Skigard is a Norwegian noun that means wooden fence. It is made of split tree trunks, using simple tools. Fence making and mending was a task for early summer.
Category page: history
Faredag | notice day for farmhands – twice a year | Norway
In the old farming society, nature dictated the flow of the working year. And farmworkers could only leave their jobs on 2 specific days during the year.
Ljå | means scythe in Norwegian | Norway
Ljå is a Norwegian noun that means a scythe – an old agricultural cutting-tool used when mowing the grass to make hay, or when harvesting the grain crops.
Haymaking | 10 July – let the haymaking begin | Norway
10 July is the feast day of Saint Knut – Knutsok – and marks the beginning of the haymaking season – høyonna – in the old Norwegian farming calendar.
Åre | means open fire on the floor in Norwegian | Norway
Åre is a Norwegian noun that means an open fireplace, placed on the floor in the middle of a room. The smoke goes up and out through a vent in the roof – the ljore.
Kløvhest | means packhorse in Norwegian | Norway
Kløvhest is a Norwegian noun that means packhorse. Well into our own time, the Norwegians used horses to help transport goods through a challenging landscape.
Skoklefallsdagen | the last day of spring | Norway
On the historical Norwegian farm, the skoklefallsday is the last day of planting in the spring. Literally, it means the day that the shafts attached to the workhorse’s harness come off.
Herder-children | roaming the mountains all alone | Norway
In olden Norway, the farm-animals were sent off to the mountains and forests all summer. With them came a herder to guard them, and a maid to turn their milk into cheese and butter.
Kipe | means a basket in Norwegian | Norway
A kipe is a tall, woven basket, often made of twigs from the birch tree. It was carried on the back, and typically used when carrying loads in a landscape full of steep fields and paths.
Budrått | means milk products in Norwegian | Norway
Budrått is a Norwegian noun that means the output of milk products on a farm – such as cheese and butter. The word is often associated with what was produced during the summer on the seasonal mountain or forest pasture farm – the seter.
Homestead | the first farms appeared in the Stone age | Norway
In Scandinavia, agriculture first appeared in the Stone age – around 2400 BC. The early farmers cleared their land by using simple tools and fire.
Homestead | how machinery changed the look of the farm | Norway
When the industrial revolution brought machinery to the Norwegian farms, it didn’t just change the old working methods, it also changed the layout and look of the farmland.
Kantslått | means cut grass in Norwegian | Norway
Kantslått is a Norwegian noun that means (1) the grass that is cut along the edges of a field, a road, etc. or (2) the actual process of cutting this grass. Traditionally, the grass was used as animal fodder.
Uff da! | what does the expression mean? | Norway
Uff da! is a Norwegian interjection, often used to express sympathy. For example when a child falls over: Uff da! Slo du deg? – meaning Poor you! Did you hurt yourself?
Norwegian railway history | the pioneer era 1851-1868 | Norway
With the birth of the new Norwegian national state in 1814, came big ideas. And one of them was to establish better transportation systems.
Sami people | the Coastal Sami and their homes | Sapmi
The traditional Sami houses, the goahti, were in use until well into our own time. Anders Larsen tells us how he remembers them from the coastal Sami communities in northern Norway.
History timeline | from stone age to modern era | Norway
In this post you will find a list of Norway’s 15 main historical eras – from the ice age to our modern day.
Norwegian history | the Stone age | Norway
The Stone age people were master hunters, fishers, and gatherers. The lived with the seasons and followed the prey.
Norwegian history | the Bronze age | Norway
With the Bronze age came a new and important phase in human history and development: mankind learned how to make tools and other objects from a metal they called bronze.
Norwegian history | the Iron age | Norway
In Norway, the first traces of iron date back to 400-300 BC. The country has significant iron resources, and making tools and weapons from this new metal was a significant step forward.
Norwegian history | the High middle ages | Norway
With the High middle ages came expansion and progress. But everything was about to change, in the most brutal way imaginable.
Norwegian history | the Late middle ages | Norway
After the Black Death, it took the Norwegian communities centuries to recover. And soon, the country also lost its independence.
Norwegian history | the Early modern period | Norway
In the year AD 1537, King Christian 3 of Denmark-Norway embraced the Lutheran Reformation, and the Norwegians went from being Catholics to Protestants. The king confiscated the Catholic Church’s considerable wealth, a welcomed addition to the royal coffers. Norway more or less ceased to exist as a sovereign state and became a province under Denmark.
Norwegian history | reborn as a sovereign state | Norway
17 May 1814 is regarded as the birth of the modern-day Norwegian state. But it took almost another hundred years before the Norwegians could declare complete independence.
Norwegian history | in union with Sweden | Norway
In this period, Norway was still primarily a nation of farmers, fishermen and hunters. In AD 1801, 90% of the population lived in rural areas.
Norwegian history | full independence at last | Norway
Norway’s full independence came in AD 1905, and was the culmination of a process that had lasted for several decades.
