St. Olaf, Minnesota
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St. Olaf, Minnesota is the surreal fictional home town of Rose Nylund of the American television sitcom The Golden Girls, created by Susan Harris. Rose would often talk about it by beginning a story with "Back in St. Olaf..."
During the show's seven year run, St. Olaf was only seen twice in flashbacks and once when the girls visited during an episode in which Rose was nominated for St Olaf's woman of the year award, ultimately winning a gold trophy, or rather, a milk chocolate trophy wrapped in gold colored foil. However, the town was nevertheless referred to in almost every episode through Rose's protracted and comic anecdotes about its eccentric inhabitants, bizarre customs, and peculiar history.
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[edit] History
According to Rose, St. Olaf is a Norwegian farming settlement in northern Minnesota. It was "founded by the man who came up with the idea of canning tuna in its own juices", who was honored every year with a parade of townsfolk dressed as cans of tuna and jars of mayonnaise. Its natives, she revealed, could all be traced back to the same brother and sister. They are also required -- by law -- to sign a pledge at the age of 15 to promise they will not do anything "wild, crazy, and impetuous" -- principally to prevent people from painting their houses strange colors.
[edit] Location
The town, according to Rose's directions, can be reached by train from Minneapolis to Tyler's Landing, changing at St. Gustav (St. Olaf's sister city and dubbed "The City that Never Naps") with the final leg completed by toboggan as the Express Service. You may also fly to St. Gustav, (Beaver Falls requires parachuting out of the plane above it) transfer to a train and then donkey cart service that takes 2-3 days. Additionally, a "Yokel Service" is available for those who wish to be entertained by a family of first cousins playing banjos. A notable attraction of the town is the statue of Blanche Devereaux in Mrs. Oleson Square, built after she decided not to bankrupt St. Olaf by cashing in World War II-era War Bonds issued by the town government to Rose and later purchased by Blanche.
St. Olaf is still occasionally mentioned by Garrison Keillor as the neighboring town to Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, in his weekly public radio show, A Prairie Home Companion (St. Olaf is also the name of a private liberal arts college in Northfield, MN). It is unclear whether or not Keillor sought permission to use the name.
[edit] Local Heroes, claims to fame, etc
- Henry Fjord, inventor of the Fjord Fjairlane
- Vidal Sasbogetoetter, local hair styling legend
- Heinrich Fendersteuhl, spot on grasshopper impersonator
- Averted certain doom when Druid priests foiled the eruption of St. Olaf's most active volcano by giving the town's dumbest virgin -- Rose -- her birthday whacks.
[edit] Language
St. Olaf's unique vocabulary include humorous Scandinavian-sounding words to refer to very specific situations. Rose still used them on several occasions. Examples include:
- "Gerkanenaken": The exact moment when dog feces turns white
- "Tutenbobels": the cheeks of one's rear end
- "Vanskapkaka": A friendship cake
- "Hupaflagel Cake": A souffle-esque cake that will fall if the slightest sound is made
- "Ugel and flugel": Hide and seek for adults
- "Gugenspritzer": Monopoly-like board game
- "GoWackaNoggin": A baseball-like game where you just hit yourself on the head with a bat
- "Sverhoeven Krispies": A tasty ancient Viking midnight snack with a horrible stench
- "Longenherden": A horned Viking helmet
- "Fingerborg": A thimble used in the game "Hide the Fingerborg"
- "Gafloeffen": A desirable quality in a man that has no English equivalent. A license is required to carry one.
[edit] Local customs
- New residents were at one time welcomed by the town council with a customary gesture which involved gathering on the newcomer's front lawn and singing songs while dressed in bedsheets. The tradition was retired after it induced a heart attack in Old Man Smith from Chattanooga, the town's blacksmith, florist and "the town's only black man". After that the Town Council handed out peanut brittle instead, and passes to the local movie theater which they planned to build eventually.
- Other festivals include Pretzel Week, which is kick-started by a barn-dance; the Deep-Root Vegetable Carnival, where townsfolk bob for yams and guess the number of sweet potatoes in a jar; Hide the Corn Day, a day dedicated to hiding the corn; and Hay Day, when citizens gather to celebrate hay.
- During the Wheat Festival, Rose and her husband Charlie went dressed as a Sandwich and their daughter was conceived when they "forgot to put cheese between them".
- When people marry in St. Olaf, the bride's family fill a "Wedding Plate" with food and all the guests eat from it. Delicacies served may include Sverhoeven Krispies, an ancient Scandinavian midnight snack, which in spite of their abhorrent stench, apparently taste of a combination of cheesecake, strawberries, and chocolate ice cream. When the food is finished, the couple may begin their wedding night in, according to custom, either a tent or a Best Western motel. At this point the husband should offer himself to his wife on the Wedding Plate.
- In times of drought, St. Olafians, including those who no longer live in the town such as Rose, are encouraged to abstain from sex by the St. Olaf Department of Water and Coffee except for Ulf the Umbrella King who has suffered enough.
- After weddings, the newlyweds drive in a car with fish tied to the back. The location where they finally become so overwhelmed by the stench that they finally stop is the location where they will live. [1]
- The local doctor treated both the livestock and the people until he tried to neuter the Swenson twins. [2]
- Because of the confusion of facts by a grade school teacher, Mrs. Gunderson, about the difference between mustard and mustard gas, St. Olafians celebrate the 4th of July with a thin omelet on a bun.
- School habits are quite unusual according to Rose telling Dorothy about "The Day they taught everything":
Rose: I don't think lying is really a good idea. I once cut school and that proved very bad. Dorothy: Oh, Rose. We've all cut school. It couldn't have been that bad. Rose: Oh, yes it was. That was the day they taught EVERYTHING. Dorothy: The final piece of the puzzle.
- Local culinary favorites include: Eggs Gefloeffen, Ham and Guntherhobbens, and Pigs in a Svingebloeten.
- St.Olaf also has an "Emergency Big Statue Fund", just in case. This was used to build the statue of Blanche Devereaux in Mrs. Oleson's front yard.
[edit] Real-life St. Olaf
There really is a township in Minnesota called St. Olaf, but it has been widely speculated that the origin of the fictional town comes from the fact that one of the show's writers had attended Carleton College, St. Olaf College's crosstown rival/neighbor in Northfield, MN.
