20: A stitch of heritage

A photographic countdown to July 4th

To the untrained eye, these might not pass the scrutiny of Norway’s notorious bunad-politi (bunad police), but for many Norwegian-Americans, this is as close to a bunad as it gets. Handmade with love, embellished with floral embroidery and festive trim, garments like these honor their ancestral roots in ways that are both proud and personal. In communities far from Norway, these stitched symbols carry more than tradition—they carry memory, identity, and belonging.