PLAIN VIEW FARM--THE OLD NORWEGIAN CALENDAR

The Ancient Primstav

Carved on wood, the primstav calendar regulated the lives of common people for centuries; the rhythm and cycle of country life revolved around saints' days marked with special signs and symbols. The record made mention of many important events as well. Artistic and practical, the primstav kept life and culture on an even keel, winter and summer, and provided bucolic cautions to the unwary and the unthrifty to mend their ways. If followed, the primstav was a trustworthy friend the year long. It followed you from crib to your final resting place. An entire people's life and livelihood was bound up in this little carved wooden board. Now paper calendars have replaced it, but they can never really take the place of the primstav.

The Primstav you see here was copied on paper from a wooden replica carved by Janet Smith, Puyalup, Washington. Use the link to Plain View Farm's Home Page to access the Janet Smith Primstav page for explanation of the symbols and customs reflected on the primstav from her booklet telling about it . The wooden replica is a copy of the original carved in 1707 by a Norwegian man named Dreng Bjornson of Setesdal. We colored the symbols to make them stand out more, with simple colored pencils, not paints. Norwegians love color, so they may have colored or painted their calendar rulers too.