Danish Sisterhood News March 2020

News

Danish Sisterhood

In this Issue:

Serving the Danish Sisterhood of America since 1947

March 2020

Latest Lodge Updates • Grants • Knud Rasmussen

President’s Corner

News

Danish Sisterhood

www.danishsisterhood.com

Honorary Member Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark

Volume 73, Number 3

Published by the Supreme Lodge of the Danish Sisterhood of America, (Dansk Søster Samfund) as its Official Publication.

DANISH SISTERHOOD NEWS (USPS 148-200) is published monthly by the Supreme Lodge of the Danish Sisterhood of America. Office of publication at 1557 Oak St. Solvang, CA 93463. Periodicals Postage Paid at Rochester, MN.

Christina Sallee, National President We are back from our first face-to-face National Board meeting with the Board you elected in October. Our first meeting was in Solvang California, as it is a lovely representation of our Danish roots, and that is always a great place to start. It felt like home and is a reminder of why we are in the Danish Sisterhood. We got a lot of work done and we are working hard to get familiar with our duties and each other, but we all feel revitalized with the energy we are creating.

While in Solvang we did meet with members of Lodge# 177 while they were decorating for fastelavn.

It looked amazing and I am happy that this tradition has been revitalized in Solvang.

We also met with Bruce Bro from National Foundation for Danish America (NFDA) who gave us a presentation about the organization. Our two organizations will be partnering for the benefit of the Sisterhood to create and distribute our meetings and events to a larger audience, we will have more to exciting information to come.

Our partnership with Museum of Danish America (MoDA) and the fund-raising efforts are ongoing.

We have great fundraising ideas for the matching grant, which is used exclusively to fund Sisterhood preservation, but we still have ways to go, so please do donate to this great cause.

We are putting the final touches with the updates of our National By-Laws and will have them ready for shipment soon. Our National Secretary, Glenda Madrid, will be contacting the lodges for totals of By-Laws to be sent out. Glenda has been doing most of the By-Laws updates in additional to her regular duties, so you can show your appreciation by sending her a Thank You, or your Annual Lodge Report.

Finally, the Board is happy to report that the Tivoli Lodge is moving forward with their own draft of ByLaws and are conducting monthly meetings online.

They still have some “heavy” lifting to do, but at the pace they are moving, I believe we will see a Tivoli Lodge delegate at our next National Convention.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DANISH SISTERHOOD NEWS, 1557 Oak St. Solvang, CA 93463 Editor: Lauren C. Nielsen (507) 206-9099

Articles for publication in the Danish Sisterhood News must arrive to the Editor no later than the 1st day of each month previous to publication.

Subscription: Members $12 (US) Non-Members $20 (US) Officers of the Supreme Lodge National President: Christina Sallee, Lodge #81 16116 SW Deline Ct, Beaverton, OR 97007-3425 (503) 928 4494 president@danishsisterhood.com National Vice President & Website: Karin S. Wasler, Lodge #68 814 S Sherbourne Dr #7, Los Angeles, CA 90035 (310) 903-8837 vicepresident@danishsisterhood.com National Secretary: Glenda Madrid, Lodge #177 1557 Oak St. Solvang, CA 93463 (805) 448-7631 secretary@danishsisterhood.com • glenda_madrid@hotmail.com National Treasurer: Linda Brooks, Lodge #21 8402 Winter Berry Dr., Castle Rock, CO 80108 303-905-9934 treasurer@danishsisterhood.com National Trustee & Butikken Chairman: Linda Holz #102 4400 EP True Pkwy Unit 47, West Des Moines, IA 50265-5615 (515) 225-0951 trustee1@danishsisterhood.com National Trustee & Scholarship Chairman: Nealna Gylling, Lodge #186 1474 Floan Point Rd, Brainerd, MN 56401 612-390-1374 trustee2@danishsisterhood.com National Trustee, Membership Chairman: Karen Vig-Keathley, Lodge #4 109 South First Street, Itasca, IL 60143 708-715-0071 trustee3@danishsisterhood.com National Past President: Sindy Mikkelsen, Lodge #126 2938 Sweet Grass Lane, Santa Rosa, CA 95407 (707) 755-0260 National Historian: Donna Christensen Thomas, historian@danishsisterhood.com Copyright 1946-2020 by the Supreme Lodge of the Danish Sisterhood of America, All Rights Reserved.

Christina Sallee, National President Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

Email: editor@danishsisterhood.com

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Velkommen

Lauren C. Nielsen, Editor

In this Issue President’s Corner.............................................p 2 Editor’s Welcome..............................................p 3 Grants...............................................................p 4 Lodge Updates...............................................p 5-7 Knud Rasmussen.........................................p 8-12 Butikken.....................................................p 13-14

Dear Sisters, Things in the world aren’t the greatest at this time...and that’s an understatement. But I’ve been finding some real solace and joy from my community.

