Heil og sæl (Hello in Old Norse). Im carly and today Im gonna show some ways I can show you how to celebrate Leif Eriksson day/Nordic-American heritage day (October 9)
p.s my phone is blocked and my school computer is bad so I cant do research
first of all. What is this holiday?
leif eriksson day is a holiday that celebrates Norse explorer Leif Eriksson who discovered America (newfoundland) , as well as Americans who are Scandinavians or have Scandinavian ancestry (to most nordic communities, 25% or more Scandinavian in DNA tests is considered to be a Scandinavian) Over 15 million people in the USA and Canada have Nordic ancestry. Today, Leif Eriksson day is a legal holiday in 15 US states and 1 Canadian province since it was declared in 1964.
1. Nordic celebrations
if you live in a place where Nordic culture is common (such as in Midwestern USA) there are many Nordic communities who celebrate the holiday. here are some Nordic heritage centers you can go to during the festival
Wooden spoon - Texas
Norwegian House - Minnesota
National Nordic muesum - Washington
Scandinavian-American Genealogical Society (SAGS) Minnesota
Nordic-American council (North Dakota)
2. Watch Nordic movies/docus
One thing you can do when you dont want to go outside is to go watch a Nordic movie or documeantry. It does not have to be about Vikings, but there are a lot of good documeantries about the Nordic and Scandinavian countries on both streaming sites (Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+) and Youtube
3. Genealogy
if you are of Nordic/Scandinavian/Norse ancestry, one way to celebrate Leif eriksson day is by reflecting on your heritage. Genealogical activities you can do include :
Talking to relatives about other family members
going to a genealogy center. in the US there are only 3 that specialize on Nordic ancestry only
DNA testing
chatting on Genealogy forums
anyways, because my school computer is REALLY bad and research is impossible, I swear I will write better essays
