WHAT MASSE MORO HAS MEANT TO ME, by Douglas "Dag" Rossman
Although the Sons of Norway Fifth District Heritage Camp began in 1979, it was not called Masse Moro until 1981 (the same year as the first official camp T-shirt, which bore a troll design created by my son, Chuck). My tenure with the camp began in 1980 (the same summer as our beloved master chef, Jakob aka Dan Ryder) when I came as a 44-year-old volunteer. I was very "green" when it came to things Norwegian, but I was eager to learn the language and eat the ethnic food Jakob prepared.
My contributions were a fair amount of "savvy" from having been a camper/leader at a number of resident group camps over the years, the empathy to serve as an accessible "father figure" to those campers/staff in need of one, and some ability as a storyteller. I had not told any of the Norse myths prior to that summer of 1980, but they seemed to be the most appropriate ones for a Norwegian-American heritage camp so I read widely and deeply before camp in order to be well prepared. Little did I realize how much my life was about to change because of the experience.
I had to forego the 1982-83 seasons, but when I returned to Masse Moro in 1984 I was given free rein by a new director to develop a Viking-based program that would saturate every level of the camp's activities from arts-and-crafts to sports and, of course, the evening programs (each of which ended with a Norse myth). In doing the advance planning for all this, I found it necessary to write a guide book, VIKING LORE, which was unofficially published by the Sons of Norway that year, and which remains to be the basis for the program 25 years later.
One of the innovations that set Masse Moro's Viking-Age program apart from the way other youth camps are operated was the decision to organize the campers (who live in same-age cabin groups) into four age-intergrated "families" for the purpose of balancing abilities of the competitors on each of the four teams participating in the Viking "Olympics."
A parallel--but equally important--purpose was to provide the older campers an opportunity to develop leadership and nurturing skills vis-a-vis their peers and the younger campers.
In 1995 I created the Fellowship of Yggdrasil to provide a framework for recognizing individual achievements in athletics and/or the arts (the criteria for each kind of activity are spelled out in VIKING LORE). Membership is not automatic but must be earned. For the most part, the criteria do not require exceptional levels of skill but can be attained by most individuals through determination and persistent application of effort. The induction ceremony itself is solemn and helps to convey the significance of this "rite of passage" recognition.
What has the camp meant to me personally? From the first year, I found myself surrounded by acceptance and affection such as I had not encountered in my workaday life . . . or even at home. This experience helped me to reassess my own attitudes about what I felt was important to me re human relationships. To make a long struggle into a short story, ten years later I divorced and remarried . . . and my new wife was a woman I had met at Masse Moro when she was a student in my Norse mythology class at the adult heritage session. We have enjoyed 20 happy, fulfilling years together . . . yet without Masse Moro we would never have met.
Also, the immersion in Norse mythology I experienced in preparing for storytelling at camp led me to my avocation as a professional storyteller and author. Since those first days at Masse Moro, I have appeared before live audiences from Minnesota to Texas and Alaska to Norway, have had five audiocassettes released, and have written five books on Norse mythology--including two collections of original short stories. Again, without Masse Moro I doubt if any of this would have happened.
Finally, the reception that my wife and I received in August 2009 after an absence of four years--like the Prodigal Son's return--was truly heartwarming, and it only confirms my belief that Masse Moro is a very special place.