I know that the Sisterhood is part of my community and I’m truly grateful to be a part of it. I highly recommend that, even in tough times, you try to stay connected. Your sisters will help get you through.

If you need company, give a sister a call. If you think a fellow sister may be lonely...give her a call! Write a letter or an email. If you are able to, have a group video meeting just to talk and share with each other.

I hope that this letter finds all of you well and that we can all find a little light in each other.

I’ll leave it at that for this issue.

Please keep a lookout for new and exciting things coming to the DSN! And we’ll be asking YOU for some help as well. If you have any questions or submissions, please email me at editor@danishsisterhood.com.

Until next time...

Lauren C. Nielsen, Editor

Youth Birthdays Happy March Birthday to: Names Thomas Keough Heather Baran

Lodge 21 4

Age 8 14

On the Cover Title: Hans Christian Andersen Sculpture Garden Location: Kimballton, IA Photo by: Anna Nielsen As part of the 2019 Danish Sisterhood Convention, the delegates took a field trip to Elk Horn, IA and to Kimballton, IA to visit Danish sites. One of these sites was the Hans Christian Andersen Little Mermaid and Sculpture Garden. Picture on the cover are four sculptures from Andersen’s fairytales (Clockwise from top left): “The Tinder Box”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and “The Steadfast Tin Soldier.”

Submit Your Cover Photo!

Do you have a photo that you’d like to see on the cover of the Danish Sisterhood News? Send in your submissions and yours could be featured next!

Correction from February issue: In the February issue, the wonderful article on the Danish Coat of Arms was written by Annette Lind of the Milwaukee Lodge. My apologies for missing the byline!

Photographs must be high resolution and should be accompanied by a short description of the photo’s content.

Photos from Danish events, Sisterhood meetings, travels around Denmark, Danish culture and more are all great topics. Send photos to: editor@danishsisterhood.com 3

Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

Continuing Education/Cultural Heritage Grant Recipients Congratulations to our 2 recipients of Betty Hansen Continuing Education/Cultural Heritage Grants for the January 31, 2020 deadline. The two recipients are Linda Brooks and Brian Easterby.

Linda is from Ellen Lodge, #21, and is our new National Treasurer. She used the grant money to take a class in Quickbooks, the accounting program used by the National Sisterhood organization. What a good use of our grant money to help our treasurer perform her job!!

Brian is the son of Jonna Easterby, a mem-

ber of Bluewater Mermaids, #184. Brian used his grant money to take Danish Beginner Level I class. Brian’s goals are to learn enough conversational Danish to be able to speak with his Danish speaking grandfather. We certainly hope you reach that goal, Brian!

The next applications for the Betty Hansen Continuing Education/Cultural Heritage Grants must be postmarked by August 31, 2020. See the Danish Sisterhood of America website for more information or contact Nealna Gylling, National Trustee.

Apply for a Summer Camp Grant!

Summer time is coming and for kids that means CAMP!!! The Danish Sisterhood supports the members and their children and grandchildren through age 18 who are attending a camp during the summer.

This camp may be a day camp or an overnight camp.

It can pertain to something about Denmark or can be about any of your interests. The Danish Sisterhood of America will assist you by awarding up to 8 general camp grants of $100.00 each, not to exceed the camp costs. Find an application at the Danish Sisterhood website www.danishsisterhood.org. Go under “What We Do” to camp grants.

A Danish camp might be a fun camp to try. In the Northwest part of the states are two Danish day camps for younger children. One in Seattle, Dane Camp for Little Vikings (www.northwestdanish.org) and one in Portland, Little Tivoli (www.littletivoli.org) both offer activities, stories and learning about the Danish culture. Also in the northwest is Himmelbjerget Danish Camp in Corbett, Oregon for kids ages 10-18. This weeklong overnight camp offers a unique

opportunity to learn about the history, people, culture, language and traditions of Denmark. Website: www.nwDanishCamp.com for Himmelbjerget

In northern Minnesota, Concordia Language Village is the home of Skovsøen, a Danish immersion camp. Skovsøen offers camping opportunities from day camp to a 4 week camp which includes high school credit and everything in between. At Skovsøen, campers learn words, phrases, and the history and traditions of Danish-speaking people as they are immersed in a fun, culturally authentic learning environment. For more information go to their website Concordialanguagevillages.org.

Remember camp grants are good for these camps as well as any other camp of your interest or choice. For more information or questions go the the Danish Sisterhood website or contact Nealna Gylling at trustee2@danishsisterhood.com ENJOY A SUMMER CAMP!!!

