Since I have already read and translated the entire text, I feel confident in saying that this next page might be one of the more telling ones when it comes to trying to get to know the author and his intentions. It's a very intriguing tapestry of individual lines from a multitude of Danish Battle songs and religious hymns which include some of the works of Laurids O. Kock and N.F.S Grundtvig. They are a collections of melodic celebrations of Denmark and what it meant to be Danish. They elicit our connection with the present while simultaneously strengthening our bonds with the past. The songs accomplish this task via the conjuring of familiar Danish imagery. The flowing fields of wheat, the breathtaking shorelines, the near constant proximity to the sea, the deep seeded history and the language interlacing all facets of the Danish experience.
Talking from my own experiences I found it extremely telling that he chose to highlight these particular songs. My mother has an incredible gift for taking existing traditional melodies of Danish songs that every school child knows and rewriting them in order to use them for sing-alongs at weddings, birthdays and anniversaries. This helped instill in me an appreciation for the good old Danish songs that had been handed down from generation to generation. Even now as I'm typing these very words, I'm doing so wearing headphones and listening to the wonderful music of such great troubadours as John Mogensen and Povl Dissing.
Having had the opportunities to listen to a multitude of Danish artists has in many ways allowed me to retain much of my "Danishness."A lifeline if you will, tethering me securely to where I came from while still allowing me enough give to go where I'm headed.
I can't help but wonder if he chose to copy these words for the very same reasons. Music has the uncanny ability to evoke a multitude of emotions! Perhaps having these few lines was enough to elicit a reaction from the author because they held some sort of importance to him. Were they part of his lifeline, keeping him from drowning in the Great American Meltingpot? Or perhaps they were simply stuck in his head. I mean, who among us hasn't been plagued by a single verse from a song at some point in their life.
At the bottom of this post I've decided to add several links to the songs that he had copied lines from along with a few links to songs that I consider important staples in my own music library.
Page III is titled "Explorers," and consists of a list of notable Scandinavian explorations.
-In the year 860, Iceland is discovered by a Norwegian.
-In 982 Erik the Red was banished from Iceland.
Erik the Red was the first person to settle down in Greenland, and he called his home Brattahlid.
-In the year 1000, Leif Eriksen discovered Labrador and later Nova Scotia. Later on he discovered Nantucket on the New England coast and the area around the Massachusetts Bay which they named Vinland.
-In 1112 Erik Gnupsøn was the Bishop of Greenland. However, in 1121 he traveled to Vinland and from 1121 to 1409 Greenland was without a bishop.
-1570, the Norwegian Priest Absalon Pedersen Beyer published a detailed history of Norway. He died in 1574.
-In 1576, Martin Frobisher was in Greenland on his way to India.
-In 1568 Christian Aalborg went searching for Greenland.
-In 1579, King Frederick II of Denmark sent forth an expedition and on the 25th of August 1579 they found Greenland.
-1581, Mogens sought to find Greenland. He was decapitated (Mogens Heinason) 18th of January 1589.
-1605, James Hall ventured out and found Greenland, he died on the 23rd of July 1612. In 1608, the Norwegian priest Hans Poulsen went to Greenland as a missionary and he died in 1758.
-1219, Dannebrog is implemented in Denmark.
the Latin name for Hazelnut is Corylus Avellana.
-1036, Knut the Great died.
-1688, there's a revolution in England.
Now here's an interesting collection of names, dates and events. Why in heavens name would he have included this seemingly random information in this book? Food for thought. Personally I have a few facts and a whole lot of ideas relating to the issue of why, but there are still several pages like this one before we get to the actual written account of the family history and while I know where the information came from, his motivations for its inclusion will have to remain a mystery for the time being.
Page III is titled "Explorers," and consists of a list of notable Scandinavian explorations.
-In the year 860, Iceland is discovered by a Norwegian.
-In 982 Erik the Red was banished from Iceland.
Erik the Red was the first person to settle down in Greenland, and he called his home Brattahlid.
-In the year 1000, Leif Eriksen discovered Labrador and later Nova Scotia. Later on he discovered Nantucket on the New England coast and the area around the Massachusetts Bay which they named Vinland.
-In 1112 Erik Gnupsøn was the Bishop of Greenland. However, in 1121 he traveled to Vinland and from 1121 to 1409 Greenland was without a bishop.
-1570, the Norwegian Priest Absalon Pedersen Beyer published a detailed history of Norway. He died in 1574.
-In 1576, Martin Frobisher was in Greenland on his way to India.
-In 1568 Christian Aalborg went searching for Greenland.
-In 1579, King Frederick II of Denmark sent forth an expedition and on the 25th of August 1579 they found Greenland.
-1581, Mogens sought to find Greenland. He was decapitated (Mogens Heinason) 18th of January 1589.
-1605, James Hall ventured out and found Greenland, he died on the 23rd of July 1612. In 1608, the Norwegian priest Hans Poulsen went to Greenland as a missionary and he died in 1758.
-1219, Dannebrog is implemented in Denmark.
the Latin name for Hazelnut is Corylus Avellana.
-1036, Knut the Great died.
-1688, there's a revolution in England.
Now here's an interesting collection of names, dates and events. Why in heavens name would he have included this seemingly random information in this book? Food for thought. Personally I have a few facts and a whole lot of ideas relating to the issue of why, but there are still several pages like this one before we get to the actual written account of the family history and while I know where the information came from, his motivations for its inclusion will have to remain a mystery for the time being.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcZLwuBq35U
http://runeberg.org/nfsgudv/9/0198.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW4gIrImyxc
https://books.google.dk/books?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bctlvz-qpKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th0gdtRMpG0
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