Kveldsseto. Recreating the right setting for oral storytelling

Background

Main photo: Kveldseto at Øygarden. Photo: Camilla Damgaard, Maihaugen

 Kveldsseto is a old term to describe the time when people gathered around the fireplace in the evening, to do different handicrafts and tell stories. This quiet time in front of the fire, with the whole extended family and guests present, had an important social and cultural function in the traditional society.This time, kveld, was the time before the night  and after the daylight had faded in the evening. Here news , stories and ideas could be exchanged and discussed, and myth and fairy tales could be told, with the children lying in the beds in the same room and listening in excitement.

This was also the time for evaluation of the working day and planning for the next.

Always there was talk, storytelling and song, where everyone had something with which to contribute. No one was left on the outside. The old kveldseto was a rich cultural source and a good way of socialising in the old farming community, wrote local historian Einar Hovdhaugen.

The painting Kveldseto from 1908 by the painter Kristen Holbø shows how the light from the open fire was used for doing different crafts.In this picture we see some examples of the many crafts inhabitants of a farm would master: woodworking, carding wool, spinning and knitting. Photo: Maihaugen

The Gudbrands valley in central Norway, in the Innlandet County, is a region with strong tradtions in both tangible and intangible heritage. The rich oral tradition is nonetheless under threat here as elsewhere in Norway and abroad. This article will give some examples of how the tradition of storytelling around the open fire: “kveldsseto” is kept alive in new forms in the valley.

Kristen Holbø,  Vårpløying, Vågå, Spring ploughing (1911), Photo: Audbjørn Rønning/ Lillehammer Art Museum

How it was done

Kveldsseto in Jutulheimen

At the museum of Jutulheimen in Vågå municipality, in Northwestern Gudbrandsdal  Valley the tradition of oral story telling is kept alive, in new forms. The area of Gudbrandsdalen i renowned in Norway for its rich intangible and tangible heritage. The name Jutulheimen is in itself a clear indication of the importance of storytelling: the name comes from the Jutul-gate, “Jutulporten” close by. This natural phenomenon , that resembles a large stone gate, is connected with the tale of the Jutul and Johannes Blessom. (Jutul/Jotun is similar to Jätte in Swedish, Giant in English) .

“Jutulen og Johannes Blessom” Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831–1892) PD. Wikimedia Commons

Creating an informal arena

The concept is to create an arena for the telling of history and stories, similar to the traditional kveldsseto. The gathering is at seven o clock in the evening, around the fireplace at the old farmstead Jutulheimen.

The idea is to create an informal setting for storytelling. Although some of the gatherings are in the form of a lecture on a theme, the informal setting creates a better setting for interaction.

These story-telling meetings have had a wide variety of themes, for example: summer farming traditions, painters from Vågå, the tradition of the mythical Hulder, fishing traditions, colouring textiles with plants, musical traditions, what the archives can tell us, and old place-names.

One example of “Kveldseto” is a night of stories from the summer farms. Three older dairymaids, budeier, told about their experiences. Photo: Vågå History Association

Another example from Kveldsseto is the musical performance Huldra Hildur, where stories of the mythical creature Huldra is told through music and stories.

Storytelling at Maihaugen

At the outdoor-museum at Maihaugen , Lillehammer, many old buildings and artifacts from the Gudbrands Valley have been collected to create a living picture-book of the homes in the valley over several hundred years.

From the outdoor museum of Maihaugen. Photo: Einar Stamnes, Norwegian Crafts Institute

The collections were created by Anders Sandvig (1862-1950). Sandvig was a storyteller in his own right and his ideas of dissemination at Maihaugen was influenced by the storytelling tradition in which he himself had grown up.

God dag, mann økseskaft. 1907. Illustration from Theodor Kittelsen. Wikimedia Commons.

