Thursday, October 11

Du som metter liten fugl


Du som metter liten fugl velsign var mat o Gud

My mother had dug up am old tea cup from my childhood (waaay back from Fiji!) recently and gave it to me to keep.  I hadn't seen it in the last 30+ years but as soon as my mom handed it to me I remembered very clearly the words on the cup which read: du som metter liten fugl velsign var mat o gud.




I'm quite sure I had a bowl to go with the cup, which probably did not survive the years. It had those same words around the edge.

When I was small I would read that phrase everyday at breakfast and wonder what it meant and how the drawings on the cup connected to the strange words.

Du som metter liten fugl velsign var mat o Gud

I loved that cup and bowl... it had flowers which looked like tulips and dahlias and even grains of wheat. It had a squirrel, a cat drinking from a bowl and birds.  All drawn in simple lines. With a bit of research I found out that it was designed by Anne Lofthus, a Norwegian ceramic artist, for Stavangerflint AS, an earthenware factory in Norway which was in operation from 1949 to 1979.

And to add to that bit of info, the wonders of the internet have finally revealed to me what those lines mean!  

Du som metter liten fugl velsign var mat o Gud.

It's a Norwegian prayer before meals.  What does it translate to?

O Thou who feeds the little bird, bless our food, O Lord.

What a sweet prayer for a birder, don't you think?


side note: see my cup and the matching plate and bowl, and more of Anne Lofthus' designs for Stavangerflint here: http://stavangerflint.gratisnettside.no/?mid=421&article=345

1 comment:

  1. super nice that you found that! and super nice din the message =) perfect for a birder =)

    ReplyDelete