Editing Øksnes Municipality (section)

==General information==
[[File:Nyksund road.jpg|thumb|left|Part of the road to Nyksund.]]
[[File:Auenfjorden, Øksnes.jpg|thumb|left|Auenfjorden, Øksnes]]
[[File:Oksnes kirke med omgivelser.jpg|thumb|left|View of Øksnes Church on [[Skogsøya]] island]]
The municipality of Øksnes was established on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). On 1 January 1866, a small area of southern Øksnes (population: 40) was transferred to the neighboring [[Bø Municipality (Nordland)|Bø Municipality]]. On 1 July 1919, the northeastern part of Øksnes along the [[Gavlfjorden]] (population: 1,085) was separated to form the new [[Langenes Municipality]]. This left Øksnes with 2,296 residents.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, the Krakberget area and the part of Øksnes on the peninsula north of Krakberget (population: 271) was transferred to the neighboring [[Bø Municipality (Nordland)|Bø Municipality]]. On the same date [[Langenes Municipality]] was merged with Øksnes. Prior to the merger, Øksnes had 3,112 residents and Langenes had 2,037 residents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |year=1999 |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=Norwegian}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''Øksnes'' farm ({{langx|non|Yxnes}}) since the first [[Øksnes Church]] was built there. The first element is probably an old name of [[Skogsøya]] [[island]] ({{langx|non|Yxn}}). The old name of the island was identical with the word {{wikt-lang|non|yxn}} which means "[[oxen]]". The mountains of the island have maybe been compared with a group of oxen. The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|nes}} which means "[[headland]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K21BAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |year=1905 |edition=16 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=382, 387 |language=Norwegian |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 22 August 1986. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Or (heraldry)|Or]] two hooks [[addorsed]] [[Sable (heraldry)|sable]]"'' ({{langx|no|I gull to adosserte svarte angler}}). This means the arms have a [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) that  has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is two black [[Fish hook|fishing hooks]]. The design was chosen to symbolize a municipality which is dependent on [[fishing]] and [[sailing]]. The hooks were based on the bone hooks that were used for fishing in this area prior to 17th century. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Øksnes |access-date=2023-02-05 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Oksnes, Nordland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-18-68.html |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1986-08-22 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1986-08-22-1753 |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>{{See also-text|the coats of arms of [[Coat of arms of Båtsfjord|Båtsfjord]]|[[Coat of arms of Frøya|Frøya]]|[[Coat of arms of Træna|Træna]]}}

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within Øksnes Municipality. It is part of the [[Vesterålen prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Øksnes'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church Name!!Location of the Church!!Year Built
|-
|rowspan="4"|Øksnes||[[Alsvåg Church]]||[[Alsvåg]]||1923
|-
|[[Langenes Church]]||[[Stø]]||1500s
|-
|[[Myre Church]]||[[Myre, Øksnes|Myre]]||1979
|-
|[[Øksnes Church]]||[[Skogsøya]]||1703
|}