Promoting Scandinavian culture in the Greater Vancouver Area, B.C.
We’ll celebrate Leif Erikson Day on Saturday, 26 October, 2024
at the Scandinavian Community Centre in Burnaby, BC
This year we’ll focus on Iceland, the windswept home of Vikings and volcanoes.
With the Icelandic Canadian Club of British Columbia,
we’ll explore the replica Viking Ship Munin and learn about Iceland’s volcanic landscape.
Download the poster —
Poster FINAL 4
Call to artists —
We are delighted to announce the Nordic and Photography Show, April 26 & 27, 2025.
Participation is open to all artists who nurture a Nordic connection —
To celebrate Leif Erikson Day 2022, we’re marking several anniversaries — all pertaining to Scandinavians who formed significant relationships with indigenous people as they explored Arctic North America.
It’s been 1000 years, give or take a few, since Gudrid the Far-Traveler journeyed from Viking Greenland to Vinland (Newfoundland). She mixed with the local native people and gave birth to the first European baby born in North America before returning home.
100 years ago, the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen received the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work with refugees from World War I and other conflicts of the time. Nans
en had gained international stature from his explorations in the Arctic. When he crossed the Greenland ice cap in 1888, his team included two Sámi members, and they got to know Inuit groups on Greenland’s east and west coasts.
2022 also marks the centennial of Knud Rasmussen’s 5th Thule Expedition. From 1922 to 1924, Rasmussen, with several Inuit team members, crossed the width of Canada’s North, gathering ethnographic information about all the Inuit communities along the way. Since Rasmussen was perfectly at home with the Inuit, he documented stories and cultural practices that were soon to change drastically as the area was
colonized.
We’re looking forward to sharing these stories about Norse explorers and the indigenous people they lived and worked with.
Download the poster —
Leif Erikson Day 2022 poster edited
Our 2022 Nordic Spirit heritage photo show “Scandinavian Immigrant Women” will celebrate the lives and achievements of women from Scandinavia who made new lives for themselves and their families here. The exhibit continues the Scandinavian Cultural Society’s “Nordic Spirit” series, featuring unique heritage photos and stories of immigration to British Columbia and other parts of Canada. Please join us for an inspiring look into the lives of some remarkable women, shared by members of our Scandinavian Centre community.
Download link for poster: Nordic Spirit Poster 2022 V5
Program for Saturday, 23 April
12:00 — Opening ceremony & reception
1:30 — Linda Peterat — “Laura Lindhard: Cariboo Wife, Mother and Merchant, 1870-1900.”
2:30 — Susanne Rasmussen – “What’s the fuss about Knud Rasmussen? The women who made it happen”
3:30 — Carolyn Thauberger — “Marriage by Mail”
Saturday 5 October, 2019, Noon – 9:30 pm
Scandinavian Community Centre, 6540 Thomas St., Burnaby, BC
In 1619, the Danish sea-captain Jens Munk set out to find the Northwest Passage. After a year of terrible hardship and death in Hudson’s Bay, only three men made it back to Denmark to tell their tale. Leif Erikson Festival 2019 will honour Jens Munk’s story of tragedy and triumph.
Our 2019 Festival celebrates Leif Erikson’s spirit of discovery, with presentations on both Inuit–Norse contact in the Artic and on the 1619-20 voyage of Danish Captain Jens Munk to Hudson Bay. Two hundred years before Franklin and 300 years before Amundsen, this daring Dane came closer to finding the Northwest Passage than anyone before. This is the 400th anniversary of his trip. The festival includes an art display, talks, and an informal dinner and movie.
Abraham Anghik Ruben, O.C.: Sculpture; Consequences of Inuit – Norse Contact
Artist Abraham Anghik Ruben is one of Canada’s most important artists. He will display several of his sculptures, giving us a rare opportunity to enjoy his powerful work. Ruben holds the Order of Canada, received for his contribution to Canadian art and for helping preserve his Inuvialuit culture. Ruben says his stone and bronze sculptures reflect the stories, myths and legends of his western Arctic heritage, merging both traditional and contemporary Inuvialuit artistry. They also include Norse images expressing Ruben’s interest in Inuit – Norse contact. He has collected unique evidence of this contact and will tell us about its consequences.
