Balderøy
From Confederacy
| Balderøy municipality | |
| <Image> | |
| Facts | |
| Captial | Balderøybygda |
| Area | Small |
| Citizens | A few hundreds |
| Local media | None |
Balderøy municipality is a small municipality, one of the smallest in Norvegia in land area; most of the municipality is covered by water, and the rest is simply one single island; Balderøy. Balderøy is mostly covered by the village of Balderøybygda and some fields.
History
Balderøy is mentioned for the first time in history in a old scripture from 1103, describing Norvegian coastal towns. Then the town is mentioned as oyggji Baldroyggj, which means the island of Balderøy. The continual text describes Balderøy as a small village consisting of less than 15 houses, where the citizens mostly are working as fishermen, and are described as "– men not too proud of their home, far away from others". Balderøy is named after the Norse sea god, Baldr or Balder, and the ending -øy means island. The island is still today notable for it's special dialect, which can be hard to understand for people outside it. When the island was visited by the writer of the mentioned scriptures in 1103, the dialect was more like an own language, with an own grammar system and many special words. As the connection with the mainland grew rapidly during the 19th century, the language turned to be more like a dialect again, and the last speaker of the language (likely a very old person without any personal contact with people at the mainland), as it was in the Middle Ages, are supposed to have died sometime at beginning of the 20th century, while the rest of the islanders tend to have moderated their daily speech.
Religion
The Balderøy Islanders are known as the most religious of all Norvegians, and they are known for their walks to the church every Sunday, a practice done at Balderøy since the first church was built at the same time when the Christianity came to Balderøy in the 1050's. From the hilltop, where the church is located, you will have a grea view of the island and it's waters in all direction, at a clear day, you may see some of the mainland (Hjaltland) in the horizon.
