(N) Myrtekransen came into light 2005.

  But it all stared long before that. In the 1960 actually. When we were born in Telemark, Norway.

Helene was so lucky to grow up with affection for these cats from day one. Her parents thought she made purring sounds in the cradle as a new born. The very same cradle our cats prefer to sleep in, and that the Bohemian litter was born in it. Diana demanded it. Which fits well, since at the time Helene grew up, beautiful NFO`s lived with the father`s parents and the great grand mother had had them from her childhood and the mother`s mother grew up with a lovely silver and white NFO type. On top of it all the mother dreamt of one, and took her daughters to a cat show with the aunts as early as a 2 year old. Recollected by the sister and actually remembered by Helene, totally amazed by the wonderful cats.

  Helene`s aunts had the older typed NFO`s later, and on holydays at my grandmother`s old family property in Morgedal dating back many centuries in upper Telemark , we used to go to farms and seek out where there would be large and beautiful farm cats of the type Norwegian Forest Cats. We almost bought a red one from a stunning red female, but they kept it at the farm. Then we had a beautiful classic black and white NFO n 09 called Pelle, but he became ill and died very young.

Then from out of nowhere moved into our house and further into my bedroom, a stunning classic black tabby patterned, very typed NFO. It was such a lovely NFO cat. I called "her",  the Princess of course. As it turned out it was a neutered male. A prince that had lost its way. Parts of my room became a kitty room, and I made a bed fit for a queen/king under the table with curtains and all on place. Luckily we found the longing and very relived “parents” of the cat that cried when they brought him back home, and I cried when he left. It was the most beautiful animal I had ever met, and with the most wonderful temper to. I decided, one day to live with such a gorgeous pet friend again. I was about 6 years old. Then my father wanted a lovely boxer dog, so cats had to be visited in the near family instead. Luckily my grandmother and father still had their longue and huge black Buster, almost always at home in their guest room bed. He took at least half of it. 

We also invented cat safaris on Sundays to a valley we named Kittyvalley where we knew there always were very well feed farm cats happily living and sipping often on fresh cream. They were sitting outside their houses guarding their territories and not missing out on any action.

  Later my stepmother’s family added even more charming beauties to the list, and I learnt to know a really classic black and white female called Trulte. She was amazing and very typed. She became very old, and she actually climbed the walls of the house to get in, and jumped down from the first floor if she felt like it.  A great hunter and a typical smart and clever NFO female.

My mother`s sister has always had cats, wonderful typical NFO farm cats without a pedigree, but still stunning, large and brave. They scared the foxes.

My father started out with cats too, but has had dogs for a while. He still talks about he`s cat back home though. But his little sister, she has had beautiful NFO typed females. So that is my first memory of a stupendous NFO tortie. Their lovely three colored cat has imprinted an image hard to compare with.

But first and foremost I must be grateful to my mother that passed on her love for and knowledge of this old Norwegian cats. So that from a very early age, I was used to consider what a NFO was for her, and what the differences could be regarded as before they all vanished as pure breed. Usually it was more popular to have the short coated cat. Easier to keep clean, and NFO`s were wrongly looked up on as a bit wilder.

  My mother had her cat later, a wonderful housecat Rasmus. He looked like a Turkis Van, but when he moved in, so did one of the most beautiful NFO`s I can remember. Lurven, a large heavy classic NFO with a stunning coat and look, moved into her garden. He was a frightened cat maybe he came from the surrounding farms, and had probable been neglected. So then he found a life on his one. But he was her cat and an allied of her Rasmus, so we started to gain his confidence, and slowly he adapted trust. She wanted to take him inn with her, and put him up as a novise, but then she became ill and died. Her plans of maybe breeding and showing NFO were left to me and us. Before she died, she met our first Norwegian Forest Cat, Ludvig. She was so fond of him, and she would very much have wanted him herself. That was a good sign, she was very choosy.

  Ludvig was our first cat together and when he died at the age of 17 1/2, he started the whole thing called (N) Myrtekransen.

Svein-Erik had never had animals so his dedication to the Norwegian Forest Cat, is of a very severe and strongly felt kind. He was so totally and immediately struck by deep affection from the second we saw our first cat Ludvig as a kitten. Huge paws and an innocent but very firm look, stared back at him from underneath the lovely fur. Svein-Erik cared for him the first weeks, so after that it has only been NFO cats for him. He called Ludvig a little Gremlins, and was very proud. Svein-Erik even brought his kitten with him for work. Driving beer and sodas around in Telemark.

Svein-Erik is very convinced about how he wants his NFO`s to be, so to find the right NFO for him is hard work actually, and may stretch into other countries that have kept lines he prefer to continue.