In Memoriam NAME Marie Jonasen Esther Woods Joan Lewis Ken Mikkelsen Birthe Olesen

Cert # 21674 20189 1240 1088 21937

Lodge # 129 165 181 126 86

Location Erie, PA Santa Barbara, CA Holiday, FL Petaluma, CA Philadelphia, PA

Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

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Birth Date 5.21.31 10.27.31 6.11.28 8.10.32 12.17.27

Birth Place Initiated Erie, PA 1.13.60 Santa Barbara, CA 1.9.48 Rego Park, NY 10.12.03 Oakland, CA 5.20.00 Aalborg, DK 4.19.62

Died Benefit 1.2.20 250.

6.24.19 125.

2.01.20 0 11.1.19 0 1.09.20 125.

NEBRASKA/COLORADO DANISH SISTERHOOD DISTRICT CONVENTION, OCTOBER 2, 2019 Fall is a good time to take a trip, so we were off to Omaha in October of 2019. The Denver Sisterhood Lodge #21 offered to host our yearly NE/CO District Convention. A plan was presented to hold the District meeting one day prior to the National DSS Convention in Omaha. And what a good idea! We were able to combine two meetings into one trip saving us planning, time and money. Thank you Denver for all of your work in organizing our meeting! Also, their handmade crafts were a wonderful addition to the Butikken at National.

Our District meeting consisted of Sisterhood Lodges from Omaha, #6; Denver, #21; and Lincoln, #90. Grand Island, NE #113 members were not present, but a report was given in their absence. Each Lodge Delegate shared a year of activities with us. Its always interesting to hear about their members, meetings and their community involvement. Next on the agenda, Illnesses of various Sisters were reported. Our District Historian, Donna Christensen Thomas asked the Lodges to consider passing along pictures, or any memorabilia to her for safe keeping. It’s so important to preserve these historical items, see them and share them with our members. Donations were discussed and designated money will be sent to the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, IA and the National DSS Disaster Fund.

We always remember our Danish Sisters who have passed away during the previous year. When we come together for a District meeting, a memorial service is planned with an individual red rose and prepared personal comments about each one. The Denver Lodge regrettably lost two members: Cheryl Sanford and Goethe Jensen. Our Lincoln Lodge sadly reported the loss of three members: Irene Gnata, Shirley Oliver and Margie Miller. This is also a special time to remember our other Danish Sisters and Brothers who have passed before us.

In recent months some of our District members have raised the question of combining the NE/CO District with the Heartland District. Reason being: the reduction in numbers attending our District meetings. The Heartland District consists

Welcome New Members!

of Lodges in Davenport, IA; Des Moines, IA and Brainerd, MN. A representative of Heartland, Carol Rudistill of Des Moines, was asked to meet with us and answer any questions that we might have. With a comprehensive discussion, the Heartland District whole-heartedly welcomed us to join their District. It is now up to our Lodges to take that reported discussion back to their members, and I’m sure there will be more to consider.

NE/CO District Officers and Appointees were re-elected and re-appointed for the coming year: Past President Christine Jensen Hix, Denver; President Vicki Bousquet, Lincoln; Vice President Joanna Christiansen, Denver; Secretary Jane Nyffeler, Lincoln; Treasurer Donna Hansen, Lincoln; Trustee Diane Honore, Grand Island; Correspondent Joan Tomlinson White, Lincoln; and Historian Donna Christensen Thomas, Lincoln/Omaha. Congratulations to everyone!

The following day, October 3 we continued with more meetings, only this time it was the 2019 National DSS Convention. Its always fun to meet and greet our Danish Sisters that we have not seen for a while and make new friends, too. Our common thread begins with our Danish heritage, but then becomes so much more. We congratulate Linda Brooks from the Denver Lodge who was elected our new National Treasurer, and appointed Donna Christensen Thomas from the Lincoln and Omaha Lodges as National Historian. Another friend representing us from the mid-west is National Trustee and Butikken Chairman, Linda Holz from Lodge #102, West Des Moines, IA. Thanks to all of those past officers who have given their time and money to the Sisterhood. Together we congratulate and support the new group of National Officers. Thank you always for your ideas, friendship, and your willingness to serve our beloved Danish Sisterhood.

Joan Tomlinson White Correspondent Nebraska/Colorado Sisterhood District Convention

Membership Expansion LODGE 15

NEW MEMBER Cathy Jensen 5

SPONSOR Susan Jensen Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

Olympia/Tacoma Washington - Thyra Lodge #19 Charitable Giving Adds Up Our lodge has always been about celebrating our Danish heritage, and charitable giving in honor of that heritage. We give scholarships to help members, their children and grandchildren with college tuition and other related costs. Nineteen students have benefitted from our scholarships since we began awarding them in 2003. The lodge voted to name the scholarship fund after a longtime member and past president, who donated $5000 to the fund from her estate after she passed away in 2013. The fund was renamed the Evelyn Reynolds Scholarship Fund. We recently voted to include great grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews as eligible family members for scholarships. We have had students ranging in age from 18 to 52 years old. The scholarship amounts have changed over the years, depending on how much we decide to award each year and the number of applicants we receive. This year we will be awarding two one-thousand dollar scholarships.

