Tora’s Bunad

A bunad, a fork, and a story across the sea.

Restauration Friendship Association has received a very special gift – a bunad that symbolizes history, roots, and tradition.
The gift comes from one of our partners in connection with the project Rød tur – Livskraft og kreft (Red Journey – Vitality and Cancer).

The Story of Grandmother’s Mother, Tora
This story is both touching and thought-provoking, a tale of brave women who crossed the sea in search of a new life, but who never forgot where they came from.

Tora, born at Nordgard Aukrust in Lom, Norway in 1861, was one of these women. She grew up in a time when the future for many young people was uncertain, and when one of her brothers married and took over the farm, it became clear to her that there was no place for her at home. Like many others at the time, she chose America as her new destination. In the summer of 1883, she traveled to New York with a boat ticket in hand and a dress bodice in her bag – a part of the Norwegian life she took with her across the sea.

Over the years, she worked as a nanny and companion in various places, until she settled in Denver, Colorado – a rapidly developing city. Tora led a busy life, but everything changed in 1896 when she received a marriage proposal from the teacher Lars Holm from Lom, a widower with three children. Tora said yes. She traveled back to Norway, and already the day after she arrived in Bergen, they married at Mariakirken (St Mary’s Church, Bergen).

Tora brought gifts from her friends in Denver – a silver cutlery set for 12 people with the initials TA engraved on it. In her steamer trunk were also the hopes and dreams she had carried with her through the years in America. She had her first child, Marit, in 1897 – my grandmother, who continued the story of Tora and her life journey.

Now, 142 years after Tora first crossed the sea, her legacy will take on new meaning. Goldsmith Karl Jørgen Otteren will create a new version of her silver fork. The bunad that Tora brought with her will now be worn by Lovise, the youngest member of the Restauration Friendship Association, who is only 10 years old. She will wear the dress bodice when the ship embarks on its journey – a modern tribute to those who dared to take a chance on something new.

The story of Tora is not just about a woman who traveled to America and returned to Norway. It is about passing on roots, values, and memories, about the many journeys that have shaped us as individuals and as a society. That the bunad will now be part of the Restauration Friendship Association’s collection shows how the past can be revived through new generations.

When the ship sets off on its journey, with Lovise in the bunad at the quay in Stavanger and the fork in its new version, we connect the past and present. Tora’s legacy lives on, not just through her genes, but also through the physical memories that travel the same path she once did. A fork and a dress bodice – simple things, but full of the history of who we are and where we come from.

Tora passed away in 1951, but through this project and her symbols, she will still be part of the journey. For as her story shows: Some journeys never end.

200 Thanks, Lovise!