The Magic of Sølje
- Ginny Wheeler
- 21 hours ago
- 4 min read
A personal story about Sølje, a distinctive jewelry from Norway that reflects its people and places.
Sølje, pronounced SŌL-yah, means shiny or sunny. The dangling gold spoons that reflect the sun are said to ward off negativity and keep the trolls away. Sunny also describes my 104-year-old mother, a second-generation Norwegian. Her sunny disposition may be why she is still with us or maybe, just maybe, it’s because of the magic of the traditional sølje she would wear on special occasions. At least, that’s the mythology behind this distinctive jewelry from Norway.
The most exquisite handcrafted sølje can be found in the finest Norwegian shops. Each one can take days or even weeks to craft with silversmiths carefully hammering and shaping each delicate piece before attaching them together. Each of the Norwegian regions has its own style of sølje worn with their distinctive folk costumes called bunads.
Sølje tells the story of its people and places, much like native beadwork does here in America. Neighboring regions have their own distinctive design, yet draw inspiration from elements found in nearby fjords.
Lauritz Hammer, Norwegian Brooch, 1866 from the Kode Bergen Art Museum.
Photo: Courtesy of Ginny Wheeler
For as long as I can remember, Mom, Grandma, the aunts, and my godmother all wore sølje on special occasions. My first piece of genuine sølje was a circular brooch with dangling spoons, much like the one in the current exhibition: Crowning the North: Silver Treasures from Bergen, Norway. When a girl marries, she is given a more elaborate sølje like the bunad sølja brooch my mother gave me.
My niece wearing one of the Sølje pendants on her wedding day.
Photo: Ginny Wheeler
Sølje is still worn today and considered heirlooms as they are passed down from generation to generation. Sølje includes all things silver: the bunad brooches, filigree jewelry, buttons, clasps, cufflinks, belts, and the wedding crowns. Men’s bunads included sølje as well.
Many of us wore Grandma’s sølje earrings for our weddings. Since then, Mom has created pendants from an array of earrings belonging to Mom and Grandma giving one to each of her nine granddaughters. No wedding crowns in our family!
Sølje dates back to the 5th century when silver pins, in lieu of buttons, were used to keep clothes together. Sølje features delicate heart-shaped filigree symbolizing love and the special relationship between the giver and receiver. Its continuous silver thread connects the wearer to her heritage, her past. The dangling pear-shaped gold spoons protect the wearer. Trolls are scared off by the noisy jangling and their own reflections in the spoons. According to Norwegian folklore, the trolls lived in the mountains and would exchange their babies for newborn babies to strengthen their bloodline. Thus, a sølje pin would be attached to a baby’s pillow to ward off the evil trolls. This is a Norwegian’s first gift of silver.
Each major milestone in life—birth, baptism, coming of age, and marriage—is marked by a gift of silver. Silver also is an indicator of wealth with larger, more intricate pieces signifying wealth and status. Most sølje is fashioned with 83% silver because 83% silver is stronger than sterling.
With such a rich tradition, it’s not surprising that sølje has its own vocabulary—sølje told someone where you were from, your social status, and whether or not you were married. After all, people centuries ago could not read nor write, but they could read sølje symbolism. If you look closely at the designs, you will notice a symmetry of leaves and roses that can be divided by three or four. Three is an ancient symbol for the father, son, and holy spirit. Four stands for the four corners of the world: north, east, south, west. The repetitive filigree pattern connecting it all shows gratitude and respect for the creation.
Syttende Mai Parade in Bergen, May 17, 2018
Photo: Courtesy of Ginny Wheeler
The place to be on Syttende Mai or May 17, Norway’s Constitution Day, is Bergen. This national holiday celebrates the signing of the Norwegian Constitution in 1814 and Bergen is at the heart of the celebration. The atmosphere is a dizzying array of color with street vendors, young people in red coveralls marking their 18th birthday, buffets of traditional Norwegian food, and Norwegians from every region parading in the streets in their traditional bunads adorned with shiny sølje.
In 2018, my sister, cousins, and I traveled to Norway to visit our Sarsten and Hanson relatives from Bremnes on Bømlo Island just off the coast of Bergen. We were fortunate enough to be in Bergen on Syttende Mai and were immersed in Norwegian culture.
My Grandpa Ingebrigt Olai Hanson came to Svea, North Dakota, to marry my Grandma Gennie after her husband died in the flu epidemic in 1918. According to family lore, Grandma was very popular and had two suitors. Grandpa was the one left behind in Norway. When she was widowed with a farm, lots of chickens, milking cows, and two girls to care for, Grandpa, a professional photographer, sailed across the ocean to marry her and become a farmer. Grandma had three more children, one of whom is my mother, who grew up bilingual as everyone in that area of North Dakota was Norwegian. In fact, while Minnesota may boast the highest number of Norwegian descendants, North Dakota has the highest percentage of Norwegian descendants than any other state. That thick “Minnesota” accent is even thicker where I’m from!
Snapshot of Mom, Inez Hanson Gunkelman, in her bunad and wearing a sølje brooch and hardanger apron, part of the Bømlo Island bunad.
Photo: Courtesy of Ginny Wheeler
When Norwegian immigrants came to America, you would often see them photographed wearing sølje—the one portable heirloom that would mark their identity. I’m reminded of the importance of these heirlooms when I read stories like Kao Kalia Yang’s biography of her mother’s journey to Minnesota in Where Rivers Part. Whether it’s a piece of jewelry, a story, or a recipe, we keep our heritage alive when we give our children a piece of the past for their own futures.
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