The total amount of $13,600.

We hold several events throughout the year to raise money for the scholarship fund.

These include Danish cooking classes, bake sales and our annual one-day holiday bazaar in November. We began doing the bazaar in 2009 at the Scandinavian Cultural Center at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland WA. Our sisters recruit craft vendors who purchase display tables to sell their handicrafts, and our lodge members host tables with homemade baked goods for sale. We also sell freshly cooked aebleskiver throughout the day. The visitors love to watch the cooks working the hot cast iron pans and turning the little dough balls into a delicious treat to have with their cofDanish Sisterhood News, March 2020

fee. In addition to the vendors and food sales, we raffle off a gift basket or two at the end of the day.

The bazaar is one of the biggest fund raisers for our lodge.

Our lodge has also made donations to many other worthy causes including local food banks; victims of natural disasters like hurricanes and mudslides; the Himmelbjerget Danish Camp for children 10 to 18 years old to learn about Danish heritage; the National Danish Museum

in Elk Horn IA; and the new Nordic Museum in Seattle. We are very proud of the charitable work our lodge does, and when we receive thank you letters from the students we have helped it shows us that our work is very much appreciated. We will continue to find ways to raise money for our scholarship fund and allow us to donate to other worthy organizations.

Susan Reynolds, Thyra Lodge # 19 Correspondent

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Requesting/processing a funeral benefit for a certificate holding member.

We felt it would be helpful to the Lodge secretaries and member’s families if I posted the instructions for requesting a funeral benefit.

When one of our certificate holding members passes away, their beneficiaries are entitled to their funeral benefit. The member must have been a current/active member (dues paid) at the time of their death for the benefit to be valid.

The funds will be issued to the beneficiary noted in the member’s record with the National Secretary. If the noted beneficiary passed away prior to the member, and no beneficiary change had been made, the check will be issued to the Estate of…..

Many lodge secretaries/treasurers manage the request to process a funeral benefit for the family.

The process:

• Send a certified copy of the member’s death certificate

• Provide contact information of the beneficiary or executor of the estate

• National Secretary verifies valid membership and records the members passing

• National Treasurer then issues payment to the beneficiary Please mail the death certificate and contact information to me at the following address: Glenda Madrid National Secretary 1557 Oak St Solvang, CA 93463 Note… If your listed beneficiary is deceased or is inappropriate to receive your funeral benefit, you may request a certificate beneficiary change form from me as well.

If you have any questions, you may also contact me through my email: glenda_madrid@hotmail.com or secretary@danishsisterhood.com

Updates from Amber Lodge #186 A Minnesota snowstorm forced us to cancel our January meeting. In February President Barb Wenschlag and Vice President Judy Andersen presented an informational program to a group of seniors at Northern Lakes Senior Living in Brainerd. In addition to telling the attendees some history about National Danish Sisterhood and Amber Lodge the seniors learned about the 800th Anniversary of Dannebrog, Faste-

lavn, and each made a woven heart basket with help from Judy and Barb.

The February meeting included the installation of officers for 2020 and the initiation of new member Amber Thusholt. Officers are President Barb Wenschlag, VP Judy Andersen, Co-secretaries LeAnn Plinske/Nealna Gylling, Treasurer Dottie Bisted, Trustees Jane Matthies-Holtan (Correspondence), Mandi Bisted(Sick and needy), and Margaret Hill(Marshall). The business meeting included discussing our plans for programs this year. In addition to our regular monthly meetings we decided to try extra gatherings for making Danish crafts.

We hope everyone is having a great start to this new year.

Respectfully submitted by Barb Wenschlag 7

Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

Knud Rasmussen, A Very Great Dane

by Annette Lind, Lodge 15

For Christmas of 1957 my parents gave me a book called The Picture History of Denmark by Hester O’Neill. In it my mother wrote “Always remember the country your Dad came from.” Even as an adult, I still find myself looking in the book which brings back memories of my father and his homeland which I first got to see at age 13. It was while recently reading a section in this book on Greenland that I saw the name of Knud Rasmussen.

Now I had heard about this Arctic explorer, but other than his name, there was not really much I knew about him. It seemed like a little research on Rasmussen might be a good way to spend some hours while sitting in my warm living room with the snow and the temperature falling outside.

It turns out Knud Rasmussen is quite underrated outside of Greenland, Denmark and the Inuit people who live in Canada. He deserves much more recognition. He is someone who should make us all proud to be Danes.

