Diversity festival: The New Norway takes over Trondheim

Trønders, and indeed Europeans in general, were few and far between when a festival celebrating diversity was held in Trondheim on Saturday. Cultures from all over the world were to be celebrated, and in a small, tucked-away corner we even found a little stall for Norway.

A Glimpse of the Future?

Perhaps what we experienced in Trondheim on Saturday was a glimpse of the future. The so-called Language and Culture Festival 2026 celebrated diversity, according to the backdrop on the main stage. There was apparently music from Bangladesh when we arrived, and we could not make out what came next, because there was noise and colourful commotion whichever way we turned in Trondheim’s main square.

Scenes from the Language and Culture Festival in Trondheim. Here, stalls for Kurdistan, Eritrea and Afghanistan. Photo: Bente Haarstad.

The old market women and market traders are long gone. Instead, on this day there were stalls from the ‘whole’ world. Not quite as many as it appeared at first glance, because many countries, such as Afghanistan and what is called Palestine, had several stalls. But we saw none from Israel.

Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Congo, Burundi, Eritrea, Somalia, Iran, Iraq and Turkey, on the other hand, were among the countries well represented. There were also a few Western countries scattered among them, such as Poland, Italy and Ukraine.

One of the entrance portals to the Language and Culture Festival in Trondheim.

Personally, I travel to other countries to experience celebrations of those countries’ cultures, while anyone looking for a taste of Norwegian culture in Trondheim on Saturday had to search hard.

Norway – Small and Tucked Away

In a stall somewhat tucked away in a corner, we found Norway. That is to say, two people from Nord-Trøndelag. One of them represented Visit Innherred and had brought brochures advertising such things as Mosvik Museum, a trip to Våttåhaugen and trout fishing in the Snåsa mountains. None of it appeared to attract much interest, although things picked up a little when Elina Navarro from the Hilmar Festival offered a wheel of fortune for children. There was nothing about the folk musician Hilmar Alexandersen in the brochure for the festival in Steinkjer, and Navarro herself is from Mexico.

Norway’s stall was somewhat tucked away, squeezed in between Sudan and Burma. Photo: Bente Haarstad.

The organisers were very pleased with what they had achieved.

Opened by Trondheim’s Conservative Mayor

Thank you to everyone who made this possible through their support: Mayor Kent Ranum, who led the city’s colourful SKF parade and gave an opening speech with many good messages about a colourful city; City Councillor for Childhood and Education Siv Mari Forsmark, who presented the cultural award with a warm speech; City Councillor for Social Services Espen Agøy Hegge; City Councillor for Culture, Sport and Leisure Live Kroknes Berg; Hilde Sem Lykke from SpareBank 1 SMN; Ismail Saleh Emni from the City Council; and Dag Ove Johansen from Trondheim Municipality, who visited all the tents to select the three best – a very difficult task among so many fantastic stalls.

Mayor Ranum in Trondheim represents Høyre, Forsmark is a Venstre politician, while Ismail Saleh Emni is from Trondheim Labour Party and, according to them, is named Ismali Salad Elmi. The latter grew up in Mogadishu, Somalia, as one of 15 siblings, according to NRK, and is today a politician and organiser of diversity in the Trøndelag capital.

Ria Money Transfer and Fellesforbundet were centrally located and neighbouring stalls at the diversity festival in Trondheim. Photo: Bente Haarstad.

A Culture of Sending Money Abroad

At any so-called immigrant shop, there are one or more ways for immigrants to send money to their home countries. Ria Money Transfer, for example. They are evidently such an important part of the culture of diversity that they had a centrally located stall at the diversity festival, with Fellesforbundet as their nearest neighbour.

This celebration of diversity in Trondheim is sponsored by Trondheim Municipality, Trøndelag County Municipality, the Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi), Sparebank1, Equinor, Trønder-Energi, Ria Money Transfer, EC Dahls Eiendom (Reitan), Fagforbundet, Varig Orkla Forsikring and Total Lyd.

The Language and Culture Festival has its own website. If one looks around a little, one can also find out who is behind it. That is to say, immigrants who have lived in Norway for a relatively short time and who evidently consider it more important to celebrate the cultures of other countries than the culture belonging to the country in which they have chosen to settle. We reproduce some information about the board members.

Founded by Recent Immigrants

Kerim Kara has lived in Norway since 2017. He was one of the founders of the Language and Culture Association in Trondheim, and since then he has served on the board and acted as festival director for the Language and Culture Festival.

Meral Karais, a teacher and one of the founders of the Language and Culture Association in Trondheim, has served on the festival’s board since 2017. She is a familiar face to many women in Trondheim through her voluntary work for the Women’s Committee at Mangfoldshuset. Meral ensures that the food tents are spotless and comply with all laws and regulations, while also coordinating many official processes for the association.

Muhammed Hasan Sen has lived in Norway since 2018 and has an education in literature as well as equality and diversity. Since 2019, he has actively contributed to the Language and Culture Festival in Trondheim. He has served on the board of the Language and Culture Association in Trondheim since 2020 and is responsible for the exhibition tents at the festival.

Sendy Real has lived in Norway since 2015 and, since 2016, has brought Mexican sunshine to Norwegian kindergartens. In addition, she works for the Quetzalli Mexican folk-dance group. One of the first people to coordinate the Language and Culture Festival, she has worked with a large, diverse group to make the festival flourish. Since 2020, she has served on the board with many additional responsibilities, including coordinating the SKF parade to charm the city’s population.