- Museum number
- OA.2296
- Description
-
Clog-almanac; dark wood; square section; marked on faces with notches and signs for measuring; one end pierced, semi-circular.
- Production date
- 17thC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 34.50 centimetres
-
Width: 3.30 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The symbols/pictograms represent fixed annual feast days (saints days represented through their attributes), and other dates which are significant, for example in the farming calendar.
On Runstav, Primstav and Clog-almanacs:
1865: J. Harland, On clog almanacs; or runestocks, The Reliquary 6.
1877: Eirikr Magnusson, On a Runic Calendar Found in Lapland in 1866: Communicated to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, March 20, 1877
1891/2, H. F. M. Simpson, On two rune prime-staves from Sweden and three wooden almanacs from Norway. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland, pp. 358–378
1909/2015: S. W. Partington/Bob Trubshaw, Runes and Clog Almanacs, in: The Danes in Lancashire and Yorkshire, published by (Sherratt and Hughes, 1909) [https://www.hoap.co.uk/runes_and_clog_almanacs.pdf]
1928: Reginald A. Smith, ‘The Awdry Clog-Almanack’, The British Museum Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 1, (January 1928) pp.14-15
1947: Einar Haugen, ‘A Norwegian Calendar Stick in Wisconsin’, The Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol.31, no.2 (December 1947) pp.145-167
1948/9, J. Horne, Staffordshire clog almanacs. Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club 83, p 13
1953: N. Lithberg, Computus, Nordiska Museets Handlingar 29 (1953)
1963: Elisabeth Svärdstrom, Kalenderstickan från Lödöse, Series: Antikvariskt Arkiv 21 (Uppsala 1963).
1966: Elisabeth Svärdstrom,”Nyköpingsstaven och de Medeltida Kalenderrunorna” Antikvariskt arkiv 29 (1966).
1974: Anna-Lisa Stigell ”Kyrkans tecken och årets gång Tideräkningen och Finlands primitiva medeltidsmålningar” Finska Fornminnesföreningens tidsskrift 77 (Helsginfors, 1974).
1979: Hrald Kimsul, Primstaven (Bergen Faktorforening, 1979)
1989: Brynjulf Alver, Dag og merke – Folkeleg tidrekning og merkedagstradisjon (Universitetsforlaget: Bergen, 1989).
1994: Sven-Göran Hallonquist, Primstaven, in: S. Benneth (ed), Runmärkt: Från brev till klotter: Runorna under medeltiden (Carlssons, 1994), pp 177–193.
1999: Janet Smith, ‘Primstav….The Ancient Norwegian Calendar Stick’ (1999)
[Winter symbols] http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/PLAINVIEWFARM/primstav2.html
[Summer symbols] http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/PLAINVIEWFARM/primstav.html
2000: A. J. MacGregor, ed. The clog almanac of Ushaw College, 2000.
2002: Sarah Kirton, ‘Primstav – an ancient calendar form – The fall months’, Northern California Spelmanslag News (Fall 2002)
http://www.norcalspelmanslag.org/ncsnlf2002/ncsnlf2002b.html
2003: Sarah Kirton, ‘The Primstave for the Jule Season’, Northern California Spelmanslag News, vol 13, no. 4 (November 2003)
www.norcalspelmanslag.org/ncsnlf2003/ncsnlf2003.pdf
2004: Hallonquist, S-G. 2004. Språkligt och kalendariskt bruk av runor i Ovansiljan, in: Andreas Ostborn ed., Vår språkliga spännvidd (Stiftelsen Bonas Bygdegård, 2004), pp. 63-72.
2006: Alfred Miller, The Primstav Explanations, Norwegian Legend Lore & History, (Middlebury CT, 2006)
2010: Sven-Goran Hallonquist, The Runic Calendar Project (English summary)
http://www.khm.uio.no/forskning/publikasjoner/runenews/7th-symp/preprint/runic-calendar.pdf
2010: Tadeusz W Lange, The Scandinavian clog calendar at the Jagiellonian University
Museum, Opuscula Musealia, 18, 2010, pp. 91-94
2011: Audun Dybdahl, ‘Primstaven i lys av helgenkulten: Opphav, form, funksjon og symbolikk’, Trondheim: Tapir Akademisk Forlag og forfattern (2011)
2012: Vincent P. Fox, English Clog Almanacs (2012)
2012: Vincent P. Fox, The Clog Almanac of St Georges Church, Jesmond (2012)
2012: Vincent P. Fox, Clog Almanac Symbols on the 1866 Calendar
2013: Tadeusz W. Lange, Skandynawskie kalendarze wieczyste w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Poznaniu, [in: “Studia Muzealne”, vol. 20, 2013
2018/19: Carla Cucina, A Runic Calendar in the Vatican Library, in Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies 9–10 (2018–2019), pp. 261–74.DOI: 10.33063/diva401070
2020/2021: https://www.uib.no/en/calendars-project/139057/making-primstav-today
2023: Audun Dybdahl and Eivind Falk, Primstav, with extensive explanation of symbols: https://snl.no/primstav
Other:
F.E. Ekstrand, The Ancient Norwegian Calendar Stick (primstav) (Welcome Press, Seattle)
https://www.tokstad.net/primstaven/ [with explaination of symbols]
Print with explainations of the summer festivals: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011013338185/primstav
Updated REK 01.2024
- Location
- On display (G1/fc17)
- Acquisition date
- 1753
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- OA.2296