MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
The religion of the country is the Lutheran, almost in its original
form, for in some matters the Norwegians are most conservative. Though
not, perhaps, what we would consider a religious-minded people, they
are naturally good, honest, and kind, and they take their religion on
trust. They pay tithes, and give Easter and Christmas offerings to
their clergy willingly, since they regard the priest as a superior
person, and hold him in high esteem. He is a man, like his fellows,
and farms his own land, which appeals to the people in the country
parts. Moreover, he is possessed of learning, and away from the towns
he is mainly responsible for the national education.
Often the journey to church is long, for the farms lie far apart, and
when the church is distant ponies or boats are brought into requisition
for the conveyance of, at any rate, the women and children. Down by
the fjord on a fine Sunday morning the sight of the boats crossing
over to a church is a picturesque one. Deep laden with men, women,
and children, they come one after another; and when they reach the
shore, the women take their clean white head-dresses and gay kerchiefs
out of the compact little _tiner_ (oval chip-wood boxes), and finish
their toilets before going up to the church.
The Norwegian Sabbath begins on Saturday evening and ends at noon
on Sunday, after which time the day is spent in simple enjoyment
as a true holiday. Then in the evening the boats start for home,
and across the still waters one may hear the women singing glees,
as often as not to the accompaniment of the fiddle.
A wedding causes quite as much interest and excitement in Norway as it
does in England, and in the olden time the festivities lasted for a
week or more. Nowadays the merry-making has been somewhat curtailed,
but the actual ceremony has lost none of its solemnity and little
of its brightness. In the towns civilization has robbed the wedding
of its picturesqueness. The men are clothed in their best "blacks,"
as if going to a funeral, and the ladies wear dresses of Parisian
style. But away in the depths of the country one may still see a real
Norwegian wedding, with the bride and bridesmaids, if not also most of
the guests, dressed in the national costume, and it is a pretty sight.
In front comes a _stolkjærre_, the pony being led by the master of
the ceremonies. On the seat sits the bride in the full dress of the
country, and wearing her bridal crown; by her side the bridegroom,
also well adorned for the occasion; and, on the step of the cart, that
most important person, the fiddler, working his bow with astounding
energy. If the pony can bear the weight, perhaps a couple of the
bride's relations will sit up behind, otherwise they will walk in the
procession which follows; and there may be seen all the available
peasants of the district--young men and maidens, grandfathers and
grandchildren.
So they wend their way to the church; and after the service, if the
good old customs be kept up, the party proceeds to a green close by
and enjoys a boisterous dance until it is time to go on to the wedding
supper. Feasting and merry-making then continue for several hours--in
fact, the sleepiness of the guests is the only thing that breaks up
the entertainment for the night. Next day the festivities are resumed,
and are possibly carried on into a third day. The fiddler is always
busy, for without him there can be no real fun, the people's love of
music being no less than their love of dancing.
The violin is the one instrument which they know and understand, and
it has been in use among the Norwegians for hundreds of years. Their
most famous violin-player, Ole Bull, who died some few years ago,
was looked on as a great composer and musician. But all over the
country there are to be found men who can play after a fashion; and
a century or so ago, when the people were still very superstitious,
they fully believed that anyone who could play at all well had had
intercourse with the fairies, who were supposed to be marvellous
musicians and acquainted with an immense variety of beautiful tunes.
The food provided at a peasant's wedding feast is, of course, something
out of the common, and the guests are supposed to bring a present of
something good to eat, such as fresh meat, butter, old cream, cream
porridge, or cheese, for the ordinary fare of the country folk is,
as we have said, of the plainest.
With regard to the national costume, mentioned above, it is,
unfortunately, a fact that it is gradually disappearing. There are
parts, however, where there are no railways, no steamboats, and few
tourists, and in such places the people still live much as they did
a hundred years ago, even the men wearing clothes similar to those
worn by their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and some of these
are quaint in the extreme.
Perhaps the quaintest dresses are those of the people of Sætersdal, a
district in the South of Norway, between Christiansand and Telemarken;
and, when properly turned out, the men are quite as "dressy" as
the women. They wear a pair of trousers buttoned with half a dozen
silver buttons tight round the ankles, and coming right up to the
armpits. Several broad stripes adorn the legs from top to bottom. And
the coat takes the form of a curious little cape, richly embroidered
with silver, and having sleeves, fastened at the wrists with more
silver buttons. Shoes, with buckles, white stockings, and a cut-down
tall hat, gaily decorated with ribbons and embroidery, complete the
costume. The women wear short skirts--only a little below the knees--of
dark blue, with a bright trimming round the bottom; coloured stockings;
a bodice laced with silver, and covered with silver brooches and
other ornaments; a waistbelt, which is sometimes entirely of metal;
a kerchief tied over the head, after the fashion of the bandana of
West Indian negresses; and on occasions a shawl of many colours.
A step farther north, in what is called Lower Telemarken, a similar
kind of dress still exists, though the man's waistcoat-jacket is of
a somewhat different pattern and colour, and the women wear their
skirts a trifle longer. On Sundays and great occasions the latter
also put on cloth stockings and gloves, embroidered tastefully with
trails of flowers.
But such dresses as these are not the national costume of Norway. For
that we have to go still farther north--to the Hardanger. If an English
girl wishes to dress a doll as a typical Norwegian, the clothes would
be those of the Hardanger, and they would be these: a dark blue serge
skirt (to the ankles), trimmed with black velvet and silver braid;
a white chemisette with full sleeves; a red flannel bodice embroidered
with white, black, and silver, and glittering with brass saucer-shaped
ornaments; and a waistbelt adorned with metal buttons. The effect
is neat, bright, and decidedly piquant. The girls plait their fair
hair in two long tails, wearing a handkerchief as a head-dress; but
the married women have a most elaborate coiffure, something of the
sister-of-mercy type, consisting of the so-called _skaut_, or hood,
and the _lin_, or forehead band. It takes a considerable time to
put on, as the snow-white linen has to be most carefully stretched
over a frame, which is first fastened on the top of the head, and
then so arranged that the numerous small plaits hang in a particular
manner. This is the ordinary head-dress, though the country women
coming in to church on Sundays often wear curious old-fashioned
bonnets, which have the appearance of being heirlooms handed down
from generation to generation.
The men do not dress up to the women. They confine themselves
to a rough trouser suit, generally of dark blue, and a black felt
hat. Even amongst the older men of the Hardanger one seldom sees the
knee-breeches and stockings which used to be worn.