this experience was special to me for many reasons, I didn’t expect how strong the culture affects us even through harsh Norwegianization/other forced assimilation policies for centuries. I was with my maternal grandmother in Børselv in Finnmark county, visiting a Kven family we are not known to be closely related to. I had never experienced being so welcomed in this way by strangers or even by my Norwegian friends families, it was like true connection with our roots. We watched television soccer game and had conversations about the reason we were visiting; getting my Kven costume made. And I realised how Finnish and Kven culture is different from Norwegian and this was profound, I had thought of myself as Norwegian in my childhood when I had foreign friends and our home language being Norwegian. But now I knew at 16 years old how it goes deep, our ancestors live within us always no matter what the State and rest of society does to wipe out our subtle but significant differences of culture.
This changed my perspective on myself and our family, and it made a positive inpact on me in several ways. It was both fun and very deep experience.
And I want to thank you for visiting my blog, I hope it was interesting reading ❤
cloudB 