So, at Christmas a few years back, I went to a Norwegian Julebord feast here in NYC thrown by the Norwegian Consulate.
It was great food, great fun–they even had a girl walk in with a wreath/candles atop her head, as St. Lucia.
But the one thing that was the most fun was the toasting. There were bottles of Aquavit at every table, and at alarmingly brief intervals, someone at one of the tables would begin singing a very brief, swaying sort of song (really short–like two bars, maybe). Everyone in the room would grab their glass of Aquavit, join in the song, and then shout, “SKAAL!” (pronounced “skole”–"Cheers,"that is) before downing the shot.
My question: does anyone know what this toasting song is? What the words are, English meanings, etc.? All the Norwegians in the room knew it, so I’m guessing it’s somewhat common.
Understand that this is a drinking song and does not reflect the common ethics or social norms of Norway
I think I know which song you mean. We usually sing it this way: “Og vi skåler for våre venner og de som vi kjenner, og de som vi ikke kjenner, de driter vi i, hei skål! Og så svinger vi på seidelen igjen, hei skål!” That Norweigian drinking song - YouTube
Google didn’t do so good on this one. It means: And we toast to our friends and those we know, and those we don’t know we don’t give a shit about, hei skål!
Og så svinger vi på seidelen igjen, hei skål!
And so we’re taking the neighbor’s wife home, hei skål! !
Do they only have one toasting song in Norway? In Sweden and Swedish Finland the singing of snapsvisor is a fine art and there are hundreds if not thousands of them to chose from.