The old storytelling tradition of Norway shows interesting examples of the character of intangible, living, heritage: The stories , especially the fairytales, have wandered over national borders, some of the elements are ancient, and the changes, combinations and adjustments are all part of the living heritage. Parts of this oral tradition has been documented and disseminated by folklorists like Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) and Jørgen Moe (1813-1883) , who published their first collection of Norwegian folktales in 1841. But local historians, historical associations and writers, like Ivar Kleiven(1854-1854) , have played an invaluable role in the collecting and safeguarding of stories.

Asbjørnsen used frame narratives that tell us something of  the social function and the way in which these stories were told: Around the fireplace at the farms, summer farms and hunting cabins people gathered round and told their stories, both smalltalk, gossip and news, and the more mythical tales of famous hunters and adventurers like Peer Gynt, and all the mythical creatures that inhabited the nature and peoples´ surroundings : elves, trolls and hulder-people (Huldufólk in Icelandic). 

Some of these stories are retold at Maihaugen , around the fire at the farm Øygarden. The audience are kids from kindergardens and schools.

Telling stories and fairytales at Maihaugen. Photo: Camilla Damgård, Maihaugen.

Kveldsseto at Maihaugen

At the farmstead Øygarden the concept of kveldsseto has been recreated several times. The main challenge is to create an informal atmosphere, similar to the original setting.

The informal setting of kveldsseto, around the fireplace, is a good way of transmitting stories and to show different handicrafts. By being a- “fly on the wall” and filming such an event, some of the knowledge and atmosphere could also be transmitted to a broader audience.

Kveldseto at Øygarden Photo: Camilla Damgaard, Maihaugen

Future and challenges

The main challenge to this oral tradition is that the social and cultural function of storytelling changes and storytelling as a living heritage is constantly evolving.  But with change comes new opportunities for safeguarding the tradition.

-One challenge is that the living tradition can become more static as soon as the stories are written down, the many versions of a fairytale is all of a sudden reduced to one, comments Thorstein Hernes, who works as Living History Coordinator at Maihaugen.

But without the collectors many of these stories would probably have been lost. Now they are being told, and also retold,  to newer generations. But one important point is that in order to keep them alive, the reuse and adjustment of stories and fairy tales could be encouraged. And new stories can be created within the tradition, as the project Huldra Hildur is an example of.

The stories have not been static, in contrast to the tradition of kvad and stev, which have been retold and sung with rhythm, so as to preserve them more unchanged. Read more:

https://safeguardingpractices.com/good-practice/kvedarseminar/

https://safeguardingpractices.com/good-practice/kvaedamenn-joining-forces/

The quiet time around the fire, without modern “passive” entertainment like TV and internet, is no longer a natural part of everyday life. But the fireplace is still a place of gathering in homes and especially in cottages (the Norwegian “Hytte”). And there are still many meeting places for both old and young: the cafés or the many “Liars Benches” outside the local shops.  And technology can also be a way of preserving, sharing and transmitting stories and storytelling, through both video, podcasts and audiobooks.

A modern writer with his roots firmly in the Gudbrands Valley, is Lars Mytting from Fåvang. He incorporates childhood memories and the rich storytelling tradition he experienced. In his books, he creates new stories with the traditions as a backdrop , like the latest: Søsterklokkene, The Sister Bells Trilogy.

Storytelling and the retelling of myths and fairytales si still important, in part thanks to the efforts of collectors of stories like Asbjørnsen and Moe and Ivar Kleiven. But the former tradition, where stories are told and retold, changed according to circumstances, and where local myths and stories are relevant and known, is changing. The main challenge is to recruit younger people into the tradition, on their own terms.

Sources:

Hovdhaugen, Einar. Den gamle kveldseto. Årbok for Gudbrandsdalen 1985. Lillehammer: Dølaringen Boklag

Information on storytelling in Jutulheimen  was given from Erik Haugen from Gudbrandsdalsmusea and chairman of Vågå historical society, Knut Raastad.

Information on storytelling at Maihaugen has been given from Thorstein Hernes, Anders Hagen, Reidar Svegarden and Kirsti Krekling.