Brianna Kelly

November 7, 2015
Dance 1010
Professor: Brian Benington
I decided to interview my grandmother Ruth for her life history. I have heard many
stories from here but I learned and heard many more from her from this one interview that we
had. I loved being able to interview her and hear what she had to say.
Ruth was born in Denmark and some of her siblings were born in Denmark before they
came to America. Her family decided to come to America in the 1947 when the LDS church was
encouraging all of the members of the church to come to America to grow the church in Utah.
The family would have came to America earlier but they had to wait for the war to end in 1945
and then had to wait to get their passports and what they needed to come to America. The
Lutheran Church was and is the main church in Denmark. Ruth's Father converted to the church
at the age of 30 and her mother got baptized before she married her father. They raised all of
their children in the LDS church in Esbjerg, Denmark, where they lived. The LDS church at that
time was only a branch but is now a ward. Moving to Utah, they lived in a very small 2 room
home. She did not get treated wrong here. Everyone was nice and accepting here in Utah. She
did not have any language barriers because she already spoke English and they present
themselves the same here in Utah as they did in Denmark.
While living in Denmark during the war in her earlier years, she remembers having to
sleep in the basement of the apartments that they were living in to be safe from all of the bombs.
The German factories were getting bombed and bombs were getting set off all over Europe. The
Nazi's set a curfew for everyone and if they were not inside on time, they would get chased down

the streets. The day before my grandmother was born, her mother got chased down the streets
while being pregnant. She says that is what made her go into labor the next day.
During the war, the Danish saved over 7,000 Jews. My grandmother remember very
clearly what a big impact her uncle had on the war. His name was Arly Leroy Hess Thomsen and
he was a Danish resistance fighter in Silkeborg, Denmark during World War II. Arly and his good
friend Poul Moller Rasmussen came up with an idea on how to save the jews and get them to the
other side of Denmark by using their underground mailing system. He was in charge of playing
tricks on the jews. She says that two days after Denmark declared liberated from Germany, Arly
rode his bicycle to a freedom celebration in their town. An enemy solider did not like what he
over heard about the impact he had on the freedom of Denmark and shot Arly outside of the
celebration. My grandmothers family was devastated form what had happened. Because of their
great service in Denmark, they have a plaque hanging up in the court house and they are also
buried in a special cemetery that is very well taken care of.

While growing up in Denmark, my grandmother said that they have a King and a Queen
to rule the country. They were Christians and part of the Lutheran Church, which is the main
church on Denmark. Even during the War the King still rode on his horse through the streets of
Denmark to assure all of the citizens. In 1947 King Fredrick, he had 3 daughters. When he died,
Denmark experienced something new. They had Queen Margret as their queen before she
married the king. This was odd for Denmark because they always had a king.

My grandmother was raised Danish and spoke Danish. She also grew up learning many
other languages in school such as German, French, and English. Christmas was one of their
biggest celebrations that she has carried throughout her life and passed on to all of her children
and grandchildren. Growing up, she said that they always celebrated on Christmas Eve. They
children would making these molds shaped pig cookies that they call Marzipan. They would then
sprinkle them with powder sugar. She said that these cookie are very popular all over Europe.

That night, they would have a big dinner. This dinner was one of the big 7 course meals
that they would have. They would have the music they were going to sing right next to their
plate. They would sing a song during each course of their meal. For one of the courses they
would have citronfromage, which is a lemon desert that they have where they hide an almond in
it. This almond was considered good luck. Whoever ended up with the almond would receive a
small prize. After the 7 course meal, they would hold hands and sing and dance around the
Christmas tree that was placed in the center of the room. They would switch the way they were
dancing around the Christmas tree after each song. They would then open up their Christmas
presents that night. They would then hang up a stocking of their own. It was usually their biggest
worn stockings. The Danish "Santa Clause" is known as Jule Nissen. The Jule Nissen was known
for leaving oranges and sometimes a toy in their stockings.

Now days, my grandmother has still passed on most of these traditions. We have a big
dinner still but we do not have 7 courses and we do not sing during dinner. We still open up our
Christmas presents on Christmas Eve and dance around the Christmas tree and sing Christmas
songs. My grandmother still enjoys singing in Danish every Christmas and she holds these
traditions very close to her heart.
Denmark also has many other holidays but they are not celebrated like how America
celebrates certain holidays. They have a holiday known as Fasterlavn. It is kind of like
Halloween but it is not scary. People do not dress up and trick or treat. Instead, they dress nice
and go to a masquerade with mask.
My grandmother said that they Danish are known to be very big eaters, hard worker, and
are known for being the happiest people in the world. I can see that she hold all of those qualities
and has passes them onto her children and grandchildren. We have very big family dinners when
we are together. We all love her cooking. She is a very hard worker and so are all of her children.
She raised them to always work for what they want and they have always done that. Her
grandchildren are also learning for her example. Ruth is also a very happy person. She is so
sweet and generous to everyone she comes in contact with and always willing to help out other
people.
Some of the popular foods that my grandmother grew up eating in Denmark and even
here in America is oatmeal, a lot of meat, and potatoes and gravy. In our families and family
dinners, we always have some sort of meat with potatoes and gravy.
In Denmark, Bicycles have always been their way of transportation. Everybody rides
their bicycle and they still do now days. My grandmother has gone back to visit Denmark but she
does not ride a bicycle here in America.

On an everyday bases, the women always wore dresses. Most of the girls and women
only owned about 1-2 dresses that they would wash about once a week. The men wore slacks
with a button up. This was for all ages.
When Ruth was little, she was always read some of the most classic books in Denmark.
These books are known as the Hans Christian Andersen fairytales. These fairytales have been
translated into more languages than any other book including the Bible. She had these book read
to her often throughout her childhood and she remembers her parents reading them to her as a
child.
In Denmark, everyone learned how to dance because, in my grandmothers words, "it was
easy". Denmark would do a lot of street dancing. They would shut down a whole street for a big
celebration. Everyone would wear their national Danish costumes. They would do pair dancing,
which a one boy and one girl dancing together. Then there is what they call group dancing, which
is where they had a group of 8 dancing in a circle. This dancing, they were joined at the elbows
and it included a lot of kicks and spins. They then had their whole group dances, which is where
there was 1 to 2 circles. This dance also included being joined at the elbows with some kicks and
spins. She compared the dancing in Denmark to square dancing. It is very organized and clean.
She said that the dancing did not have anything to do with religion, just the holidays like
Christmas and Easter.
When it comes to the family, she says that it was very much the traditional family and
they held to those values. She told me that the women were and are still the nurturer for the
family. She was also saying on how the mothers have started entering the work force and even
the children to help provide for their families. She said that the dad holds the role of being the
breadwinner. She then went on to talk about how smaller families were more common in the

Danish Culture, but she came from what the Danish would consider a large family because she
comes from a family of 5 children. In this culture, everyone is accepting of every sexual
orientation.
In Denmark she was saying on how every child's education is paid for by the
government. This makes it so that everyone has an opportunity to receive an education and
contribute to society.
I have come to love the Danish culture and what great examples they are to the world. I
loved doing this interview and especially to have had it be a family member. I feel honored to
have been raised with the traditions that she has brought from Denmark with her and what she
has passed onto us. I have learned a lot more about the Danish culture through this interview and
it is helped me grow even more respect for the Danish. I hope that I will be able to pass these
traditions and values onto my children some day.