Hellsau is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the
district of Burgdorf, in the
canton of Bern
The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...
,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
History
Hellsau is first mentioned in 1275 as ''Hellesowe''.
[
The earliest trace of a settlement at Hellsau is an ]early medieval
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...
cemetery near the Äbi farm house. It is likely that the old village church once stood near the cemetery. The church was first mentioned in 1275 as a filial church
A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin ''filialis'', from ''filia'', “daughter”.
Description
The term ''fi ...
of Burgdorf. It became a full church in 1353 under the patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...
of St. Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
. It became part of the parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Koppigen in 1422 and was given a chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...
in 1471. Following the Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
the church was abandoned and eventually demolished.[
For most of Hellsau's history, it was a village under the jurisdiction and town council of Koppigen. In 1571, Koppigen passed a law mandating fences in the Büeltscherzelg field because the farmers of Hellsau had been sneaking into the field to graze their animals. Agriculture is still important in the village economy, though a construction company provides a number of jobs. Between 1894 and 1911 it was the home of a private asylum and hospital. Marshes and meadows were drained in 1943-48. Starting in the 1820s Höchstetten and Hellsau formed a school district. The Moos school house was built in 1976.][
]
Geography
Hellsau has an area of . Of this area, or 71.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 23.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.8% is settled (buildings or roads).[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 2.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.7%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 48.0% is used for growing crops and 21.6% is pastures, while 2.0% is used for orchards or vine crops.[
The village of Hellsau includes the village with Halde and the ]hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
of Freienhof and Moos. Hellsau belongs to the parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Koppigen.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Burgdorf, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
accessed 4 April 2011
Coat of arms
The blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Vert a Bend wavy Or and in a Chief Argent three Pales Gules.'' The lower part of the coat of arms is an example of canting arms
Canting arms are heraldry, heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus.
The expression derives from the latin ''cantare'' (to sing).
French heralds used the term (), ...
. It represents a light meadow or .
Demographics
Hellsau has a population () of . , 2.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of -5%. Migration accounted for 0.5%, while births and deaths accounted for 1%.
accessed 02-September-2012German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
(189 or 97.9%) as their first language, with one person each speaking French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
or Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
.[
, the population was 51.3% male and 48.7% female. The population was made up of 95 Swiss men (49.2% of the population) and 4 (2.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 93 Swiss women (48.2%) and 1 (0.5%) non-Swiss women.][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.5%.][
, there were 85 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 92 married individuals, 10 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 12 households that consist of only one person and 8 households with five or more people. , a total of 66 apartments (95.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1 apartment was seasonally occupied and 2 apartments (2.9%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.2 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.3%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Economy
, Hellsau had an unemployment rate of 0.08%. , there were a total of 128 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 23 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 6 businesses involved in this sector. 83 people were employed in the secondary sector
In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...
and there were 5 businesses in this sector. 22 people were employed in the tertiary sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...
, with 5 businesses in this sector.[
there were a total of 112 ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often use ...
jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 16, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 79 of which 3 or (3.8%) were in manufacturing and 77 (97.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 17. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 23.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 23.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 29.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 23.5% were in education.
, there were 84 workers who commuted into the municipality and 63 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.3 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.7% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 10 or 5.2% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 156 or 80.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 18 individuals (or about 9.33% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 (or about 1.04% of the population) who were Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. 16 (or about 8.29% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
.[
]
Education
In Hellsau about 81 or (42.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education
Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education.
Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
, and 24 or (12.4%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). Of the 24 who completed tertiary schooling, 75.0% were Swiss men, 20.8% were Swiss women.[
The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
.[Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document]
accessed 4 January 2012
, there were 15 students in Hellsau who came from another municipality, while 11 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern