Setesdal

Åraksbø in Setesdalen, Norway.

Setesdal (older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Aust-Agder County (fylke) in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes.

The Otra river flows through the valley of Setesdal into the sea near the Kristiansand. Setesdal flows from the Hardangervidda plateau in Telemark to the north. The historic Setesdal starts at Evje and extends as far as the farm called Bjåen, at the edge of Telemark county. Øvre (Upper) Setesdal is in the municipality of Bykle. The municipalities of Iveland, Evje & Hornes and Bygland comprise the Nedre (Lower) Setesdal. Valle municipality lies located in middle the Setesdal valley.

History

The Historia Norvegiæ, a short history of the Norway written by a monk in the second half of the 12th century, reports that Setesdal was then part of the law district “Telemark with Råbyggelag”. A Raabygger or Råbygger is one who lives in a corner; this is an apt description for the valley of Setesdal, which runs like a wedge into the heights of mountain called Haukelifjell.

Ascending the Otra valley from Evje, one reaches the lake Byglandsfjord. At this point one historically found one of the more pronounced cultural transitions in Norway; there was a radical change in racial characteristics, dress (folk costumes or Bunad), architecture, dialect, dance (e.g., the ganger, a form of Bygdedans), customs, and cuisine. Particularly obvious north of the mountain pass of Byklestigen, the people of upper Setesdal were observed to be more closely related in blood and speech to their eastern neighbors in Telemark, as well as their immediate neighbors in adjoining districts of Rogaland to the west than to those people down valley.

Between Valle in Setesdal on the western side of the mountains and Fyresdal on the eastern side, one finds a medieval track that priests and bishops used to get between the counties of Agder and Telemark. This track is named Bispevegen ("Bishop's Road") and every year a march called "Bispevegmarsjen" ("The Bishop's Road March") starts at Kleivgrend in Fyresdal.

The Hylestad stave church, constructed in the 13th century, in Setesdal was demolished in the 19th century. Its portal, with several carved scenes illustrating the legend of Sigurd Fåvnesbane (Sigurd the Dragon-slayer), is on display at University Museum of Antiquities in Oslo (Universitetets Oldsaksamling, Historisk Museum, Oslo). Sigurd's slaying of Fafnir is described in the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson and the Saga of the Volsungs as well as alluded to in Beowulf and Njal's Saga, .

The Setesdal Railroad (Setesdalsbanen in Norwegian) is a railroad between Kristiansand and Byglandsfjord, Setesdal in southern Norway. It was opened to Hægeland in 1895, and to Byglandsfjord in 1896.

References

South Norway by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1958.

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