Norwegian history | prosperity, war and depression | Norway
On 18 November 1905, after a supportive referendum, the Norwegian parliament unanimously elected the Danish Prince Carl as the country’s new king.
Norwegian history | World War 2 and occupation | Norway
On 9 April 1940, German forces attacked Norway in the early hours of the morning. The Norwegian armed forces attempted to stave off the attack, but they were in no way prepared for this monumental task.
Norwegian history | the post World War 2 era | Norway
After the end of World War 2, the Norwegians all took part in lifting their country well and truly into the 20th century.
Norwegian history | transformation and neoliberalism | Norway
During the AD 1970s, both an increased female participation in the labour market, and the green movement, were causes firmly added to the agenda. There was a heightened focus on maternity leave, access to kindergarten, and maternity benefits.
Norwegian history | technology and globalisation | Norway
With a growing population and public sector, Norway pushed through significant reforms in several areas: public structure and organisation, welfare, health care, tax, policing, public services, and more.
Homestead | bringing home the winter hay | Norway
On the historical Norwegian farm, winter feed for the domesticated animals was a precious resource. Sometimes it was harvested and temporarily stored far away from the farm.
Folk medicine | as used by the Norwegians | Norway
Do you have trouble sleeping? Here are some examples of how the old Norwegians used Mother Nature’s very own remedies to cure their ailments.
Homestead | cutting marsh grass on the frozen lake | Norway
To make sure he could tide the animals over the long and cold winter, the historical Norwegian farmer utilised all available resources.
History | the sweater from Setesdal | Norway
In a cold country like Norway, warm clothing is essential. This is a refined and old version of a woollen sweater from the district of Setesdal.
Homestead | how to hand-milk the cow | Norway
In 1935, Aslaug Engnæs published a guidance book on how to milk the cow.
Sami people | sleeping on a bed of glowing embers | Sapmi
When there were no makeshift or permanent dwellings nearby, the Sami hunters and herders sometimes slept under the open sky.
Wooden buildings one thousand years old | Norway
The oldest wooden buildings in Norway are almost 1000 years old – like Urnes stave church in Luster. How come these buildings do not rot away and disappear?
Homestead | memories from Langfjordbotn in Finnmark | Norway
Langfjordbotn – in Norway’s northernmost region Finnmark – was the birthplace of Oluf Røde, born in 1889.
Homestead | memories from Værøy in Lofoten | Norway
The wild ocean world of Værøy in Lofoten, Norway, was the birthplace of Mimmi Benjaminsen – born in 1894. Here are some of her childhood memories.
Homestead | making butter the old way | Norway
For the old Norwegians, making butter was simply a way of preserving the fresh summer milk – turning it into a type of food that could be stored.
Homestead | the old farm and the need for water | Norway
The old Norwegian farm needed hundreds of litres of water every single day: for food-making, cleaning, and human and animal consumption.
The old Norwegians needed no money | Norway
The old Norwegian farming society was a self-sufficient and balanced world. Coins and notes were all but an alien concept.
Homestead | finding Ole Johan Nyaas and his barn | Norway
With this old photograph in my hand I have set myself a task: how much information can I find in Norwegian online archives based on what the photo tells me?
Kjenge | wooden drinking bowl | Norway
A kjenge is a drinking bowl used in the old Norwegian farming society – usually with two handles – carved and hollowed out from one piece of wood.
A Norwegian’s take on the lead-up to the Black Death | Norway
The Black Death – mother of all plagues – ravaged humankind in the mid-1300s. A Norwegian scholar takes us through the lead up to the disaster.
Homestead | the Sæterhaugen farm saga | Norway
In 1942, Hans Hyldbakk wrote the history of the local cotter’s holdings in Surnadal, Nordmøre, Norway. The book was updated in 1966.
Homestead | the Sortehaug farm saga | Norway
Skodje sogelag and Louis Giske wrote the history of the two Sortehaug farms and its inhabitants back in 1986.
The old Norwegian farm | its land and surroundings | Norway
In this post, we take a look at the layout of the Norwegian farm and its surroundings – and how the land and its resources were utilised.
Homestead | the old farm and the hour of twilight | Norway
The hour of twilight is when the daylight starts to disappear – before it is completely dark. In the old Norwegian farming society, this was a time for rest.
Homestead | the Stornæve farm saga – Trøndelag | Norway
Per O. Rød wrote the history of the Stornæve farm and its inhabitants back in 1968. Decades earlier, several children of Stornæve had emigrated to the US.
Norway and its age-old farming culture | Norway
Once you start taking an interest in the old Norwegian farming and family history, then the people of the past start coming to the fore.
Mystery | 1895: a dead man in the fjord | Norway
It was midsummer 1895. An older man was found drifting in the fjord just outside Moss, Norway – shot in the temple with a revolver. Who was he?
Homestead | the ancient tradition of mountain pasture | Norway
For more than a thousand years, Norwegian farmers sent their livestock to feed in the forests and the mountains. Today, this way of life has almost disappeared.