ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses a election of recent commemorations of historical events and cultural figures to investigate how and why specific parts of the past are articulated and performed, with a specific focus on transnational and Nordic elements. Transnational dimensions are explicit in commemorations of such historical events as the birth of the Kalmar Union, the Treaty of Roskilde, the dissolution of the Swedish Norwegian Union, and the separation of Sweden and Finland. In the commemoration, organized and financed by the Norwegian government, Fridtj of Nansen and Roald Amundsen were celebrated as bold explorers and national icons who were brave, strong and hardened by the rough climate, all attributes that are central elements of Norwegian identity. During commemorations of the peaceful dissolution of the Swedish Norwegian Union in 1905, the bilateral dimension was very limited. During the 1997 commemorations of the Kalmar Union, activities were initiated at the local, national and Nordic level, and sometimes competed for the public's attention.
