I took the family to the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, Iowa today. I was more than pleasantly surprised that not once did any of my three children complain about being there or being bored. ...And it's not largely a "hands-on" type of museum.
I think that in this age of melting pot conglomeration, it is more important than ever that children learn about their heritage. We didn't stop to read every sign or to study each item in depth, but I did attempt to explain the significance of each section. There were four floors inside and many buildings outside to look at.
Not surprisingly, my daughter kept telling me how much she wanted to learn about her Norwegian heritage. She wanted to buy all of the Norwegian-English language books, she wants to learn rosemaling (a Norwegian form of decorative painting), and she wants to loom weave the way she saw many of the woven objects in the museum.
One of my sons wants to wood carve in the Scandinavian style tradition (that my grandfather did).
And whether or n0t the kids will actually get around to doing any of this doesn't really matter. What is important is the excitement they have for these things. Things that are in so many ways unique to their heritage.
Whether we realize it or not, so many of the things we do in our lives are done in ways that have been handed down to us through the many generations. Holidays in particular are rich with family history and tradition.
But we shouldn't only acknowledge our heritage during the special holidays. Because we are who we are, it is important to understand our past and our ancestors. What was so terrible about where they lived that they were willing to pack and move to a foreign land sight unseen? Or...what was it about the potential for greatness in the New Land that tugged at our ancestors' souls?
I know that we don't all have a wonderful heritage museum within driving distance, but surely there are ways to explore our pasts.
I don't want to deny my children any other part of their ancestral descent (primarily Irish and Swedish), but I really am thrilled that they enjoyed this outing as much as they did.
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I do recall you telling me about your woodcarving class there at Vesterheim, "drives d. s."
I did become a member of Vesterheim for a year, but even with that I don't know that my budget will allow for one of those classes.
I enjoy the woodcarving classes I've taken here in my town, and I've been to a couple of woodcarving festivals, which is also a pretty cool experience. Got another one coming up in a couple of weeks which I hope to attend.
My 8 year old desparately wants to carve (he's done a couple of soap carvings) and today I got out a couple of my good knives and let him carve on a flat, wooden ornament we bought at Vesterheim. he did a good job, he's thrilled, and he's maybe helping to keep a tradition alive.
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