The lacklustre successor to 1994
Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Norway Now, January 1995
[Image] 1994 was a year saturated with large-scale public
rituals and spectacles - from the Winter Olympics
About this site through to the EU referendum. But what - if anything -
does 1995 have in store for us Norwegians?
[Image]
It is going to be difficult, and probably impossible,
Relational for 1995 even to approach last year's record regarding
index dramatic public events engaging the majority of the
Norwegian population. Even those who felt that the
[Image] Winter Olympics became too selv-indulgent, too expensive
or too cold, were inevitably pulled in by its sheer
Thematic index force of gravity; and even people who had never seen a
soccer game in their life could not help learning the
[Image] names and favourite colours of Norway's national players
and substitutes, including the coach's dog. The rather
Alphabetic sudden disappearance of Norway's team from the World Cup
index dampened collective emotions briefly, but as soon as
Brazil had taken the trophy home, Norwegians were deeply
[Image] engaged in the final stage of the EU debate, which
lasted just until it was time to get ready for
Recent Christmas.
These major national events had something important in
[Image] common. They all strengthened the integration of
Norwegian society, even when, as in the case of the
World referendum, the population was divided. The Olympics,
the World Cup and the EU issue gave virtually all
Norwegians an occasion, rare in our day and age, to get
immersed in issues of shared concern.
We are now well into 1995, which, it must be conceded,
seems to hold much less promise. Let us take a look at
the national agenda.
Prayers, hopes and silver linings notwithstanding, there
will be no Winter Olympics this year. Moreover, as if
commenting consciously on the lacklustre year of 1995,
the national ski jumpers and ice skaters have so far
given appallingly bad performances this season. As if
this weren't enough, just after the New Year, the
Norwegian soccer team was ranked nineteenth in Europe.
There won't be another referendum either. All we can
wait for in terms of large political rituals this year
are the local elections, where Norway's 400-odd
municipalities and rural districts (kommuner) are going
to elect a few thousand sturdy and committed local
politicians discussing bicycle lanes and kindergartens.
Ho hum.
Fortunately, there is a little bit more on the agenda.
Notably, two large public rituals are scheduled, and
they promise to engage at least a significant proportion
of the chattering classes in Norway. For the coming
spring, we may look forward to the fiftieth Second World
War anniversary. There will be colourful processions,
brass music, ice cream for the kids and solemn speeches
in parks, town halls and squares where the great
achievement of our resistance heroes will be spoken of
at great length, and where the Norwegian love of country
and liberty will be reiterated in the highly ritualised,
and therefore repetitive, language of our politicians.
This year's festivities will mark the last major war
anniversary where people who actually remember the war
will participate.
Fortunately, there is bound to be at least some
controversy. After our ambivalent clinch with the
European Union, nobody can mention the Norwegian nation
without creating instant debate and bitter disagreement.
At the very least, we may look forward to some juicy
professorial quarrels about the nature of Norwegian
resistance and the EU, about the very large number of
Norwegians who were members of the Nazi party in 1945,
or about the concept of sovereignty in a globalised era.
This may not be a great deal, perhaps, but at least it
is more than nothing.
For those who prefer good old religion to modern
nationalism, 1995 can actually offer an authentic
millennial demarcation. It was (have you forgotten?)
exactly a thousand years ago that the first,
unbelievably modest Christian congregation was founded
hereabouts. There will presumably be church concerts,
historical plays, and a few halfhearted newspaper
debates on the continued importance of Christianity for
the secularised Norwegians. I can, I am sorry to say,
already hear my friends, Generation X'ers to a man,
mumble above their trendy goatees: "Christianity? Does
anybody still care?"
Well. Time will, inevitably, tell. In the meanwhile, let
us for once consider the advantages of not having to
cope with some monstrous public event noisily
celebrating the virtues of Norway and its people. Some
of us might even have time to read a book. Possibly even
one written by a non-Norwegian, sorry, a foreigner, as
the remaining 99.9 per cent of the world's population
are commonly spoken of up here.
⌐Thomas Hylland Eriksen 1995
[Image]
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