Knud Rasmussen was born in Greenland in 1879. His father was Christian Vilhelm Rasmussen, a Danish missionary and vicar from the village of Vråby on Sjelland. In 1873 his father had immigrated to Greenland. He became part of the culture of his adopted land, becoming fluent in the Greenland dialect of Eskimo Kalaallesat, so much so he authored a Greenlandic/Danish dictionary and eventually taught the Greenlandic language at the University of Copenhagen.

Christian Rasmussen lived in Greenland for 28 years. His parsonage included the entire northern half of Danish-colonized Greenland. He not only adopted the language but loved the life style. He was constantly traveling by dog sled through his district, often taking his son Knud with him.

Knud’s mother Sophia Louise came from a family with the last name of Fleicher. The first Fleicher to come to Greenland was a Norwegian Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

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Jew of Polish descent who came there to start a trading post. The family had lived in Greenland for over a century.

Knud’s grandfather married a young half-Inuit orphan girl he had found starving to death.

This made Sophia one quarter Inuit.

As a boy Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen was influenced by his father who lived and loved a life of challenges and exhausting travel and by his mother Sophia Louise who taught him to be proud of his Greenlandic heritage.

Although some sources say Rasmussen was one-half Inuit, in fact he was only about 1/8 Inuit. A close friend described him as looking more like a

North American Indian than an Eskimo.

As a boy Knud played the games children in Greenland play—games to prepare them for life in this hard environment. Knud especially enjoyed playing a game where his friends played the part of sled dogs and Knud the driver. However, he also loved to hear the stories/folk tales about the Inuit, especially the story of the “pure Eskimo” who lived in the far north, the Polar Eskimos. Rasmussen wrote, “When I was a child I used to hear an old Greenlandic woman tell how, far away north at the end of the world, there lived a people who dressed in bear skins and ate raw fish. Their country was always shut by ice and the daylight never reached over the tops of the high fjords.”

When Knud was 12 his father requested a leave to take his family (his wife, Knud, his sister Me and his brother Peter) to Denmark. In June 1891 the family boarded a ship and set sail. The landscape, homes, food and crowds of people in Copenhagen were very strange to Knud.

He attended the Nødrrrebro Grammar School in Copenhagen. When his father’s leave ended the family returned Greenland without Knud.

It was apparently a difficult and lonely time in his

life. Greenland was too far for visits and mail could take up to six months. He lived with the Jorgensen family whose father was a wine merchant. Knud was poor in mathematics and not used to the sedentary and confined life in school. He was not a good student.

After two years the Rasmussen family returned to Denmark and Christian Rasmussen was called to a parsonage near Lynge. He also worked as an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen. Knud and his brother were put in public school at Birkeröd where they remained until entering the University of Copenhagen. Knud enrolled in the University as a student of philosophy and language, but he remained a poor student.

He was, however, very popular among this fellow classmates. He was more interested in partying and found his friends in a bohemian crowd. Knud withdrew from the university and briefly pursued work as an actor, opera singer and journalist. But nothing he found in school drew him like Greenland. For him then, and for all of his life, it was always Greenland.

Greenland under Danish rule had remained fairly isolated from the rest of the world. The Danish government wanted to avoid commercial exploration, allowing the native Greenlanders to adapt slowly to outside influence. Others including Rasmussen wanted Greenlanders to move toward a market economy and prevent their exploitation.

In 1902 at the age of 23 Rasmussen was asked to join the Danish Literary Expedition to Greenland. This expedition was organized by Ludwig Mylius-Ericksen with the goal of touring the southern “civilized” regions of Greenland in order to compare them with the distant northern communities. Mylius-Ericksen was an anti-establishment journalist, and it is likely he hoped to discover stories of Danish corruption in the governing of Greenland. His group included a doctor and a painter as well as Rasmussen. Knud spoke the language and had the background in Greenland. It does not seem Mylius-Ericksen found a scandal to write about. For Rasmussen it was not only a chance to finally be able to fulfill his dream to meet the Polar Eskimos but when things got bad for the expedition, it was Rasmussen who went ahead to a village where he was able to get food and warm clothes and saved the expedition from disaster, making him a bit of hero in Denmark and Greenland. The life and fame

of Knud Rasmussen as an Arctic explorer was born.

It was Rasmussen who upon his return wrote, and in 1908 published, The People of the Polar North. The book was recollections of his time on the Danish Literary Expedition and contained a chapter on the fables and legends of the Eskimo people.

With his dynamic personality, Rasmussen was always very popular with women. Despite being only 5’ 5” tall, his exotic appearance and good looks made him quite the ladies man. Upon his return from Greenland he met Dagmar Andersen, a beautiful young woman and the daughter of a wealthy Danish business man. He married her on November 11, 1908, and they spent their honeymoon skiing in Norway. Stephen J. Bown writes in his book White Eskimo, “Dagmar was always loyal, advocating for Rasmussen, working with him to promote his ideas and fame, perhaps knowing that this reflected glory from her husband would be her only reward for years of loneliness.”

