The LARPing grounds

The LARPing grounds are concentrated around two clusters of buildings, often called the little village and the big village. In the Big Village, you will find the double cottage that during the events is known as "Rå Spiggen," an inn with old roots and now the base for the "Fridwalls" trading company's activities on site.  

 

History of Finnmarken

In the late 16th century, slash-and-burn farmers primarily from Savolax in inland Finland were offered new settlement areas in the forest-rich parts of central Sweden. Over time, many thousands migrated here, and the reason is mainly considered to be unrest and deteriorating conditions for slash-and-burn agriculture in their homeland.

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1590 is an important date in the history of Hälleforsbygden. Then, Simon Finne established a farm by the lake Sången just west of Hällefors. Simon in Sången is considered the first Finnish inhabitant in the area. In 1606 there were four Finnish families in the Bergslag forests, and about 30 years later, the number was 24. The first Finnish settler in Grythyttan was named Mats and arrived there in 1596, and Clement Finne settled in Hjulsjö in 1606.

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By the middle of the 17th century, the settlers had become so many that the parishes in the district kept Finnish-speaking priests. The slash-and-burn culture spread across Bergslagen and the surrounding Finnskogar in Värmland, Dalarna, and Gästrikland.

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Competition from the ironworks for the forest meant that slash-and-burn agriculture died out in the 18th century in Bergslagen. However, the special form of housing with a smokehouse remained until the end of the 19th century, as did the Finnish language. Today, farm sites, features in building practices, and Finnish-sounding names on lakes, mountains, etc., remind us that the district was colonized by slash-and-burn farmers primarily from Rautalampi parish in Finland.