How to Use Feast Days in Scandinavian Genealogy
Hey everyone! How did your week go? It’s Friday and that means the weekend is just around the corner! How are your Christmas plans going? I hope you’re not too stressed with all of the gift giving, baking, and partying going on. I’m trying really hard to keep this season a simple one and not let myself get too overwhelmed with all of the craziness.
Today I promised to show you how to understand and use the Feast Days in your genealogy. I plan to deliver! I use this process. It’s not the only way; however, I find it effective for me.
Case Study 1
Let’s review a couple things we need to remember about Feast Days. Feast Days usually happen on Sundays. The minister would use the Latin word for the holiday and abbreviate to fit in the space. In addition, they could make a feast day out of any Saint or Martyr or special event that they wanted. Therefore, many of the feast days don’t make sense to us anymore, but they meant something to them back then. Just keep an open mind when researching feast days. It will make the research a lot easier!
Notice in the image that the year, christening date, and feast day are highlighted. This minister used both the numerical and feast day dates to make this record. So let’s use both. We see the year is 1769 and it’s a birth record. In the first entry, the minister recorded the christening date as “7 Martii” this is translated as 7 March. Then in the far right column, we see “Dom Jubilate” which means Jubilate Sunday. For today’s purposes, we won’t worry about the other birth entry information.
Next, I need to know if this feast day is a fixed or moveable feast day. I would go to the Family Search Wiki article about Norway Feast Day Calendar. In the article, I would scroll down to the Fixed Feast Days Alphabetical by First Letter. I would click on the J and scroll until I saw the word Jubilate. Next to that word is a phrase “See Jubilate” I’ve learned this means that this feast day is a moveable feast day otherwise it would have a numerical date next to it.
I go back to the main article page and I scroll to the Moveable Feast Days Year Selection. I know that the birth record is from 1769. I would click on 1769 and scroll down until I saw Jubilate. Next to it is the numerical date 16 April and then the date in Norwegian “3rd Sunday after Pasche.”
In summary, the Feast Day Jubilate in 1769 is a moveable feast day that is 16 April 1769 and I would write that down for a birth date. In this case, the date means the day that the mother was introduced back into the church congregation after giving birth. However, there are many times when they would use feast days for birth or christening dates.
Case Study 2
The third entry has another feast day we can use to practice. The christening date is “30th Martii” which is 30 March. The feast day is “Dom Rogate” which means Rogate Sunday. So let’s follow the steps.
· Check to see if it’s a fixed or moveable feast day by first going to the fixed day section.
· If it says “See ______” then it’s a moveable feast day.
· If it has a numerical date after the feast day it’s a fixed feast day.
· If a moveable feast day, then go to the year.
· Scroll down until it says the feast day.
· The numerical date will be next to it along with the Scandinavian translation.
In this case, it is a moveable feast day even though there are multiple Rogate dates. I would choose the Rogate or Rogationum Dominica, which both say to “See Rogate.” I find that the Rogate Feast Day in 1769 is 30 April 1769.
I would then add the numerical date to my records if it was a birth, marriage, or death date. In this case, it is a mother’s introduction date to the congregation so I would just note it in my records.
But what if you come across a feast day that is different than what we discussed? Here’s some other things to notice about feast days.
Some ministers didn’t write Dom as their date. They would write “Fer” or “Fes” which are abbreviations for the word “feast.” The minister would literally write “Feast Day” instead of “Sunday.”
Many entries have a number with a “p” after it, then the feast day word such as “1 p. Trinitatis” This just means it’s the first Sunday after Trinity. Some ministers would write “3 Trinitatis” this means third Sunday after Trinity and so on.
In addition, just watch the abbreviations. Sometimes they still confuse me when I’m trying to decipher a feast day. They could abbreviate however they wanted. This means that there may be many variations of the same feast day.
Feast days are so fun! There’s so much history behind these feast days as well. I get distracted all of the time learning about the history behind a certain feast day and not focusing on finding my ancestor. I love learning! So have fun with this part of the research! And remember, as you’re doing your own preparations for your own feast days, those ancestors of yours valued their feast days as well. Happy Feast Day! As always, if you need any help with any of this, then just let me know.
Good luck and happy hunting!
Tiffany