Saksun
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| position | 62 ° 15 ′ N , 7 ° 11 ′ W | |
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Resident rank |
10 (2015) |
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| Commune | Sunda communa | |
| Post Code | FO 436 | |
| Markatal | ||
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Grammar dative (in / from ...) genitive (after ...) |
í / úr Saksun til Saksunar |
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Saksun [ ˈsaksʊn ] ( Danish name : Saksen , formerly: Saxen ) is a place in the Faroe Islands on the west coast in the north of the main island of Streymoy .
The municipality of the same name ( Saksunar kommuna ) was created after the division of Haldarsvíkar og Saksunar kommuna in 1944 and consisted of only this one place. On January 1, 2005, it was merged with Sunda kommuna .
location
Saksun is located in the north of Streymoy on the west coast at the end of a long fertile valley ("Saksunardalur"), which cuts the island over its entire width in a north-westerly direction. The place is surrounded by high mountains. In the north the 764 m high Melin and towards Vestmanna the 790 m high Koppenni , the highest mountain on Streymoy.
There are few cars in the valley, and the road through the valley is suitable for hikers and cyclists alike.
Saksun is a popular destination, on the one hand because of its sandy beach, which was once washed up by a storm, and on the other hand because of the picturesque location and the museum in the form of a 17th century farmhouse, which can be opened and explained by a local if necessary.
history
The place is mentioned for the first time together with the neighboring villages Vestmanna and Kvívík in a document from the period between 1350 and 1400. It is said that the place was depopulated in the Middle Ages by the " Black Death ". Only one woman is said to have survived. She then laid claim to the entire land in Saksun at the Spring Judicial Assembly ( Várting ) in Kollafjørður and was given justice on the condition that she had to find a husband. She did so and returned to Saksun with a husband.
The origin of the name Saksun is not fully understood. However, it is not possible to trace the name back to the Saxon people , as no connection has yet been established. On the other hand, it is suspected that Saksun is a contraction of Saks-havn , an explanation that can already be found in Svabo .
Also in Jarðarbókin from 1584 Saksun is listed under the Danish name " Sax Haffue ". This name probably goes back to the old Norse name " Sakshǫfn ", which is not documented in writing. The name already indicates the original existence of a natural harbor ("havn"). Its entrance was washed over with sand in the 17th century by a violent storm on February 2nd ("den haarde Kyndelsmisse"), probably in 1602, so that a kind of lagoon or coastal lake was created. This water, known as " Pollur " or " Pollurin ", is 27 m deep and 400 m wide and is filled with fresh water by the three watercourses Gellingará , Skipá and Dalsá. Today it can only be reached by small boats over a narrow trickle from the sea and only at high tide.
The village church of Saksun originally stood in Tjørnuvík , was dismantled there, brought here via the hiking trail and consecrated again on the third Sunday after Trinity in 1858. This hiking trail over the mountains still exists today and is considered one of the most beautiful in the Faroe Islands. Since the Reformation, the villagers had to take this hiking trail if they wanted to take part in the church service, because the Catholic Church in Saksun was closed after the change of faith. When the new church was built, it was not a mere copy of the old church, but in contrast to the construction of the old wooden churches, the outer walls were made of stone. Only the interior walls, beams and the altar are reminiscent of Tjørnuvík Church.
The place only got electricity in 1957, and it was not until 1963 that the church finally got electric light and heating.
Like many other villages on the Faroe Islands, Saksun has seen a dramatic increase in population over the past 15 years. In 2000 there were still 30 people living in the village, in 2015 there were only ten people. If this development continues, then the place will be transformed into a museum village with weekend and summer houses in the foreseeable future.
photos
The Saksunardalur valley with the Stórá flowing through it .
Saksun on a 1991 postage stamp.
Church and cemetery
Court museum
Fördeufer
Sandy beach in Saksun
The bay viewed from Saksun
The bay at Saksun
.JPG)
Web links
- Faroeislands.dk: Saksun (in English, info. And photos)
- Føroya næst besta fornminni , in.fo, September 14, 2014. An article about the Dúvugarður open-air museum farm in Saksun. (In Faroese)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Koppenni on page 22, visitfaroeislands
- ^ GVC Young: From the Vikings to the Reformation - A Chronicle of the Faroe Islands Up to 1538 , Shearwater Press, Douglas, Isle of Man 1979
- ↑ Hvussu gomul er bygdin , heimabeiti.fo (in Faroese)
- ↑ To this day it is not certain whether the disease, known in Faroese as sóttin svarta or svartideyði , was really the plague, especially since rats were only introduced to Streymoy many centuries later.
- ↑ From the Vikings to the Reformation: A Chronicle of the Faroe Islands Up to 1538 , by George Vaughan Chichester Young, p. 54
- ↑ Rolf Guttesen: New Geographical and Historical Information from Lucas Janz Waghenaer's Faroe-chart . In: Geografisk Tidsskrift . Volume 92, 1992, pp. 22-28 (English).
- ↑ The name may be derived from the Old Norse word sax . This was used to describe a single-edged short sword, or a dagger or large knife. That the Vikings used the shape of a tool for naming geographical areas is known from the Shetland Islands ("Hjaltland") , for example . The word hjalt describes certain parts of a sword handle.
- ↑ The Jarðarbókin 1584 is the oldest surviving register of royal estates on the Faroe Islands ( Jarðarbókin 1584 )
- ↑ On page 43: " Sax Haffue "
- ↑ Something speaks for February 2 in 1602. Saksen sogn , Kongeriget Danmark / 3. Udgave 5. Bind (1898-1906) (in Danish)
- ↑ "Kyndelsmisse" or Faroese "kyndilsmessa" is a term still in use in Scandinavia for the religious holiday Candlemas on February 2, which was practiced until 1770 . The term is derived from the Latin Missa candelorum .
- ↑ Færøyene on page 3, issuu.com
- ↑ Saksen sogn , Kongeriget Danmark / 3. Udgave 5. Bind (1898-1906) (in Danish)