For class time on Sept. 4 my Norw & Telemark Regional Identity class hiked up to the Bø Gamle Kirke (old church). It was really cool. The church dates back to 1100, and we found out that it is older than most of the Stave churches that are left in Norway. Apparently wealthier areas We learned a lot about the history of Nordic religion/Christianity/Catholicism/The Reformation and how they affected the interior of the church. There was a lot of info, so here are some of the things I found the most interesting:

1. The pews in the church were only added after The Reformation because now the word of God was being shared and heard for long periods of time, and of course after 3 hours at a service people wanted to sit down;
   
2. Back in the day the church used to bury their dead directly underneath the church, as in under the floorboards;
3. Wealthier districts, like Bø, had churches made out of stone, where poorer districts had to build churches from wood (aka Stave churches);
   
4. One of the Nordic beliefs that was held onto in the construction of the churches was that evil came from the north, but good/God came from the south. Because of this they only put windows on the south side of the church;
5. For a very long time at this church, and in some places in Norway up until the 1940's, the women sat on the left side of the church and the men on the right. The left side of the church is also the North side. Is this saying something about the perception that women are evil? I'll leave that up to you to decide;
6. After the Black Plague the population of Norway went down by 2/3. It took 300 years for the population to build up again, but when it did they couldn't fit everyone in the church so they had to build another one to house them all. This church sits just next to the old one; and
7. On the ends of the pews are family names. These were the names of the farms/farm families. The wealthiest farmers' names are the ones closest to the front.
   

The artwork and carvings throughout the church are really cool to see. Some of the paintings date back to the 14th century.