Both the Irish and the Icelanders continue to hand down their legends which have been brought from Europe. Icelandic children usually are well posted on the national sagas, including the alfa sorgur, which tell of the huldu folk or elves; and no Irish child is so poor as to be deprived of the ghosts, the banshees, the leprechauns, and other weird creatures of the Emerald Isle.
At Ross, in northwestern North Dakota, is a small colony of Syrians, most of whom are Ahmadiyya Moslems. They have their own place of worship, and conduct services each Friday as well as on other holy days. They retain many food customs of the Near East, one of the most interesting being the use of a meal made by crushing durum wheat which has been boiled and dried in the sun. The meal is then stewed with meats or vegetables or sweet oils.
The sugar beet industry of the Red River Valley has resulted in the importation of Mexican workers, who provide cheap and skilled labor for cultivation of the beet fields. The Mexican population is not large, however, having decreased greatly from the 1930 figure of 600, and has left no permanent imprint of its folklore or customs. The Negro population, never large, is also rapidly decreasing. The 1930 census showed 377 Negroes in the State.
Although not foreign-born, the Indian population constitutes a distinct racial group. Sioux and Rolette Counties, containing the Standing Rock and Turtle Mountain groups, have the greater part of the Indian population and consequently register the highest illiteracy in the State, from 7 to 8 percent. Other counties usually have an illiteracy rate of less than 1 percent, and sometimes less than half of 1 percent.
The Indians retain many racial customs and legends despite the encroachment of the white man's civilization. The metis, of French and Chippewa blood, were famous as hunters and trappers. Many of them were found in the upper Red River Valley and adjoining territory about 1850. Their descendants now live in small clay-plastered log houses, with much of their household equipment and bedding kept in the yard.
Many of North Dakota's characteristic folkways represent foreign cultures rather than anything intrinsically American. There is no lack, however, of native customs which are gradually absorbing and supplanting the Old World ways.
Because North Dakota is a farm State, many of its customs hinge on certain matters of rural importance such as the weather and the crops. Whether or not the farm people are able or inclined to attend is the greatest factor in the success of most social and civic events. Saturday night is the farmer's night in town, a welcome holiday after his week of isolation and work. Shops and garages become social as well as commercial centers, as friends stop to exchange news, gossip, and recipes. In many communities, Saturday night dances are held, and during the summer months a vacant lot will often be the scene of open-air motion pictures, with the spectators seated in their parked cars and blowing the horns in lieu of applause when the pictures meet with approval.
In addition to such general holiday celebrations as Christmas, New Year, and Memorial Day, in the Norwegian sections of the State, Norwegian Independence Day, May 17, is also marked by festivity. Among the Russo-Germans, Ascension Day is an unusually solemn holiday. At Christmas time, holiday decoration of homes is common, and groups of young people stroll about the streets or ride in sleighs singing carols. New Year's Eve brings about the usual noisy gayety, and in many towns it is customary to fire guns in a salute as the new year comes in. Watch parties are held in the churches for the more serious-minded.
The Fourth of July is an important holiday, not so much for its historic meaning as for its local interpretation. For days previously, the skies are anxiously scanned for signs of inclement weather. As the Glorious Fourth dawns a salute is fired, usually by ex-servicemen, and soon in the early morning air the sound of hammers is heard, as booths and "concessions" rapidly go up to be draped with bunting. Flags appear on the buildings and homes. Cars begin to pour into town, parking near Main Street, which has been roped off for the races. The square is soon filled with a milling crowd, all in their best clothes, the children clutching their long-hoarded pennies and nickels which they will exchange for soda pop, ice cream, and firecrackers. The program of the day includes patriotic speeches, airplane and parachute exhibits, races, and bowery dances, and in the evening the climax of the exciting day—a fireworks display.