Summer mountain farming (transhumance) has historically been an important part of agriculture in Norway and is a form of farming that dates back to the Iron Age. By moving livestock to the summer mountain pastures during the summer months, farmers were able to make use of outlying grazing lands, while the infield could be cultivated and the nearby pastures left to rest until autumn grazing and the gathering of livestock. Summer mountain farming was more than just a farming practice. The mountain farm was also a meeting place for young people on the threshold of adulthood. It was a place for dancing and courtship, but also for encounters with supernatural beings. There is a rich storytelling tradition about how the people at the mountain farms encountered the huldrefolk (the hidden people). These stories tell of hulder as suitors, but also of their well-fed fairy cattle and of illnesses that the hulder were believed to cast upon livestock and people.
In 1850, there were around 52,000 mountain farms in Norway. Today, fewer than 750 remain. In 2025, the Norwegian and Swedish tradition of summer mountain farming was inscribed on UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
References:
Reinton, Lars. 1955–1961. Sæterbruket i Noreg (Summer Mountain Farming in Norway), Vols. 1–3. Oslo: Aschehoug.
Solheim, Svale. 1952. Norsk sætertradisjon (Norwegian Summer Mountain Farm Tradition). Oslo: Aschehoug.
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