Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Great Seal of the State of Minnesota


You have to admit I'm incredibly FUNNY!



Larry and I were talking about the history of Hawaii (where he grew up), and that led to discussing the statue of King Kamehameha on the Big Island and how the statue came to be. He mentioned that the image was used on the Hawaii statehood quarter, too, and googled it to show me ☺.  HERE'S ONE SITE that illustrates all the state coins...Minnesota has a bit of everything, Georgia has an unfortunate butt-shaped peach, and Hawaii  has the Roman-senator-like king.  THAT led us to state seals, and why Minnesota's is in French.


The earliest Europeans in Minnesota were French fur traders & explorers (Nicolet, Radisson, Marquette, Sieur Du Luth,  La Salle ) followed by French priests, in the 1630s to 1680s.  I suppose that felt like history by the time 1858 rolled around, huh?

Anyway, I remember being chagrined when I first saw The Great Seal of the State of Minnesota.  I was sure it would be German or Swedish or Norwegian and have a beer stein and a concertina, at least.  A French motto still feels wrong, don't you think?  But, 'Der Star des Nordens' doesn't have the same cache, I suppose....lol

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