VftSW; Norwegian Baptism

When they founded Petersburg Lutheran Church, it was part of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. So how fitting on what we call Little Norway Days and all the rest of the world calls Norwegian Constitution Day there was a Norwegian baptism one hundred years later. The parents of the little girl to be baptised stood proudly on the lectern side of the font. Father in Norwegian sweater and mother in bunard. Her slightly older brother stood between them in his Norwegian costume. The little girl in a bunard stood on a step stool. On the pulpit side stood the slightly older godparents with a girl slightly older than the girl of the hour. Her god sister was dressed similarly to she and her godparent like her parents. Her father lifted her over the font and a shell brought the draughts of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" over her blond pig-tails. Then pastor made the sign of the cross with oil on her forehead and encouraged parents and god-parents to trace the mark. The last parent to step forward was the godmother and when she did, her own daughter "corked" her. That is the older girl stepped before her mother, struggled to dip her small hand into the font and then raised the blessing to the honorees blonde locks. The congregation gasped and sighed. And I remembered Elizabeth blessing her cousin, "Hail Mary full of grace. Blessed are thee among women."