Photo exhibit on display in the Nordic Hall
February 5th – 28th
Johannes Pääsuke (March 30, 1892–January 8, 1918) was an Estonian photographer and filmmaker. He worked as a photographer for the Estonian National Museum beginning in 1912 and made several photographic series of rural Estonia. Best known is his photographic survey of the North Estonian coast, Muhumaa and Saaremaa islands, taken from June 10 to July 29, 1913.
A considerable amount of his photographs were made in parallel with filmmaking, with both cameras within his reach.
Join us for the next installment of Pro Arte Boston‘s Salon Series titled A Gathering of Light a combined concert of music and dance with Dance Currents.
In 1835, a young Finnish intellectual, Elias Lönnrot, published the Kalevala, the Finnish “national epic.” That book became the basis of a notion of Finnish national identity that developed in remarkable ways over the course of the 19th century. It was the focus of literary, folkloristic, symphonic, operatic, dramatic, artistic and political activities. It helped Finnish nationalists resist Russian oppression and imagine a national independence that became a reality in 1917. Over the course of two wars against the Soviet Union, and through the tense era of the Cold War, the Kalevala remained an important implement in imagining and defending a sense of Finnishness in the world. In more recent years, the Kalevala and the musical traditions and ancient heritage it enshrines have helped Finns think through the implications of EU membership and imagine the place of Finnish identity in a global world. It is a world in which international authors like J.R.R. Tolkien could experience and borrow from Finnish culture, while Finns themselves adapted the styles and rhythms of heavy metal music to stories drawn from the epic.
Join the Finlandia Foundation of Boston for a lecture with Tom DuBois as he explores the many ways in which the ancient messages of the Kalevala become revealed and renewed in culture over time.
Sunday, February 25th | 3pm | FREE; donations welcome
Tom DuBois is the Halls-Bascom Professor of Scandinavian Studies and Folklore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on Finnish and Sámi culture, past and present. His books include Finnish Folk Poetry and the Kalevala; Lyric, Meaning and Audience; Nordic Religions in the Viking Age; Sanctity in the North: Saints, Lives and Cults in Medieval Scandinavia; and the co-edited volumes Finnish Folklore and The Nordic Storyteller. Tom is a member of the Kalevalaseura, is a past president of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, and is a past co-editor of the Journal of American Folklore.
The SCC gladly welcomes back Oskar Stenmark and his own trio! They will perform a program called “In My Grandmother’s Footsteps.” In Oskar’s words:
”In Gärdebyn, Dalecarlia, you will find an important and ancient music tradition. The small Swedish village has been a cultural hub for over two hundred years. Oskar Stenmark, a flugelhorn player, is the tenth generation in his family to pass on this tradition, much thanks to his (paternal) grandmother Elsie Börjes who grew up in Gärdebyn. Elsie went on a U.S. tour with a group of fiddlers in 1956, when she was only 17 years old. 62 years later Oskar revives the music that has taken him to Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles New York. This is the first time the trio performs in Boston as part of a tour in CT and MA, with special guest and Boston local Bruno Råberg on bass. Polskas, waltzes and folk songs are mixed with improvisation, a contemporary expression and sounds from New York.”
Flugelhorn – Oskar Stenmark
Double Bass – Bruno Råberg
Piano – Alex Pryrodny
Learn more about Oskar and listen to his range of work on his website.
A story about the clash between personal desires, solidarity and tolerance in a Danish commune in the 1970s.
Saturday, March 17th | 1:30 | Free; donations accepted
107 minutes. In Danish with English subtitles.
Films start at 1:30pm. Refreshments for attendees are served at 1pm. Lunch (not included) is available in the Kaffestugan, which is open until 3pm every Saturday.
Our celebration of Waffle Day at Kaffestugan last year was so popular we’re doing it again! Swedes have enjoyed waffles in some form since the 1600’s and they remain popular today. So much so they celebrate them every March 25th (we’ll celebrate a day early here in Boston)! Often covered with cream and jam instead of syrup, these confections delight the young and old. Come on out for lunch and a waffle or just a waffle on it’s own! We won’t judge. The standard Kaffestugan menu will still be available.
Hubert is a shy and introverted graphic designer who hasn’t been too successful when approaching women. When he falls in love with Hanna, he tries to impress her by resorting to mimicking his boss, a notorious womanizer. This tactic works as an ice-breaker, but soon things get out of control, with unforeseen consequences.
Saturday, February 16th | 1:30pm | FREE donations accepted
93 minutes. In Icelandic with English subtitles.
Films start at 1:30pm. Refreshments for attendees are served at 1pm. Lunch (not included) is available in the Kaffestugan, which is open until 3pm every Saturday.
After their public showing movies in our film series become part of the Scandinavian Library’s collection of DVDs available for borrowing by Library members.
In 1915 three women drove across the country in an Overland Six automobile, from San Francisco to DC. They carried with them 500,000 signatures on a petition to Congress and President Wilson, demanding an amendment to the US Constitution enfranchising women. In the group were two Swedes from Rhode Island, Despite their considerable contributions to making the trip happen at all, and with success, because they were immigrants. As a result, they are often left out of descriptions of this trip.
In 2015 Maine author Anne Gas was so inspired by the story she retraced this famous trip. Join us in the Nordic Hall as Anne retells the story of her great-grandmother and the other important women that took part in the suffrage movement.
Saturday, March 24th | 1pm | $5 suggested donation; free for SCC members
ABOUT ANNE:
Anne B. Gass is Florence Brooks Whitehouse’s great-granddaughter. She is the author of Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage, published in 2014. Her article, “Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Vote to Ratify Women’s Suffrage in 1919,” appeared in the Maine History Journal in 2012. Gass lectures regularly on Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine suffrage history at conferences, historical societies, libraries, and for other groups. Along with other volunteers she is helping the Maine State Museum to develop an exhibit in honor of the 100-year anniversary of Maine’s ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.
In her professional life, Gass has continued her great-grandmother’s activist tradition. She is the founder and principal of ABG Consulting LLC, a small business devoted to supporting nonprofits, local and state governments, and foundations in their efforts to help people in need build stable, productive lives. Her clients create affordable housing and provide programming for people who are low income, homeless, are refugees, have mental illness, or incarcerated.
Visit the Nordic Hall through January and enjoy NATURE from Near and Afar a photo exhibit by Bruce Hauck.
Bruce Hauck is an amateur photographer specializing in nature, with most of my subjects taken from the New England area, while on vacation, or on safari in Africa. Bruce’s interest in capturing birds started sixteen years ago when I noticed the abundant wildlife activity from his home office window overlooking the Charles River.
On display through January 2018
All pictures here on exhibit are for the benefit of The Scandinavian Cultural Center — 80% will be donated to the Center.
Tom DuBois is the Halls-Bascom Professor of Scandinavian Studies and Folklore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on Finnish and Sámi culture, past and present. His books include Finnish Folk Poetry and the Kalevala; Lyric, Meaning and Audience; Nordic Religions in the Viking Age; Sanctity in the North: Saints, Lives and Cults in Medieval Scandinavia; and the co-edited volumes Finnish Folklore and The Nordic Storyteller. Tom is a member of the Kalevalaseura, is a past president of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, and is a past co-editor of the Journal of American Folklore.
