Day 6, Hardanger Folkemuseum

Hardanger Folkemuseum, Utne
Monday 19th May 2014

This morning breakfast wasn’t until 8am. I showered, made my lunch and tidied my stuff into my bags. I then went down to breakfast and met the only other people who stayed here last night, a couple from Hampshire. While on business in Norway about 25 years ago, they had met (at this hotel? They certainly stayed here) and married within a year. This was a special return visit, probably for a wedding anniversary.

They had been here for about five days, and informed me that no staff live onsite, so the three of us had it to ourselves last night. I informed them that I had run amok! 😉 They had been told that there was another lady staying last night, but they had actually wondered whether the staff had made me up, so that if they heard someone else moving about, they wouldn’t think it was the ghost that apparently haunts the hotel! I assured them I was very real!

Breakfast consisted of some very nice freshly baked GF bread, some orange juice, cold meats, tomato and capsicum. It was a little odd – the mix of things to eat – but nice all the same. I’d already had some of my grapes prior to breakfast seeing I was hungry before 8am.

After breakfast, I headed off to the museum. Agnete had said I could come any time after 8:30. I think I got there about 9 and she greeted me almost immediately.

A more overcast view of Hardangerfjord

Hardanger Folkemuseum

We went upstairs to the embroidery display. Along one side of the room were glass display tables, and along the other were mannequins with various styles of dress, and wall displays of other clothing. In the centre of the room was a boat with mannequins dressed as if they were going off to church in the boat – a common thing in times past according to the fellow at the boat museum yesterday, where they had several church boats.

Hardanger display at Hardanger Folkemuseum

Bunad display at Hardanger Folkemuseum

Hardanger bride

Off to church wearing their best clothes, in the church boat

I started photographing and we started discussing what I was seeing. She told me lots and lots, and also about her background in how she’s there as a curator, and how she became interested in embroidery. She sounded like she was creative like me when little. She learned Hardanger from an older neighbour who was very welcoming of her interest and excited to teach her. Agnete now teaches others at the museum. On Friday she had a lady from Switzerland who came for some lessons from her.

Agnete told me many interesting things, like the fact that some hardanger embroidery is now outsourced to Ghana! They would not tell you it was from Ghana, in the shop, unless you asked.

I asked her if there was any danger of the embroidery dying out. She emphatically said no! She did, however tell me the sad tale of the married women’s pleated headdresses. You start with a square of white linen fabric. It is starched, then folded. It is put onto a board of some sort then very finely pleated. It is mounted on the head over a support. It is draped in a very particular way. If it rains, the headdress will flop, because the starch will no longer hold it’s shape. The problem is that the only woman left who knows how to do the pleating properly is very old, and is forgetting things. She has passed on some of her knowledge to others but no one person knows it all. Agnete is very worried about this. She said if they can find someone to do a study of it, and learn the whole procedure, there will be no problem in funding it. However, it looks like the skill might become lost. Like the boat museum, they want to preserve the old ways by keeping the skills alive, not just by keeping the items in glass cabinets.

Mannequin wearing the married woman’s headdress

Agnete told me that in Japan, there are temples that every 20 or so years, they dismantle them and rebuild them again, in so doing, keeping those skills alive. It is an amazing way to preserve the past.

Later we went through to the cafe area and we talked about different stitches, and she showed me eyelet clusters. I wasn’t very wrong in the way I had devised to make them!

After that, Agnete left me, and I went back to photographing more things and in more detail. When I had finished I went downstairs to the all important museum shop and added some more weight to the things I will take home with me… I think I’ll be wearing the puffy jacket at check in! (That saves 600 grams!)

Hardanger shirt, waistcoat and jewellery

Whitework shirts

I then went down the street and sat at a picnic table across the road from the hotel, in front of a most magnificent view (!) to eat my lunch. A few tiny little finches desperately wanted to share my lunch with me, but I told them I was sorry but it was mine. I realised then that they probably didn’t understand English, so no wonder they didn’t get the message!

The little bird who wanted some lunch

A more overcast view of Hardangerfjord

After I’d eaten, I got out my embroidery and tried out Agnete’s way of doing the eyelet clusters. It worked beautifully, and created slightly larger holes than my way. I’m swapping to hers from now on!

I then did a dump of what I could from my brain into my notebook. It is important to get these things on paper quickly. I realised that I hadn’t taken a photo of Agnete, and I really wanted one, and really it would best if I could measure the embroideries so that I could work out what count they were. Relying on someone else to do it for me was a big ask, and as I was there, it really would be best for me to do it while I had the chance. So back to the museum I went.

I asked the girl at the front desk if I could borrow a ruler to do some measuring, and while she was very willing to lend me one, it took her quite a bit of looking to actually find one. I was very apologetic for making her go to all that effort.

I also asked if I could take a photo of Agnete, so she went and got her for me. I took my photo of Agnete, then got on with all my measuring. It won’t be very accurate, as I was measuring from some distance, because they were in glass cabinets. However, it will be better than nothing. It will give me a reasonable idea of the thread count, which will be helpful.

Agnete Sivertsen, Director of Hardanger Folkemuseum

It was a little bit colder when I left the museum this time – after 3ish? – so I went back to my room and spent the next couple of hours writing the introduction to the book and matching up photos to the text. It’s going to be a beautiful introduction!

I could have been out exploring the locale this afternoon, but this trip is actually about writing a book, and I felt it was best to do it while it was fresh. Agnete is happy to check anything for accuracy, so I will definitely take her up on that later down the track.

This evening I will do some more embroidery before going of to sleep. It’s 8pm and way too light still! I couldn’t liken it to any particular time of day at home because the light seems very different.