Narvik Winter Festival, in Norwegian just (The Winter Festival Week), is an annual cultural festival
with railway history platform in
Narvik
() is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...
. It is based on stories, myths and facts from the construction time of the Narvik and
Kiruna
(; ; ; ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norrbotten County. The c ...
railway system around 1900.
Important symbols for the Narvik Winter Festival are the rallars, railway worker
rallaren,
Svarta Bjorn
Anna Rebecka Hofstad (7 April 1878 in Offersøya, Norway – 12 October 1901 in Tornehamn, Sweden) was a Norwegian cook. She was known in history as Svarta Bjorn (), , and . She was active as a canteen cook for the railway navvies (workers) dur ...
(Black Bear)
and the
Ofotbanen
The Ofoten Line () is a rail transport, railway line in Narvik Municipality, Norway. It runs from the Port of Narvik to Riksgränsen on the Norway–Sweden border, where the line continues as the Malmbanan, Ore Line via Kiruna and Gällivare to ...
.
The Narvik Winter Festival is organized annually in March,
[ the first time in 1956][ Today the festival, with around 200 events, attract a total of about 30,000 visitors.][
The Narvik Winter Festival has a special position in the local population, as a large part of the city's population has its own outfits worn during the festival. For men, there is black trousers and fluffy flanell shirt with black or dark vest and racket hat that applies to everyday, for party it is the same outfit but with white shirt. For the ladies, it's a long skirt with blouse (often white / light gray or reddish / purple) and black shawl that's everyday attire while evening dress is used for partying. This tradition has in recent years had a marked increase in popularity also among youth.
The festival was initially run by Narvik Reiselivslag (travelers organization), but the size of the arrangements made another organization necessary. The Narvik Winter Festival became its own foundation in 1997, called the Stiftelsen Vinterfestuka (The Vinterfestuka Foundation). The reason was to get a more independent organization that could carry out the events "The Narvik Winter Festival", "Folkefest i Rombaksbotn" and help develop new arrangements. Today, the foundation for the implementation of the cultural events "The Narvik Winter Festival", "Folkefest i Rombaksbotn" and a number of other events throughout the year.][
Den Stolte og Ærverdige Rallarklubben av Malmbyen Narvik (The Proud and Honorable Ralilway Workers Club of the Malm Sity of Narvik) is also an important contributor, with its events during the Narvik Winter Festival and otherwise in the year. It is Rallarklubben that stands for the traditional costume method for children who go first Saturday at the festival. The 2020 Winter Festival was canceled by Narvik due to the coronavirus pandemic.
]
References
External links
* {{Official website, www.vinterfestuka.no
1956 establishments in Norway
Narvik
Festivals in Norway
Festivals established in 1956
Winter in Norway