Rock carvings found at Rødøy In 1933, ethnographer Gutorm Gjessing discovered the above rock carving on the island of Rødøy, in the Norwegian region...
Norwegian ski history | Hunting in deep snow
read more
Norwegian fishing and hunting
Night fishing using a spear and a torch | Lystring
A leister is an ancient tool Lystring is the gerund form of the Norwegian verb å lystre - pronounced [ly`strə]. The word comes from the Old Norse...
The old Norwegian farm | Farmhands could only leave twice a year
Summer and winter Today, the Norwegians think of the year in terms of 4 main seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. But the old Norwegian...
Norwegian Buhund | Herding dog and keeper of ancient traditions
A Buhund is not necessarily equal to a buhund When we talk about a Norwegian buhund, we must distinguish between: The spitz dog type and its place...
Did you read?
Norwegian railway history | The pioneer era 1851-1868
Preparing for progress For thousands of years, the Norwegians relied on boats, horses, reindeer, and their own two feet to transport both goods and...
Norwegian to English dictionary | The best for genealogists?
In North America and other parts of the world, there are millions of descendants of the nearly 1 million Norwegians who emigrated in the 1800s and...
The old Norwegian farm | A result of landscape and climate
First hunter-gatherers – then farmers The first humans to appear on the Scandinavian peninsula, came after the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago....
Norway’s 5 largest lakes
A land full of water Norway is a land full of water; and whether you are walking through an open, mountainous landscape - or find yourself deep...
Kipe | Means a basket in Norwegian
Pronunciation Kipe The grammar Noun | both masculine and feminine, depending on the dialect | the indefinite form: en/ei kipe (a kipe) | the...
Norwegian words | Skårfast | Stuck on a mountain ledge
Getting to know the word Skårfast is composed of two words: skår + fast = skårfast In this context, skår – a noun - means a steep mountain or...
10 July – let the Norwegian haymaking begin
Focussed on animal husbandry The historical farming in Norway was very much based on the keeping of livestock, for two reasons in particular: Only...
Folk medicine | As used by the Norwegians
Long before doctors Long before doctors and modern-day laboratories, our ancestors used plants and other natural remedies to help cure their...
The royal palace in Oslo | Built by a French general
The historical backdrop Between AD 1380 and AD 1814, Norway was de facto under Danish rule; with Denmark’s monarchs ruling Norway from Copenhagen....
The old Norwegian cemetery | Once and always a pauper
Christianity and the Viking kings In Scandinavia, Christianity came with the Viking kings, around AD 1000. The new religion brought with it churches...
Skoklefallsdagen | The old Norway’s last day of spring
Pronunciation Skoklefallsdagen No sowing after this day Skoklefallsdagen was the day in the spring that the farmers had to have all the cultivated...
The old Norwegian farm | A nation built on porridge | Grøt
Grain and water Porridge, flatbread, and lefse - a soft grain-based flatbread - were staple foods on the old Norwegian farm. Historically, today’s...
The old Norwegian farm | The last workhorse at Sandaker farm
Pronunciation Horse = hest This is a story told and owned by Trygve Sandaker (1918-2014) - and by permission written down and passed on to...
Are Santa Claus’s reindeer all female?
A cold climate animal The reindeer is native to the arctic, sub-arctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and...
Norwegian Buhund | Herding dog and keeper of ancient traditions
A Buhund is not necessarily equal to a buhund When we talk about a Norwegian buhund, we must distinguish between: The spitz dog type and its place...
Night fishing using a spear and a torch | Lystring
A leister is an ancient tool Lystring is the gerund form of the Norwegian verb å lystre - pronounced [ly`strə]. The word comes from the Old Norse...
The old Norwegian farm | When the old Norway changed
Let us begin with the 1769-census In 1769, when Norway was a province under Denmark and was ruled by the Danish king, it had a population of...
Remembering schoolteacher Eilert Wulff | Norway AD 1904
According to his obituary, published in the newspaper Nordkap on 28 October, Eilert Andreas Wulff was born in Kvæfjord, Troms, Norway, in 1874....
A Norwegian’s take on the lead-up to the Black Death
The Black Death may have been one of the worst disasters ever to have hit humankind. In the mid-1300s, this bubonic plague went like fire across...
The Norwegian cheese slicer | Ostehøvel
Norwegian cheese Cheese has been part of the Norwegian diet since time immemorial. Every summer, the historical Norwegian farmers sent their cows...
Bergen – Norway | Historical city once plundered by pirates
Once Norway's largest city Historically, Bergen was known as Bjørgvin. It was Norway's largest city throughout the Middle Ages - and up until as...
Norway and its age-old farming culture
Introduction In today's world, we have almost forgotten that our entire Norwegian culture is based on life in the age-old farming, fishing and...
Practical farming in Norway in 1815 | The month of January
Lorentz Diderich Klüwer: In 1815, Norwegian farmer and army officer Lorentz Diderich Klüwer published a pamphlet on practical farming. In this post,...
When a bear attacked Norwegian milkmaid Kari Moen in 1836
On her way to the mountain pasture farm One early summer's day in 1836, milkmaid - budeie - Kari Moen was on her way to the Sauherad mountains, to...
Norwegian ski history | Hunting in deep snow
Rock carvings found at Rødøy In 1933, ethnographer Gutorm Gjessing discovered the above rock carving on the island of Rødøy, in the Norwegian region...
Norway | A land of water
With its mountains, fjords, and forests, Norway represents one of our planet’s many majestic faces. The Kingdom of Norway, located on the western...
Ljå | Means scythe in Norwegian
Pronunciation Ljå The grammar noun | masculine | the indefinite form: en ljå (a ljå) | the definite form: ljåen (the ljå) | comes from the Old Norse...
Growth of the soil | Homesteading in the Norwegian mountains
As a young person growing up in Norway, my dream was to emigrate and become a homesteader...