Evening star., 1924-03-14
NORWAY WELCOMES
COMING OF SPRING
Blankets of Foliage Scattered Over
Fields, But Lately Covered
With Snow.
QUICK ENDING OF WINTER
When Transition Comes People
Boisterously Celebrate.

Dispatches telling OF the popularity
of Norway's winter sports. such as
tho famous ski Derby at Holmen-
kollen, and of the many Americans
who now visit Scandinavia, emphasize
the summer events of Norway which
| retain their distinctiveness and their
quaintness because they attract much
| less attention.
A bulletin from the headquarters
here Of the National Geographic So
ciety describes how the quick coming
Of spring is welcomed joyfully with q
| celebration that resembles our Christ
mas festivities.
Their "Christmas7 in June.
Mature seems to take a boisterous
part in the occasion by throwing
| blankets Of foliage across fields that
were snow-covered only a few weeks
before, and by bursting forth with
I gorgeous flowers in crannies where
| months" the bulletin continues.
"Alf the excitement which marks
our most generally observed holiday,
Christmas, attends the day Of ST
John, on June "a While it bears d.
Christian name the holiday and its
| In effect the day still is a festival o.
the sun. Green birch trees adorn
| every house and children carry ever
green branches through the streets.
The analogy to Christmas breaks
| down, however. when younger folk
| crowd into boats On the fords or hike
to the mountain woods which. at
i twilight. are f1ecked with bonfires.
ghosuy figures of the merrymakers
dance and sing around them.
yearly more visitors are StrappinG
on their knapsacks for walking trips:
through the rugged countryside OF
central Norway, where every rock
| hewn road seems to lead to a ford,
and where the native customs defy
| the inroads Of such driblets of travel
as now sift through.
BaptismaI Font Drops From Ceiling
b "The visitor goes to church, and the
simple service seems stereotyped
enough until bit of statuary de-
scends from the ceiling. The figure
of an angel, supported by rod, holds
} a bowl filled with water. The sur
prised visitor realizes this theatrical
appurtenance is a baptismal font
"The simplicity and innocence OF
! the country folk in the remote and
isolated sections is betokened by their
promiscuous bathing. And by bath
I ing is meant just that; not the di-
| version of water splashing and sand
stunning, DuI SGttllS oHeStll CiSdiA. -
! log hut is the village bathhouse. A
! furnace of stones Is heated and wa
| ter poured over the red-hot surface.
Into this steam steps a family
J men, women. children, visiting rela-
( tives and neighbors. The bathers
| switch each other with birch twigs
| to induce more perspiration and glee-
| fully throw buckets of cold water
| over each other when the heat be
| comes too intense. All of this is
/ Of as
our daily bath. The rural Norwegian
| would see nothing immoral, nor
| funny, in an American hotel which
| inadverten advertised 4 1000 rooms
! and bath
Boat Main Family Conveyance.
'Tn a Vermont village each family
{ once had its horse and buggy, ve-
! hicle now supplanted by the automo-
| bile. In Norway hamlet boat is
the principal family conveyance III
| summer. There fishing takes the
place of farming, and the houses are
stead of along a rambling main
street. The viIlager rows to church,
and rows to the store and rows to pay
| his evening calls
Grazing herds of goats Is the prin-
cipal land industry of Norway's hilly
! north country. and these f1ocks give
| rise to the picturesque goat girl
The mountain pastures usually are
far removed from the villages. and
each spring sees the young farm
women driving their herds up the
! mountain paths to some lofty but
sheltered valley among the glisteniug
snow-capped peaks. There they re-
main all summer long, camping In
wooden huts, visited occasionally by
their menfolk to carry away the but
ter and cheese.
Lonesome Goat Tenders.
"These mountain pastures ars
known as SaeterS, word KNOWN
60 music lovers of many lands be-
cause Of Ole Blu Is song, The Saetey
Maiden's Sunday in which he ex.
presses the lonesomeness of the CIR
goat tenders for their families.
Goats cheese, a delicatessen deli
cacy in the United States, is princi-
pal article of Norwegian diet II
has the rich, brown color and some
thing of the flavor of peanut butter
It is not eaten on crackers as sup.
Elementary course, but. sliced and laic
on large cross sections OF brown
bread, is a staple of the meal.
Pheasants and domestic poultry