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First of all, it would surely be great if we
could have a real live member of our discussion group from Møre,
Norway. They could probably add much and correct much that I am about to
give to you.
A few months back I noticed a
beautiful silver broach on a friend's dress and was told that it was from her
native area of Norway. So I told her that our Sinclairs/St. Clairs'
ancestor was Rollo s/o Rogenvald of Møre, Romsdal. She loaned me
some books on the folk costumes (Bunads) of Norway in which I found the first
good map. Get out an atlas now and look at Norway--mine just shows
Norway. I wonder whether the Vikings realized that their country would
someday look something like a dragon's head or the prow of their
ships?
Do you see that there is a
long neck running North to South. Down 2/3 of the way it bulges out into a
longish oval like bulge. Just at this point of getting large--where a
necklace would hang, there is a large fiord coming in from the west with a
branch even going upwards. Keep going down the coast which is now sloping
SW a bit and you will see another large fiord. This fiord cuts right
into the center of Møre og Romsdal (does og mean "of " or
"and"?) This district is shaped like a flattened heart with that
large fiord the top inward thrust of the heart design. I can find Romsdal
on other maps but never Møre. Why is that? What does it
signify that it isn't on a map?
The book Sinclairs Family
in by Morrison pg 21 says "Rogenwald, Earl of Maere (since the
English typewriter can't accomodate Ø, it is necessary to express it by
using "ae" only I really thought it should be "oe".
Anyone know for sure?---) and Ruamdahl in Norway, considering
Rogenwald as the 1st generation, and so marked. He was surnamed "the Rich" and was a great
favorite of King Harold, called "Fairhair," ruler of
Scandinavia. (is that exactly correct? Was all of Scandinavia united this
early, or did he just have the biggest territory, live the longest, and more
active to be noticed by semi-historians? Remember Finland is not
Scandinavian. Do you know the Finns came from way over east of the bend in
the Volga and their language is Finno-Ugrian. This makes them related to
the Huns, Hungarians, Turks, and Estonians. And many of us have quite dark
hair. I am 1/2 Finn. The blond Finns probably reflect a Swedish
ancestry. So they had no linguistic connection to Danish, Swedish
nor Norwegian. Finland has never had a king except later when Sweden or
Russia was in charge)
"His (Rogenvald) wife was a near relative
of the king. In 888 he received a grant of the Orkney Islands, and his
son, Eynär became a permanent prince there, and which his descendants ruled
for five centuries." (this letter "ä" seems to be a Swedish
letter and not Norweigen. Did Morrison get mixed up or did he want to use
the æ but couldn't? Or perhaps Eynär is a Swedish name.
Any linguists out there? I know that at a very early time, it was hard to
distinuish between people from these three countries because many times they had
the same ruler.
Back to the Folk
costumes. They are gorgeous but I was sad to find out that what I saw in
these books and what we see in the media only reflect costumes developed from
faded swatches and rememberances of people around 1900. It reminds me that
the tartans worn today that are associated with a particular clan, would have
been foreign to Prince Henry and even to John of Exeter who arrived here around
1650.
"The early Tartans were
associated with a particular district -World Book Encyclopedia" ---(which
could also mean with a particular family maybe, since families had their
territory that they were identified with??) but it might also mean that when you
moved away from your ancestrial territory to elsewhere in Scotland, that it
would be expected that you would then wear the tartan of the new district.
"Later they were used to identify the chief clan or family
of an arrea. Extra lines were added to some designs to show the wearer's
rank." But then maybe people didn't do much moving??
I bet that these questions
would have been covered in the Tartan Symposium at the NH Highland games,
right? I'm struggling with this tartan concept. But I can't read
another book--I have 19 of them waiting for me right now! Just finished
"Using Microsoft Windows 98" now isn't that thrilling.
Laurel
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