Norwegian farmhands could only leave twice a year
In the old Norwegian farming society, nature dictated the flow of the working year. To secure sufficient manual labour during the working seasons, farmworkers could only leave their jobs on two specif
Summer and winter
Today, the Norwegians think of the year in terms of four main seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. But the old Norwegian wooden calendar stick (primstav) divided the year into two equal halves: summer and winter.
The summer started on 14 April, on what the old Norwegians called sommermål, sommerdag, or sommernatt.
The first day of winter was 14 October, called vintermål, vinterdag, or vinternatt.
Midsummer fell on 14 July — and Midwinter on 12 January (some sources state slightly different dates).
Utilising the summer was crucial
The Norwegian winters are dark and cold, with the ground often frozen solid and covered in snow. Therefore, the farmers had to sow, gather, and harvest enough food during an intense summer, to tide both people and farm animals over the winter.
The old farming methods were labour intensive, and farmers could not risk losing any hired hands when they needed them the most. This explains why the old laws only allowed farm labourers to leave their posts on either the first day of summer, or the first day of winter — on 14 April or 14 October.
Depending on the time period, the geographical location, and whether it was rural or urban, the faredag dates sometimes varied.
They called it faredag
Faredag is the term people used when referring to these two dates. The Norwegian word faredag is composed of two words: fare + dag = faredag. Fare means travel, leave, and more. Dag means day. The general meaning of the word faredag in English could be said to be the day that you leave – leaving day or travel day. Another Norwegian word used is flyttedag.
The workers had to hand in their notice ahead of the faredag. If not, they had to stay on for another six months.
If the worker feared that their employer would cause trouble and force them to stay, the law stipulated a solution: they had to make their intentions known in the presence of others. For example, when attending church on Sunday.
Tenant farmers could also only leave on 14 April
For tenant farmers or cotters — leilendinger or husmenn — the faredag was also 14 April.
This makes sense, as the new tenant would then be allowed a full growing season on the new property — otherwise, how would he provide for himself and his family over the coming winter?
Even in current legislation, 14 April is the handover day used in Norwegian farm tenant agreements. Either the farm’s owner or the tenant farmer – gårdens eier or the forpakter – must actively terminate the lease one year prior to the annual faredag – even when the contract clearly stipulates when the contract ends. If they fail to do so, the contract is automatically extended one year at a time.
Store Norske Leksikon snl.no