First Week of Lent 2026
A Different Kind of Red Hat
Thursday, February 26, 1942:
84 years ago today, the Nazi occupiers of Norway outlawed the knitting and wearing of red “nisselue” hats. These simple homemade knitted red caps with a braided tassel had become a silent symbol of resistance among the Norwegians. Wearing your nisselue was a way to signal to your neighbors that you opposed the occupation and supported resistance movements. This infuriated the Nazis, who then made it illegal for anyone in Norway to make or wear a red hat.
This form of protest emerged, according to the head of Norway’s Resistance Museum, as one way “to keep up morale, keep up hope, and not descend into hopelessness and apathy during a very dark time.” The hats have become an enduring symbol of opposition to tyranny.
Recently, in the midst of the horrific ICE occupation in their state, knitters in Minnesota (many of Norwegian heritage) resurrected the practice of making and wearing nisselue hats. It’s now spreading across the United States. Yarn stores everywhere are sold out of red yarn, including here in Maine. A shop in Minneapolis began selling a nisselue “Melt the Ice” hat pattern online for $5 and giving 100% of the proceeds to mutual aid efforts in their city. They’ve made over $650,000 so far.
The central values of the Norwegian resistance movement in World War 2 included:
- Democracy – the antithesis of authoritarianism
- Unity – a rejection of propaganda that divides people into imagined groups
- Menneskeverd – “humanworth,” the intrinsic value of all human beings, the red of the nisselue hats is a symbol that we all bleed the same
A website called “The Red Hat Factory” that’s devoted to this chapter in Norwegian history says:
Resistance is…
speaking freely and without fear, whether in public demonstration or to your inner group of friends
refusing simplistic language that pits groups against each other
taking a break from media when it stokes your fear and anger
getting to know your neighbor, especially those unlike yourself
not losing hope that there is some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for
This Lent, consider adapting that list into your own Lenten discipline or spiritual practice—pick just one form of resistance to practice throughout Lent, or try a different one each week.
And today, on this 84th anniversary of the nisselue law, wear a red hat as a sign of solidarity with all those, past and present, who resist tyranny, authoritarianism, and fascism.
Because there is indeed some good in this world. And it is worth fighting for.
