Sokna’s Cranberry war

Norwegians have always prospered from nature, the oil deposits are called black gold and herrings the silver of the sea. So as we approach Sokna we are approaching the ‘red gold’ –cranberries. The berries have a somewhat sour and bitter taste and have a long shelf life. In 1942, the following was the headline in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet: “Last night bonfires lit up the whole of Sokna, 5000 cranberry pickers waiting for the ‘Klondike’ like rush in the morning. In the rush, one man was cut across the left arm and was driven bleeding to the doctor by the police sergeant.” The war years in Norway were tough and it was hard to get hold of food. Sokna had excellent conditions for growing cranberries and hungry Norwegians began to flock to the surrounding forests. A cranberry train ran from Oslo and a cranberry police were even put into place to check that the picking was carried out according to the rules! Today, the picking is a little more civilized and as a part of Norway’s right of public access it is of course free to pick berries and mushrooms in Norway. This area is also known for its cold winter temperatures. A temperature of minus 50 has been recorded here which is right up there with the coldest ever recorded temperature in Norway, recorded in Karasjok in 1886 where a temperature of minus 51.4 was recorded. It was once so cold here that a train waiting for a green light froze to the tracks.