Jerry,

Excellent thought; I've just gone out & bought a whole PACK of ravenous canines; I should be able to get into that New Years' dress after all!

An African/Danish wedding sounds fascinating & fabulous; I think you're right about the Scandinavian culture being a bit difficult to break into. After 15 years of marriage I think I'm actually starting to "get it"; my husnand and I have running jokes about Lutherans & their general lack of rhythm---occasionally our church will throw in a hymn like "Go Tell It On the Mountain" or "Shall We Gather at the River", and we whisper: "ah, the Lutheran arrangement"!

My parents are a lapsed Church of England mother who attended Catholic school pre-Vatican II (lots of Latin; LOTS of guilt!!!), and a thoroughly lapsed 2nd generation eastern orthodox father whose most Greek characteristic is the unbelievably good recipes he learnt from his mother! Since my husband at least HAD a church tradition, that was the one we got married & baptised kids in. Overall, it's been nice, and the history is interesting (16th & 17th centuries being among my areas of study).

Oh, and there's that book that came out a few years back, "Lutheran Humour and Other Myths"!!