Sometimes referred to as a calendar stick, a primstav is a wooden stick or small board with carved marking and was used in Norway to track the important days of the year. Carvings run along each side of the primstav, one side signifying the days of the summer months, the other side for winter. Originally adopted in the 11th century after the country converted to Christianity, the calendar stick was used to mark the 37 Saint’s Days in which everyone was expected to go to mass or be charged a large fine. After 1537, when Norway became a Lutheran country and Saint’s Days were outlawed, the calendar stick’s usage continued but the markings’ meanings had already started to become much more mundane. The Saint’s Days became important markers of daily life rather than religious dates.

There is no national primstav because Norway’s geography results in unique regions. Significant milestones vary across the country such as the different times people started planting crops, fishing for salmon, or bringing in the crops, among other important activities. The only dates that the primstaver had in common were special days such as Midsummer and Christmas.

The idea for the murals in Vesterheim’s Gathering Room came to Sigmund Aarseth of Norway after he received a book about primstav from his wife, Ingebjorg, for Christmas. Aarseth was the first Norwegian to teach at Vesterheim and had painted many interiors as well as rosemaling and fine art.

Painted in 1999 in Vesterheim’s Amdal-Odland Heritage Center, the murals depict the rural life of 19th-century Norway where, despite being a Lutheran country, folklore practices and beliefs stood firm. The murals portray the goings-on of humans and some of the folklore characters who would populate the Norwegians’ lives, such as the hulder and the nisse.

Along with the illustrations, verses adorn the walls of the Gathering Room. The Saint’s Day markings on the calendar sticks were a mixture of Christian, pre-Christian, and pictographic symbols, which, even in medieval Norway, not everyone could read. At social gatherings, the lore connected with the markings would be recited as verses that related to upcoming dates or changes.

The murals were painted in broad strokes with highlights that give them a three-dimensional quality. While Aarseth painted much of the work, he partnered with Sallie Haugen DeReus of Pella, Iowa, who is credited with much of the accent stenciling and rosemaling. DeReus was a student of Aarseth’s in the late 1960s and became a Vesterheim Gold Medalist in 1974.

The primstav murals were a gift of Dean E. Madden and Marilynn Amdal Madden of Decatur, Illinois.

The primstav murals are open to the public any time the Gathering Room is not in use. Visitors are encouraged to stop by the Amdal-Odland Heritage Center during business hours and ask to see the murals in person.

Vesterheim’s former Coordinator of Volunteers, Martha Griesheimer, does a great job of interpreting and presenting the murals in this 2019 video produced by the museum.

Vesterheim has also published a book, Marking Time: The Primstav Murals of Sigmund Aarseth by Kathleen Stokker. This lavishly illustrated guide to the primstav murals is a color compendium of Norwegian folklore as well as a study of the mural as a contemporary folk-art masterpiece. The book is available for purchase through the Vesterheim Museum Store.