Domestic life was not for Knud. Almost immediately he began to make plans for returning to Greenland. He was gone for much of their life and perhaps preferred the much looser fidelity rules of marriage he found among the native population of Greenland. They had three children: Hanne born in December 1909, Inge born in March 1911 and Niels born in March of 1919. Rasmussen also fathered a child out of wedlock in 1902.

By 1910 Rasmussen and his friend Peter Freuchen were back in Greenland. They established the Thule Trading Station at Cape York, now known as Qaanaaq. The purpose was to not only provide a trading center for the far northern Greenlanders, but also as a place to be used as the base for future expeditions. They chose the word ‘Thule’ because it was the name given to the farthest northern location and appears in ancient Greek and Roman literature. Eventually it came to mean “any distant place located beyond the boarders of the known world.” The name was given to the northernmost USAF airfield, Thule Air Base.

The trading station became the home base for seven expeditions between 1912 and 1933.

They are known as the Thule Expeditions.

In 1912 Rasmussen, Freuchen and two other companions began the First Thule expedition. The goal was to test the claim made by the American Arctic explorer, Robert Peary, that there was a channel that divided Peary Land from Greenland. To do 9

Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

this they made a 620 mile journey across the Greenland Ice Sheet known to the Polar Inuit as being a spirit-infested place. According to legend it was populated with monsters, people who ate stones, and rabbits the size of dogs.

They originally left on April 16, 1912 with a larger group of men. They had a total of 34 sleds and 360 dogs. Much of the party turned back at Clements Glacier and the four men (Rasmussen, Freuchen and two Inuits) with 53 dogs headed out on the ice cap. The expedition had left with four sledges loaded with 600 pounds of provisions and equipment, but with barely enough food to last the journey, assuming all went well. They expected to be able to add to the food supply by hunting.

Things did not go well. Temperatures hovered around -22 Fahrenheit and a constant wind blew bringing the temperatures far lower.

In his book Bown describes the men with “faces that froze while their skin burned from the ultraviolet rays until it peeled, hanging in ragged splotches, raw and bleeding. Ice needles shredded the poor dogs feet.” But they continued on. Eventually their food ran out. Freuchen became snow blind. The sled runners made of walrus hide became their food.

Near the end of June they were able to prove with no uncertainty that there was no Peary Channel and, in fact, Peary Land was a part of Greenland. With three sleds and around 16 dogs they returned to Thule amid great celebration. They had been presumed dead.

The Second Thule expedition included seven men. The goal was to map an area of Greenland’s northwest. Rasmussen documented this trip in his book Greenland by the Polar Sea published in 1921. Two of the members on this trip died. In a harsh and dangerous land they were the only two people lost on any of Rasmussen’s expeditions. In reality this is an amazing record for Arctic Exploration.

They had set off on April 6, 1917. This time Freuchen stayed behind. It was another difficult journey and by August 24 they had completely run out of food after eating their last dog. Once again they survived and returned to base. By the end of the Second Thule Expedition Rasmussen was clear on what was to be his greatest ambition. He wanted to transverse the entire homeland of the Inuit people from east to west and find the origin of the Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

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Eskimo.

By 1919 the Thule Station was proving very profitable. Instead of having to beg for funds, they had some money of their own. Rasmussen organized the Third and Fourth Thule Expeditions. The Third was to place a depot for Roald Amundsen’s planned polar drift in his ship Maud from Spitsbergen (an island in Norther Norway) to Alaska. A cache of food and supplies was placed, but Amundsen never got through due to packed ice.

The Fourth Thule Expedition was a short journey by Rasmussen to hear and record more Inuit stories. He took a steamship from Copenhagen to Julianehåb (Qaqortoq), then a smaller boat around the southern tip of Greenland then north along the east coast to Angmagssalek (Tasiilaq). The people he met had lived secluded and remote, much like the Polar Inuit. The stories of these people had not been greatly influenced by missionaries. Rasmussen interviewed a former shaman, Autdaruta. When Rasmussen returned to Denmark from the Fourth Expedition, he wrote Myths and Legends from Greenland published in three volumes in Danish in 1921.

It was believed that the angahut (shamans) had supernatural powers. Rasmussen was especially interested in the tales told by the shamans. In White Eskimo Bown writes “He (Rasmussen) searched for insight into the world of the Inuit and its metaphors and signs, its mosaic of magic and mystery.” With his skill to listen without judgment to the stories of the angahut and his skill in writing and translating what he heard, Rasmussen became known as the “Father of Eskimology.” Tralbitzer in his memorial for Rasmussen discusses Rasmussen’s work method. He took down the words whenever possible in the original language. He then did the translation to Danish and later into one of the more universal languages. Rasmussen realized the difficulty of translating the ideas and the train of thought into the more modern European world. The Eskimo language is difficult to translate because so many concepts are evident and familiar to them so without any need for explanation in the text.