Ludvig was without compare we thought then, and it was very hard to find this type of NFO over again when he died. We also went frequently to shows just to look, but thought then that the NFO`s we thought we knew, didn`t fit into the description of a show cat. So Ludvig was kept home, as we believed he would prefer that, showing himself off to his friends at home. He was a famous cat any way, in his habitat.

  So when he died we stared what we had dreamt of and talked about for many years. Breeding towards a direction securing the type we have preference for.

Ludvig was an 8 ½ -9 kg neutered male from an early founded cattery in Telemark, with a really heavy broad boning and body shape. He looked like a muscular large terrier, but a bit lounger in his body of course. His fur quality was really stunning and full of long strong over coat covering the perfect under wool built up underneath. He rarely had any knots at all. His head large and it had a wonderful soft triangle with heights and volume. When we traveled with him, he had to be shown because they asked us a lot, and people were amazed. He was always recognized as an image of what an NFO looked like. His paws filled the whole palm of my hand when spread and his legs were straight and powerful.   In addition to that he was very self confident and more loyal then a dog would be. His eyes were open but oblique with an amazed look and shaped like precious gemstones in very bright light green. 

The beloved Ludvig never went to a show and had no offspring with pedigree, but one love litter with the neighbors beautiful NFO typed tortie though before he was neutered, and he was well know and even in the newspaper once.

  From what we now know, he would have loved to be shown and his offspring could have been an important link.

All this is why we breed Norwegian Forest Cats. We want to ensure ourselves that we will be able to still see cats like Ludvig or close to his alike in the future and to be so lucky to have one in the family. But we also think about others that might like the same type, so even though we breed for our own amuse we might let entrusted NFO lovers have a dear family cat from us that also can go to shows or have beautiful typed offspring. If we are promised and ensured to be well informed about how their life is in their new family, for as longue as they live.

We will try to make an effort to help preserve the older typed Norwegian Forest Cats.

Kindest regards from

Helene and Svein-Erik in (N) Myrtekransen.

Norway.

Myrtekrans

Til den uskyldsrene brud

  I gamle dage var det almindeligt at bruden bar en krans af myrter, ligesom der var stukket kviste af myrter i brudens slør.

Myrterne symboliserer jomfruelighed og kyskhed, og planten var indviet til kærlighedsgudinden Afrodite, hvilket også var tilfældet med rosmarin, der er symbol på troskab og bestandighed. 

Myrtekransen kom til Danmark sammen med den hvide brudekjole og brudesløret fra Frankrig. Vi hører første gang om en myrtekrans i forbindelse med et bryllup i Danmark i 1806, og skikken med at bruge myrter i forbindelse med hovedbeklædningen startede, som mange andre skikke, i det bedre borgerskabs cirkler, men bredte sig i løbet af 1800-tallet til hele landet

Overtro

  Myrten skulle helst foræres til bruden. For at lykken skulle blive så varig som mulig, skulle myrten helst skæres af planten af den person, der havde plantet og plejet den. Som det hedder i Vestjylland:     "Den, som plejer myrten vil aldrig komme til at bære den", men hvis den derimod går ud for en ung pige, kan hun være sikker på at blive brud.

Bærer bruden myrtekrans eller -gren i kirken, skal hun passe på ikke at tabe den, det betyder nemlig ulykke. Og hvis myrten viste tegn til blomstring, spåede det ilde, og man kunne vente dødsfald i familien.

  Mange brude vælger stadig på én eller anden måde at lade myrter indgå i tilbehøret til deres påklædning, når de skal giftes. Nogle bærer en myrtekrans sammen med brudesløret, andre har myrteblade fæstnet til brudekjolen og endelig er det også almindeligt at lade myrterne hænge som dekorative ranker ned fra brudebuketten. Tidligere var det nogle steder præstens kone, der bandt brudekransen til sognets unge piger. De måtte selv afhente kransen for samtidig at blive nøje inspiceret. Hvis den unge brud viste tegn på graviditet fik hun ingen krans. 

 Myrte - Myrtus communis

  Mens myrtekransen i Norden var symbolet, bruden bar, som tegn på renhet og uskyld, så var den i gresk og romersk mytologi symbol for en noe mer håndfast elskov.

  Myrte er en grønn busk med vakre blomster, som har en deilig duft. Planten mister lett noen blader om vinteren, men det betyr ikke så mye, det kommer normalt rigelig med nye blader hver vår

 Litt historie

  Arabiske historier foreæller, at Adam, da han ble jaget ut af Paradis, fikk tre ting med seg: Et hvetekorn, en daddelsten og en liten myrtegren.  Alle tre ting som et symbol på fruktbarhet.

Afrodite som ble født av bølgende, sto opp af skumsprøytende hav med roser og myrter og ikke noe annet om seg