Editing Fitjar (section)

==General information==
[[File:Fitjar by Night.jpg|thumb|left|View of Fitjar by night]]
[[File:Fitjar Islands2.JPG|thumb|left|Aerial view of the Fitjar islands]]
[[File:Fitjar Church and Håkonarparken.JPG|thumb|left|[[Fitjar Church]]]]
The [[prestegjeld|parish]] of ''Fitje'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1863 when it was separated from the large [[Stord Municipality]]. Initially, the population of Fitje was 2,313. On 1 January 1868, a small area in the municipality of [[Finnås|Finnaas]] (population: 10) was transferred to Fitje. In 1900, the name was changed to ''Fitjar''. The original municipality included all of the land surrounding the [[Selbjørnsfjorden]].<ref name="Dag">{{Cite book |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |year=1999 |isbn=9788253746845 |language=no}}</ref>

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, the area of Fitjar located north of the Selbjørnsfjorden on the islands of [[Huftarøy]] and [[Selbjørn]] (population: 696) was transferred to the neighboring [[Austevoll Municipality]]. On 1 January 1995, the islands of Aga, Agasystra, Gisøya, Vikøya, Selsøy, Risøya, and many smaller surrounding islands (population: 225) were transferred from Fitjar to the neighboring [[Bømlo Municipality]]. These islands had recently been connected to Bømlo by road bridges which precipitated the municipal transfer.<ref name="Dag" />

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''[[Fitjar (village)|Fitjar]]'' farm ({{langx|non|Fitjar}}) since the first [[Fitjar Church]] was built there. The name is the plural form of {{wikt-lang|non|fit}} which means "meadow along the water" or "lush meadow". Before 1900, the name was written ''"Fitje"''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ud5LAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Søndre Bergenhus amt |date=1910 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=11 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=156 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was adopted during the late 1940s, but they have never been formally granted since they did not meet the formal government design requirements. In 2018, the municipal council of Fitjar formally approved the arms after a change to a national law. The [[blazon]] is ''"[[Azure (heraldry)|Azure]], a Viking helmet [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] within a [[Orle (heraldry)|orle]] [[argent]]"''. This means the arms have a blue [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[Viking]] [[helmet]] with a thin border around the edge of the shield. The charge 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 arms often have a [[mural crown]] depicted above the [[Escutcheon (heraldry)|escutcheon]]. The helmet and the color are derived from the belief that [[Haakon I of Norway|King Haakon the Good]] wore a golden helmet at the [[Battle of Fitjar]] in 961, which was fought in this municipality. King Haakon died from his wounds. His death and reception in [[Valhalla]] are described in the [[skaldic poem]] {{lang|non|Hákonarmál}}, composed by the [[Eyvindr skáldaspillir]]. The arms were designed by Magnus Hardeland. The municipal flag is orange with a depiction of coat of arms in the centre along with the name of the municipality below the arms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Fitjar |access-date=2023-05-24 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fitjar kommune |url=https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5003-Kommunev%C3%A5pen/Kart%20og%20tegninger%20og%20segl/Fitjar%20fra%20SNL.JPG.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5003-Kommunev%25C3%25A5pen%2F%3Fq%3Dfitjar |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=Digitalarkivet |publisher=Arkivverket |language=no}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fitjar kommune, våpen |url=https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5003-Kommunev%C3%A5pen/Kart%20og%20tegninger%20og%20segl/V%C3%A5pen%20Fitjar_839.pdf.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5003-Kommunev%25C3%25A5pen%2F%3Fq%3Dfitjar |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=Digitalarkivet |publisher=Arkivverket |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Fitjar. It is part of the [[Sunnhordland prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Bjørgvin]].

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Fitjar'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|Fitjar||[[Fitjar Church]]||[[Fitjar (village)|Fitjar]]||1867
|}