Maria Rønning

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Maria Hansdatter Rønning (* 1741 in Norway ; † 1807 in Nes (Eysturoy) , Faroe Islands ) was a Norwegian immigrant to the Faroe Islands who had a great influence on the development of the weaving mill there. She was the mother of the great poet Jens Christian Djurhuus .

Maria was the daughter of the farmer Hans Gunnarsøn Rønning and Anne Håvardsdatter from the Repstadt farm in Birkenes , Aust-Agder . Allegedly she descends from Håkon Jarl .

In 1767 she met the Faroese pastor Andreas Djurhuus in Brekkestø (Aust-Agder), who got into distress on the ship's jubilee party on the voyage from Denmark to the Faroe Islands and had to seek refuge there. Since the ship was damaged, it was there until April next year. It is believed that Maria Rønning worked in the hotel where Djurhuus lived. When the voyage continued in 1768, Maria Rønning was on board.

Andreas Djurhuus was already engaged to Annika Hedvig Hammershaimb, daughter of Bailiff Jørgen Frantz Hammershaimb , but now he was in love with Maria and the two wanted to get married in the Faroe Islands. When the ship arrived in the Faroe Islands on April 10, 1768, there was great joy that Andreas was finally home again, only: in the opinion of his father, Christian Djurhuus, he was not allowed to marry Maria . It is said that Mary wanted to take her own life, but then Christen Djurhuus arranged the wedding to his older son Johan Christian Djurhuus . This wedding took place on November 9, 1769.

The couple stayed on the farm in Nes (Johan was the oldest son). Maria Rønning is said to have been a strict and capable housewife . Many stories are told about her. The strangest is mentioned in Hanus Kamban's book JHO Djurhuus: En litterær biografi (about her great-great-grandson Janus Djurhuus ): Once she is said to have instructed a maid to cook rays (rokke - fär . Skøta ). The maid understood "spinning wheel" (rok - fär . Rokkur ), and when asked , she still understood the spinning wheel, but then no longer wanted to ask, but smashed a spinning wheel in the attic and cooked the pieces of wood. When Johan Djurhuus saw this, he had to laugh and told his wife what had happened. Maria Rønning is said to have only spoken Faroese (and no longer Norwegian) from that day.

Not least Maria Rønning is a phenomenon in the Faroese language blamed: the suppository R [⁠ ʀ ⁠] ( uvular Vibrant ) in some Faroese speakers to fall to their influence. Actually, the letter in the Faroese is called the "rolled" According tongue Spitz [⁠ r ⁠] ( alveolar Vibrant), or as "English R" [⁠ ɹ ⁠] ( alveolar approximant spoken). For example, her great-grandson Óla Jákup Djurhuus (1832–1909) is said to have spoken the suppository R.

Their most significant influence was that on Faroese weaving. The Faroese wool was then the main export item of the country. Until then, only upright looms were known in the Faroe Islands . The fabric made with it was strong, but the work was strenuous. Maria Rønning introduced the Norwegian loom, which had a turnpike. In doing so, she won a government grant to teach the Faroese women "Danish weaving". However, her first students mostly married and then stopped weaving. Maria Rønning's daughter Inger Maria continued this work and in 1816 there were 123 looms of the new type in the Faroe Islands.

In addition to their daughter Inger Maria, the couple had their son Hans Hendrik, of whom nothing is known; the daughter Annika Hedvig, who later married the Danish Faroe explorer Jørgen Landt ; and the great poet Jens Christian Djurhuus . Best known are probably their great-great-grandchildren, the brothers Janus Djurhuus and Hans Andrias Djurhuus .

Maria Rønning died in 1807 without ever having seen her homeland, mother and siblings again.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Rønning, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rønning, Maria Hansdatter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian immigrant in the Faroe Islands
DATE OF BIRTH 1741
PLACE OF BIRTH Norway
DATE OF DEATH 1807
Place of death Nes (Eysturoy) , Faroe Islands