What has proved very fortunate to future linguists is Rasmussen’s process of publishing the texts exactly as he took them down and inserting his translations between the lines. Thalbitzer says the following of Rasmussen, “(he) is an interpreter of the highest quality, he is the instrument elect,

the clear mirror of his soul reflects his Eskimo spirit blended with his European mentality.”

The Fifth expedition from 1921-1924 is perhaps the greatest of all of Rasmussen’s achievements. The goal this time was to search and discover the origin of the Eskimo race. When Knud was a boy he had heard many stories about the creation of the world and the origin of his people, the origin being said to be set across Baffin Bay (located between Baffin Island and the west cost of Greenland).

This meant a journey from Greenland across the Canadian Arctic to Alaska.

Knud was 42 years old when he began the Fifth Thule Expedition. The expedition landed on what is today known as Danish Island. They spent 18 months exploring the area around Hudson Bay. Then the group divided, and in 1923 Rasmussen and two Inuits named Miteq and Arnarulunquaq (Rasmussen’s mistress) began a journey by dog sled through the entire Northwest Passage. In 3 1/2 years they traveled 18,000 miles from Hudson Bay to Point Barrow Alaska. They even crossed the Bering Straight to Siberia, but they were sent back by the Soviets.

But there was more to the expedition than covering the miles as quickly as possible. To prove his theory of the origin of the Eskimo, Knud had to talk with the people he found along the way and learn from their stories and life style. As they traveled they looked for signs of human inhabitance.

Whether it was actual hunting parties they encountered or the sled tracks in the snow, they spent time finding the Inuit and listening to their stories. The people he met told stories with origins back hundreds and perhaps thousands of years.

Through this first-hand observation, Rasmussen was able to trace the evolution of sled design, strategies used in hunting, language and dialect.

He began to understand the history of their customs and their spirituality. Bown writes, ”During nearly three decades of travel by dogsled through the polar world, he (Rasmussen) visited every Inuit tribe then known to exist and published dozens of anthologies of Greenlandic and Inuit songs, stories, folktales legends and poems.”

The story of the Fifth Thule Expedition is told in the 1927 book Across Arctic America. It is sometimes referred to as “The Great Sled Journey” and in 2006 the story was made into a Canadian film The Journal of Knud Rasmussen. Rasmussen

became the first European to cross the Northwest Passage by sled.

The Fifth Thule Expedition brought back over 15,000 ethnographic, biological specimens and archaeological objects. Many of them are on display in Danish Museums.

After this expedition and before returning to Copenhagen, the three members (Rasmussen, Miteq and Arnarulunquaq) took a boat to Seattle and traveled across the United States to great acclaim. Upon their return, Knud received an honorary doctorate from the University of Copenhagen. In his speech of acceptance he quoted Rasmus Rask, a Danish linguist and philologist especially known for his contributions to comparative linguistics and said to have known 25 languages. The quote Rasmussen used is famous, “To your country you owe all in your power.” (Sit Faedreland skulker man alt hvad man kan uddette.) Surely that quote could describe Rasmussen and his many expeditions.

Bown in White Eskimo says that scientists today have been able to show that Rasmussen’s theories on the Inuit migration were mostly right.

Around 1500 to 2000 years ago the Inuits began moving from Alaska across Canada and after several centuries into Greenland.

When the Fifth Thule Expedition ended Rasmussen was 45 years old. For the next seven years he traveled between Greenland and Denmark given lectures and writing.

But lecturing and writing were not what excited Knud Rasmussen. In 1931 he went on the Sixth Thule Expedition. This expedition explored the east coast of Greenland. The purpose was to chart the coast, collect flora and fauna and to search for ruins. Rasmussen would use this time to gather evidence of an “ancient intellectual culture” in the area. This time the expedition was mostly by boat with Rasmussen as a passenger. The ship was named Dagmar after Knud’s wife.

In the winter of 1931-1932 Rasmussen began to plan the Seventh Thule Expedition. He left for Greenland in May 1932 to interview Greenlanders for this expedition. In June they began the trip with basically the same goals as the Sixth Thule Expedition. In November 1932 he returned again to Denmark. This time he was called to speak at the Hague in relation to the Eastern Greenland Case.

In 1919 Nils Claus Ihlens, Norway’s Foreign Minister, declared that Norway would not oppose 11

Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

Denmark declaring sovereignty over all of Greenland. However, In 1931 Norway declared its sovereignty over the area of Eastern Greenland that they called Erik the Red Land. Since Norway had occupied this land into the 1930’s they claimed ownership. This became known as the Eastern Greenland Case. It was tried before the International Court at the Hague. It is thought Rasmussen’s speech before the Hague influenced the judgment on September 5, 1933 that awarded the territory of Eastern Greenland to Denmark.

