They Glorified Mary, We Glorified

For anyone who has grown up in the Upper Midwest during the mid-20th century this book presents, in short form, all the things you heard as you were growing up - Lutheran or Catholic. "Ya know, ya gotta watch out for those Lutheran/Catholic kids...they think different 'cause their church is done in Latin." What a hoot! Martin and Nelson have captured the essence of growing up Lutheran in North Dakota or Minnesota!

I was amazed, when I went to this page to get the ASIN # as I was preparing my "Pretty Good" Minnesota Fare list - "Pretty good" meaning real good in Minnesota speak - that this book had not been reviewed at all. Let me remedy that here and now. For those uninitiated to Scandinavian-American Cuisine (I belong to those who glorify Mary but am familiar with the Lutifisk/Lefse/Rice crowd by geographical, social, and political proximity. See also "Cream Peas on Toast" by the same authors,) Glorified Rice is jello-ed, fruited rice - the recipe for which is helpfully found on page 84. When I first saw the review of this book in the Sunday Fargo Forum (1994), I rushed right out to my local bookstore and got one. (Which was a feat in itself, as North Dakota had only relatively recently repealed the "Blue Laws" mandating that all non-food stores be closed on Sundays so as to encourage employers, employees, and the general populace to sit around all day glorifying rice and God or at least not doing anything "heathen" like going to K-Mart to pick up cleaning supplies.)The gist of this hilarious and thought-provoking series is that 2 American Norwegian Lutheran farm women got together and "it dawned on us that the world needed us to write a few little books comparing and contrasting such things as Lutheran and Catholic ways, ... and all the baggage and trappings that go with these kinds of things." Here are some of their "findings":"They had fish frys...We had Lutefisk suppersThey had Patron Saints... we basically fended for ourselves.They believe in the infallibility of the Pope...We believe everyone has a few bad days now and then.They had the shroud of Turin ... We had old bathrobes for wisemen, old sheets for Mary and Joseph, gunny sacks with rope belts for the shepherds in the Christmas play, and other miscellaneous swaddling clothes.They had miracles...We had Miracle WhipThey danced...We couldn't risk getting that closeThey worked on Sundays...We napped on Sundays. They worked in the fields on Sundays... We drove around and looked at the fields on SundaysThey sold indulgences... We sold church anniversary cookbooks and centennial plates.They had cardinals who wore red hats for investiture ... we wore red hats for deerhuntingThey went to St. Paul, MN ... we went to Minneapolis, MN."