Editing Hå (section)

==General information==
[[File:Jærmal.jpg|thumb|left|View of the Hå landscape]]
[[File:Ogna sandstrand.jpg|thumb|left|Sandy beaches at Ogna, in the southern part of the municipality.]]
The [[prestegjeld|parish]] of ''Haa'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). In 1894, the municipality of Haa was dissolved and divided into two new municipalities: [[Nærbø (municipality)|Nærbø]] (population: 1,806) and [[Varhaug (municipality)|Varhaug]] (population: 1,801). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Hå was recreated by merging of the neighboring municipalities of Nærbø (population: 3,926), Varhaug (population: 3,454), and [[Ogna (municipality)|Ogna]] (population: 1,470).<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> In local politics, the divisions between the three previous municipalities remain very visible.

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''Hå'' farm ({{langx|non|Háar}} or {{lang|non|Háir}}) where the local church priest's [[parsonage]] was located. The river running past this farm is similarly named the Hååna, meaning the "Hå river". It is not known if the river is named after the farm or vice versa. The meaning of the original name is uncertain. It is possible that it comes from the plural [[dative case]] of the word {{wikt-lang|non|há}} which means "aftergrass" (the grass that grows after the first crop has been cut down). Ti may also come from the word {{wikt-lang|non|hár}} which means "[[rowlock]]" (possibly referring to the shape of the [[headland]] on which the farm is located).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4pBAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Stavanger amt |date=1915 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=10 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=104 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref> On 21 December 1917, a [[royal decree|royal resolution]] enacted the [[Norwegian language conflict|1917 Norwegian language reforms]]. Prior to this change, the name was spelled ''Haa'' with the [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]] "[[Aa (digraph)|aa]]", and after this reform, the name was spelled ''Hå'', using the letter [[å]] instead.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1917 |title=Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2015102381014_001 |journal=[[Norsk Lovtidend]] |language=no |location=Oslo, Norway |publisher=Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri |page=1000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nb.no/items/7c810cb2510e5454433266c698b8808e |title=Den Nye rettskrivning : regler og ordlister |publisher=Den Mallingske Boktrykkeri |year=1918 |location=Kristiania, Norge |language=no}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 5 July 1991. The official [[blazon]] is ''"Sable, a winch stand argent."'' ({{langx|no|På svart grunn eit sølv vinsjestativ}}). This means the arms have a black [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[winch]] stand. The winch stand has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[argent]] which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. It is a special type of winch that has historically been used in this area to remove stones from the many farm fields. The arms were chosen to symbolize the hard living on the rocky [[soil]]s of the municipality. A winch of this type (called a "{{lang|non|steinbukk}}") is used locally for the removal of large stones from the soil for agricultural purposes. It's three legs also represent the three previous municipalities of [[Nærbø (municipality)|Nærbø]], [[Varhaug (municipality)|Varhaug]], and [[Ogna (municipality)|Ogna]] that were merged to creat Hå in 1964. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Hå |access-date=2023-07-02 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hå, Rogaland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-11-19.html |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1991-07-04 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1991-07-04-478 |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has three parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Hå. It is part of the [[Jæren prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Stavanger]].

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Hå'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="2"|Nærbø||[[Nærbø Church]]||[[Nærbø]]||2005
|-
|[[Old Nærbø Church]]||[[Nærbø]]||1834
|-
|rowspan="1"|Ogna||[[Ogna Church]]||[[Ogna]]||1250
|-
|rowspan="1"|Varhaug||[[Varhaug Church]]||[[Varhaug]]||1904
|}