In late 1932 and early 1933 Rasmussen began working on a film. It would be a polar love story, eventually called The Wedding of Palo. The filming would take place in Greenland.

In August of 1933 Charles Lindberg and his wife Anne Morrow Lindberg stopped in Greenland on their world tour. Rasmussen is said to have been delighted to meet them and put on an Arctic dinner. Whenever Rasmussen was in Greenland he chose to live like a Greenlander, including eating a Greenlandic diet of raw meat and aged delicacies.

Later that fall Rasmussen became ill with a stomach problem. It soon became apparent that it was much more. He suffered with fevers that came and went and headaches which made him feel weak and dizzy. In October 1933 he was moved to a hospital in Nuuk by ship. The trip took several days.

In Nuuk he was diagnosed with flu and pneumonia.

A ship was sent to pick him up and take him to Copenhagen for treatment. He lay sick for several weeks. Eventually he was diagnosed with a rare form of botulism most likely from eating contaminated meat. Some sources identify the source as kiviaq. Kiviaq is a traditional Inuit winter food. It is made from little auks (dovskie), a black and white diving sea bird. The birds including feathers and beaks are place in a seal skin and fermented. He seemed to be improving, and on December 19th even sent out Christmas greetings saying he looked forward to returning to Greenland. Two days later he was dead at the age of 54.

Rasmussen was buried at the Vestre Kirkegård in Copenhagen.

Thorvald Stauning, the Prime Minister of Denmark in 1933, declared Knud Rasmussen was “one of the best men Denmark ever had.” Tributes came in from all around the world.

Toward the end of Stephen Bown’s biography of Knud Rasmussen he writes, “Without doubt Danish Sisterhood News, March 2020

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his explorations are legendary and his collections and translation of Inuit philosophy, legends and poetry a groundbreaking literary and cultural feet, but perhaps Knud Rasmussen’s underlying greatness lay in his warmth—his genuine passion for life, his deep respect for all those who’s world he shared.”

Bown ends his book with a quote by Rasmussen’s friend Peter Freuchen, “…. I have never known a man who could forget other’s faults so quickly and completely and find compensating good points…. Knud Rasmussen, throughout his whole life, left the people he visited richer than when he came to them.”

Want to know more about this amazing Dane? Here is a list of a few of his books available in English and some books about him and his expeditions. There is also the Canadian movie mentioned above, however, it seems to be difficult to get a copy.

White Eskimo, Stephen R Bown. This is a fairly recent biography of Rasmussen This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland, Gretel Ehrlich This book combines the story of her travels with history and cultural anthropology (including Rasmussen) to reveal Greenland.

Across Arctic America: Narrative of the Fifth Thule Expedition, Knud Rasmussen. Reprinted 1999.

Eskimo Folk Tales, Knud Rasmussen Eskimo Poems from Canada and Greenland, Knud Rasmussen Greenland by the Polar Sea: The Story of the Thule Expedition, Knud Rasmussen

Rasmussen was a great man who of course had his faults. But in reading that last quote from his friend, I can only wish there were now more men and women like him in our world to help heal our divisions.

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DSS Angel Member Status The Danish Sisterhood has a new and very special member status, the DSS Angels. This status belongs to those members that wish to gift their funeral benefit back to the Sisterhood. We have had some members in the past make the Sisterhood their beneficiary. We believe this is a generous and significant gift, and wish to honor them while we can, keeping a list of our current “Angels� posted.

If you wish to change your status, please contact your lodge or National Secretary for a Beneficiary Change form. Your benefit does not need to be fully paid yet, and you would be expected to maintain your payments, as the Sisterhood will not receive the benefit until your passing. Those that do not have a funeral benefit as part of your membership category are welcome to participate by donating $1000 to the Danish Sisterhood, which can be sent to the National Treasurer.

On behalf of our entire membership, we wish to thank and honor as our first Angels: Lodge #

Name

166

Viola Wilson

168

Joann Scott

126

Dorothy Petersen

188

Karin Plagens

75

Sandra Nelson

22

Carole Hodges

15

Andrea Sue Welling Leih

12

Elizabeth Haar

177

Glenda Madrid

125

Nancy J. Mayland

171

Johanne Gade

102

Diann Weinman

149

Carol Smith

Address Changes If you have moved please use this form to notify the Danish Sisterhood of America.

Clip and mail to: Danish Sisterhood News National Secretary: Glenda Madrid 1557 Oak St. Solvang, CA 93463 I belong to Lodge #: Name: New Address: City: Zip Code:

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