Some history about Dalsmarken

Dalsmarken has traditions that stretch back 300 years and there is probably little of what we see on the market today that existed at that time. 

Although much is unknown, I have some stories that Arne T. Aabø has written. These days, people meet for traditional field days at Dalen in Vest-Telemark once again. We lack written sources that can tell us when Dalsmarken took off, but it is not impossible other than that it dates back to the 18th century. Soleis knows that Dalen is referred to as a center in connection with the recruitment of horses to the army in 1711. We do not know how often this was, but if we come to thieves in the 19th century, Dalsmarken is yearly. At that time there were few posters or announcements. People and animals still showed up in large numbers.

In 1934, the Ministry of Agriculture determined that the horse polls at Dalen should be held on June 20, or June 21, whichever first falls on a Sunday. It was like this until 1967, when the really big change in the soga to Dalsmarken came. The Markensplassen was moved from the horse accident out on Tangane and up to Tokke school and community center. The tractor and associated agricultural journeymen replaced the horse and the old method of operation. The last horse was sold the same year. The field was extended by one more day. Exhibitions of many kinds took place, and the stalls increased year by year. The old-timers probably followed along, but they probably missed the old field atmosphere. Many of the old people's eyes go blank when they think back to the field days of years gone by. In the stories, Blakken and Brunen were probably both whiter, stronger and fatter than he actually was. I myself am old enough to remember a bit of the old folk life on Dalsmarken, where horses changed owners after long arguments and a cup of tea was drunk.

Dalsmarken in the 1950s was probably still a shadow of what it once was. It was the remnants that lived. And if I can't quite think of shiny knives flashing, then I remember shiny bottle watches that hung out under the hanging birches on the happiness. But Dalsmarken was something more than horse trading and horse exchange. It was a luxuriant and diverse folk life that could give rise to many outcomes. So much could be done, and for many it was a welcome break from the toil and struggle of everyday life. Some felt the urge to try their strength with others. The occasional bachelor may have dreamed of meeting the woman with whom he would share his life. But although times, people and traditions change, there is something that will always be the same: In the field of tension between the old and the new, the known and the unknown, something exciting always happens. Sometimes the genius is for that. When mountain men and men from many villages in Telemark met with Westerners and Setsedølars, it was a meeting between people with different traditions and cultural backgrounds. But people with open senses and a desire to learn will always learn something wherever they travel. Many were given new impulses, something new to take home, something that could be shaped so that it fit into the culture of their hometown.

In the bright summer night, it rang out in solitary hideouts, outdoors and indoors. Under a large hanging birch, a quince sat and quacked its visions. A group of listeners stood around and listened. Now and then the youngster dares to listen. Here was a new sage, here an unknown was beaten. The seaters in particular were happy to sing and dance. Here it was possible to capture new tones and textures. The fiddler from Setesdal was able to take the Austmannslaat home with him. Perhaps he let them create something, so that they got the right touch in beat and rhythm as the master dancer at home would have it. All in all, the open spaces around the country were important meeting places for art and culture. At all times it has been important for people to get impressions from the outside. The interaction with other people broadened the horizon and gave many a more open-minded view of humanity and less judgmentalism. It is about this that A. O. Vinje has found the right words:

The man who was always at home and didn't see the beauty of life, he never saw the best, he, but became a man who judged people and country angrily.

Even today, people from north and south, from east and west, meet for field days here in between the mountains in West Telemark. Dalsmarken also has a lot to offer. Here there are agricultural sheds and stalls of many kinds. The housework team holds its annual housework exhibition, and the village women's team is just as reliable as before with its exhibition. There are plenty of offers here for both young and old. The ten local teams that today stand as co-skippers of Dalsmarken see the value in taking care of an old tradition. Although times and customs change, people are still the same at bottom.

 Arne T. Aabø