Life is busy. How did our ancestors keep track of all the important dates in their lives without a printed calendar or a phone app?  They created a calendar stick.

Join us for this presentation and learn all about the Primstav, or calendar stick. Primstavs served as a farmer’s almanac, marked religious days, and changes in the seasons.  Hear how they were made, how symbols were selected for he various days, and the variety of shapes and carved details on them.  Decide for yourself if the idea of a calendar stick can also be used today in our contemporary society.

Rebecca Hanna grew up on the family farm west of Forest City, Iowa. She is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah, IA with a major in elementary education and a minor in museum studies. She has a deep appreciation for Norwegian culture, folk art , and tradition. Since 1975 she has had the good fortune to travel to  her ancestral farms several times, visiting family and friends.

Retired from 35 years of teaching elementary students, she enjoys traveling, genealogy, and woodcarving. As of this year she had been an avid wood carver for well over 35 years, demonstrating and teaching various youth and adult classes. She earned her Vesterheim Gold medal in 2008 in woodcarving.

Rebecca keeps busy teaching youth and adults at the Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum and Folk Art School and serves on the Sons of Norway and Aase Senior Services Boards. She belongs to several Norwegian-American bygdelags, The Decorah Genealogy Association and Good Shepard Church. She resides in Decorah, Iowa. Her last presentation at Livsreise was in 2016 so this visit is long overdue!