visited Norway four times and traced the farms where their ancestors once lived.
“I remember we drove up over the hill and I found my family’s farm, and just tears, you know, to know that was the place where my great-grandparents came from,” she said.
She said organizers hope attendees leave the event with a greater appreciation for Norwegian culture and community connections.
“I just hope everybody enjoys Norwegian culture,” Engebretson said. “If they learn a little bit, that’s great.”
Shoba Dasari is the assistant managing editor for the Wahpeton Daily News and Richland County News-Monitor. Shoba can be reached by calling (701) 291-3548 or emailing shoba.dasari@wahpetondailynews.com.