North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie StateFederal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota
History
North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State
Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota
North Dakota; North Dakota -- Guidebooks
Two interesting German religious sects are the Moravians, represented
in the area near Fargo, and the Dunkards or, as they are now known,
Dunkers, who have a settlement near Cando. One of the beautiful customs
of the Moravians is the "love feast," a survival of an early Christian
custom of breaking bread as an indication of brotherly love. The feast
today generally consists of coffee and doughnuts, but the spirit is
unchanged.
The Dunkers, or German Baptist Brethren, follow their early sectarian
precepts of plain dress and plain living. While few of the women still
wear the "dropped bonnet"--a small grey or black sunbonnet--the prayer
covering or small lace cap is still worn during attendance at church
services. Older members of the colony hold to the early rulings of the
church in carrying no form of insurance. In early October of each year
a harvest festival is held in the form of a religious observance.
From both the Germanic and the Norwegian groups is derived the most
prominent foreign contribution to the language of the State: the
universal use of _ja_ ("yah") for _yes_.
Few group characteristics attach to the Canadians, who constitute
1.5 percent of North Dakota's foreign-born population, and are found
in the northeast counties and the Red River Valley. Many of them are
descendants of the Selkirk colonists who settled from Fort Garry
to Fort Pembina early in the nineteenth century. It is from these
colonists that most of the Scottish people in this State trace their
descent.
For the French-Canadians the most important festival of the year is St.
Ann's Day, July 26. A shrine to St. Ann has been built by French and
Indians at Belcourt on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, and here on
the saint's day come the lame, the halt, and the blind, to walk or be
carried in the processional. Many miracles have been claimed.
In French-Canadian communities in the Red River Valley, the colorful
Old Country wedding customs are still observed. As the wedding march is
played the bridal pair and their attendants enter, followed by young
men dressed in highly padded French costumes, and wearing grotesque
masks. They are in both male and female attire, and dance and cavort to
the delight of the guests.
Like their Norwegian neighbors, the Swedes who have come to America
are predominantly a rural people. In North Dakota they constitute 1.2
percent of the total population, and are found in the eastern part of
the State, mainly in Cass County, and in the central section east of
the Missouri in Burleigh and McLean Counties.
Smaller racial groups in the State include Hollanders, in Emmons County
near the south-central border; Danes, in the east-central counties of
Cass, Barnes, and Stutsman; Poles and Icelanders, in the northeast
section; Hungarians, in the Slope area; Czechs, in Richland and Walsh
Counties in the Red River Valley and in Stark County in the Slope area;
and many others, all showing a distinct tendency to localize.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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