(...continued...)

After fording the creek, the jovial parade set out on the path along the far side, turning right to follow the valley downstream to the southeast. Out in the fields, strangers paused in their work to wave and cheer.

At last the wedding party came to the churchyard at Brunkeberg. The stavechurch pointed skyward in a jagged tower, each steep pitched roof crowned by a smaller one in a diminishing stack. Porches surrounded the one central room which was only big enough for part of the crowd.

In the churchyard, Uncle Aslak handed his daughter down from the cart, while most of the women took turns leaning over the reflecting pond to check their hair and tuck stray strands into place. Egeleiv didn't have to take a turn. Her mother and sisters fussed over hair and clothing and jewelry.

Liv watched, wide-eyed. At the last moment she darted between the womenfolk to give her cousin a hug. "I'll miss you so," she mumbled, her face buried in Egeleiv's arms.

"Silly little bird!" Egeleiv laughed. "I'll be just up the dale. You can come visit any time."

The groom's home, Åkre, lay just up the dale from its mother farm Moen where Egeleiv and Liv had grown up together. Liv glanced at him now, standing a few steps away. With shining eyes, Såmund Knutsson Åkre watched his bride-to-be finish preparing to enter the church at his side.

"It won't be the same," Liv told her beautiful cousin. "You'll be a wife, now. You won't run with me in the meadows anymore."

"Nei, not very often," Egeleiv said. "But I'll let you play with my babies when they come. And when they grow old enough, you may take them up the mountain and show them Gygri's Nose."

Liv's eyes brightened. "I'll teach them the proper way to greet old Gygri!"

"Ja, you'll be good at that. You throw like a boy! Now hurry or you won't find a good spy hole."

Liv ran off to jostle with the boys for a high perch in one of the porches up against the inner wall, peering into the main chamber of the church which was packed with grownups standing shoulder to shoulder. Olav pulled one of her braids, and she socked him on the shoulder so hard he fell off his roost. Liv grinned at his big brother Torjus who rolled his eyes at her childishness. She shrugged and turned back to watch Egeleiv enter the chamber, her hand clasped in Såmund's.

Liv wrinkled her nose at the thought of holding hands with a boy. What a price to pay, just to get a turn wearing the shiny silver crown.

(end of 1730 passage; more of Part One to follow)

Lårdal stavechurch, 20 miles west of Brunkeberg, sits on the grounds of Eidsborg farm. One of the main characters in Part Two had a brother who moved here a century after Egeleiv's wedding.

BEHIND THE SCENES

It is 14 miles from Moen to Brunkeberg by the winding mountain paths. In olden times people followed the route described here, from farm to farm.

The Brunkeberg church ("BROON-keh-bairg") of today was built in 1790 on the site of an old medieval stavechurch, dating from the thirteenth century when the country converted to Christianity. That earlier stavechurch, in the time of Catholicism, was built all of wood without using nails and had no place to sit.

One source says the stavechurch was torn down to make way for the late-18th century building, though another says it burned down around 1600. Was another stavechurch built after the original? Or was Brunkeberg churchless for nearly two centuries?

In 1537 all Norway switched to become Lutheran, and when the "new" church was built, it included pews for sitting!

Reflecting ponds were commonly found in churchyards since few people had mirrors, and women wanted to look their best for church.

Såmund Knutsson ("SO-moond K'NOOTS-son") was born at Åkre farm in 1702. ("OH-kra")

Gygri: "YIH-gree"

Today it is still common for people to go to church no more than once a month, and often only for major events like christenings, weddings, and funerals, and for religious holidays.

Photos by author: roof tiles from a stave church (top), Lårdal stave church (above), the steeple from Lomen stave church and Brunkeberg church today (below).