Mistery of hovedøya island in Oslo

Last week I went to a little island named hovedøya which can be reached 5 minutes by boat from oslo mainland, this island is situated in very good atmosphere for those who like sunbathing, near to the beach I could find the historical ruins of past monarchy from medieval century, and tells interesting story, hovedøya monastery, in 1147 a prior and twelve indealistic monks disembarked on the island of hovedøya. They had made the north sea crossing from their parent monastery at Krikstead in Lincolnshire, England, to make their home in this northen outpost of the Christian faith. there was already a small wooden chruch on the verdant little island, so some benedictine monks may have preceded them.

Under the rules of their order Cistercian monks were not permitted to live on the fruits of other people’s labour. They had themselves to grow what they needed and were barred from accepting revenue from land leased to tenant farmers; they were also enjoined to live apart from the world, and not to become members of the property-owning class. Those were the ideals, and for the first few years the monks of Hovedøya strove to live up to them. They cultivated the land themselves and divided the day into three parts – work, prayer and rest. But before long they were compelled to compromise on some of their ideals and employ lay brothers to work for them. In the 1160s, when they accepted two tenant farms as a gift from the bishop, the monks renounced their principles entirely. In the generations that followed the property owned by the monastery increased by leaps and bounds, and from about 1400 onwards the monks were able to live exclusively on their frankalmoign revenues. By then the monastery owned land all over eastern Norway and ruled over a range of stoutly constructed buildings on the island.
Monastic life on hovedøya came to dramatic close in the winter of 1531-32. The chief administrative officer of the Akerhus region, mogens gyldenstierne, had Lutheran learnings and nurtured little respect fir monastic orders, in November he despatched his men to the monastery with instruction to seize all the food they could find. Later king Chirstian II’s servant arrived and demanded the handling over all the monastery’s valuables. January of the following year witnessed the last act : the abbot was dragged naked from his bed in the middle of the night and incarcerated in akerhus castle, while Gyldsenstierne’s men stripped both church and monastery of everything of value. By April all the monks had fled and the monastery was transformed into a defensive bastion for King christian’s men. To deny it to the enemy, Frederick I’s warriors set fire to the monastery, and it was never rebuilt, its stones being employed to enlarge akerhus castle

Ramadhan in Oslo

When The holy month of Ramadhan has arrived, I am pretty sure most people in my country will be very busy preparing their needs during fasting period, in Indonesia, the night before Ramadhan will be very crowded, not only the mosques but also all department stores and supermarkets will be packed with people who need to prepare for the coming month.

However, Since moving to Norway seven months ago, this will be the first time that i can compare the differences between living in a Muslim country and a non Muslim country. I used to fast around 14-15 hours in Indonesia. Nevertheless, here in Norway the fasting during the time of Ramadhan is much more longer in summer, 21 hours  that make me terrifying and wondering how can I survive without foods and water for almost one full day. Today I would like to share my first ramadhan day in Oslo.

The Mosque of grøndland

in an attempt to make my own Ramadhan environment, I cycled to the mosque which is located in grøndland, this is the first time that I had entered the mosque in Oslo since coming to Norway Actually I always wanted to go to the mosque, but I never find the right time and they say the “Imam” speaks in neither Norwegian nor English, I couldn’t recognize what language that was, but I guess  that was urdhu. I did  Zuhur and stayed for a while trying to understand what the “Imam” says, but it was almost impossible, so I went out of the mosque and continued my journey.

Making candil 

Suddenly I had an idea to make Indonesian food which is usually served as appetizer when fasting time is up, this food called candil. Usually my mom used to make  it for me, but this time I have to struggle to make it myself, very challenging and I love to do new experiences  I have never done before and another reason is  because candil is my favorite food during Ramadhan. The appearance of candil is like soup but it is sweet and you might consider it as  dessert instead of appetizer. Inside the food you can find chewy balls that is the most deadly delicious ever .  To make this food I had to go to Asian market around Brugata and bought a sweet potatoes and glutinous flour as basic material to make the dough. I immediately processed the material to make dough, and put them in boiled water. Friend of mine who live togheter with me seems so curious and had been watching me making candil, I couldn’t  taste my own food since I am on fast, fortunately  she’s very kind and helpful and help me tasted the foods even I couldn’t guarantee her that my food is scrumptious. when fasting time is up, we ate together and today’s fasting has been successfully conducted and realized that 21 hours fasting wasn't as difficult as my imagination