Susanne Ivalo Rasmussen: The First Lutheran Service in North America
Susanne Rasmussen is the lively pastor of our Danish Lutheran Church. Among the men with Munk was Pastor Rasmus Jensen, likely the first Lutheran pastor to conduct a church service in North America. Rasmussen will tell the story of that pastor/explorer adding her views on how his service might have compared to current services. She may model vestments worn by pastors of that time.
Otto Christensen: Jens Munk NW Passage, 1619
Retired pastor Otto Christensen is a passionate advocate of the historic Jens Munk voyage, spearheading a program of commemoration across Canada. He brought us today’s film and arranged for English subtitles. Otto has been in the Danish Airforce, taught in Nigeria, and served as a Lutheran Pastor in Denmark and then Arborg, Manitoba. He lives in Gimli, not far from Munk’s winter camp. Otto will tell Jens Munk’s tragic story, based on his journal and other evidence.
Silver Winds: Ingrid Sochting, Sue Banning and Leslie Uhlig are three lovely ladies who enjoy playing flutes together. Besides playing for Scandinavian events (two have Scandinavian heritage), they also play at care centres and for other informal gatherings. Their repertoire varies from classical to folk music.
| Dinner – Our menu will include European wieners and cold salads. Open bar. | |
| The Movie – NordvestXpeditionen, by Danish director/actor Ole Jappe will be shown with English subtitles. Approximately 90 minutes. |
Download poster and program
Leif Erikson Day 2019 poster FINAL3
Leif Erikson Day Festival 2019 Program FINAL3
Rugged mountains, forests, and coastline: a description of both Scandinavia and the Pacific Northwest. Join Architect AIBC James AV Bligh for a rapid-fire review of Scandinavian urbanism, architecture, and foods that would be right at home in the Pacific Northwest.
Date: Saturday 13 April, 4:00 pm (Musical prelude starts 3:30)
Place: Scandinavian Community Centre, 6540 Thomas Street, Burnaby
Admission: Free, donations welcomed
Scandinavian Community Centre
6540 Thomas Street, Burnaby
How did your family travel to Canada? What dangers and adventures did you encounter along the way? From the time of Leif Erikson until recently, travel from Nordic countries to Canada has been arduous and required imagination, resourcefulness, stamina, and courage. Somehow we all managed to get here.
For our Nordic Spirit 2019 exhibit, the Scandinavian Cultural Society will feature our community’s immigrant travel stories through images, videos, and live presentations.
To donate photos or information, or to help with organization or preparation of the exhibit, please contact Carolyn Thauberger at cthauber12@gmail.com.
Link to download poster:
In cooperation with the Icelandic Canadian Club of BC, the Scandinavian Cultural Society is proud to celebrate Leif Erikson Day at the Scandinavian Community Centre in Burnaby, BC on Saturday, 13 October, 2018.
The Festival will take an Icelandic point of view, including:
Program Details
12:00 Exhibits open
1:00 Opening Remarks: Scandinavian Cultural Society President Poul Erik Rasmussen and ICBC President and SCCS Vice President, Norm Eyford. Other dignitaries.
1:15 The Leif Erikson Sagas – readings (readers from Reik Felang Norse Recreation Society)
1:30 Erik Nelson, Nordic Museum Director: Our new Nordic Museum in Seattle
2:15 Honorary Icelandic Consul Glenn Sigurdson with his new book related to the history of Gimli, Manitoba – Vikings on a Prairie Ocean: The saga of a Lake, a People, a Family, and a Man (Google books say this is a wide-ranging autobiography that blends personal memoir, family history, and Icelandic lore.)
3:15 Reception with an Icelandic Flavour
4:00 Frederiksberg Sogns Pigekor from Copenhagen (young women’s choir, Scandinavian music and folk songs
5:15 Bar Open and concert reconvenes with Nordic Bleu singers and Spelmanslag folk orchestra: traditional folksongs including several Icelandic favourites
6:30 Dinner with Icelandic flavour ($25). Tickets at marialakes@yahoo.ca (preferred) or 604 569-9370
7:30 Dr. Donald Gislason, retired UBC musicologist and humourist: Viking heritage: Promises and Problems
Presented by the Scandinavian Cultural Society & the Icelandic Club of BC
Financial support from
City of Burnaby FestivalsBurnaby
Danish Canadian Community Centre
Info: cthauber12@gmail.com
Download the flyer
Leif Erikson Day 2018 poster V2
