Nordic Spirit Symposium

There were dragons in old Scandinavia. You still find them peeking out from the eaves of stave churches, gobbling runes on granite stones, and writhing over the surface of bowls and broaches. There were also giants, trolls and ghosts. The trove of stories about such creatures is vast, varied and increasingly a subject of study. This symposium hosts prominent scholars to reflect on it through story, analysis, painting and song.

Performers and speakers include Thomas DuBois, Halls-Bascom professor of Scandinavian studies and folklore, University of Wisconsin; Ann-Marita Garsed, a Norwegian folksinger based in L.A.; Terry Gunnell, professor of folkloristics, University of Iceland; Ulf Palmenfelt, professor emeritus, cultural anthropology, Uppsala University, Gotland Campus, Sweden; Timothy Tangherlini, professor, Scandinavian Section, UCLA; and Ernst F. Tonsing, professor emeritus, religion and Greek, CalLutheran.

Reservations are requested for the Friday reception ($15) and required by Jan. 29 for dinner on Saturday ($40). Admission is $25 for the Friday evening program and $50 for the daylong Saturday program. Free to Cal Lutheran students, faculty and staff.

For the full symposium schedule and venues, visit scandinaviancenter.org.

The symposium is made possible by generous grants from the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and the Norway House Foundation in San Francisco. For information and early registration fees, contact Howard Rockstad.

Image: Illustration by John Bauer, 1915.