Editing Modalen (section)

==General information==
[[File:Bruvik IMO 5054343 Mo 2009.JPG|thumb|left|View of the village of Mo]]
[[File:Mo_Hordaland.JPG|thumb|left|Another view of Mo]]
The parish of Modalen was separated from the old municipality of [[Hosanger]] on 1 January 1910 to become a separate municipality. Initially, the municipality had 821 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, the middle part of the [[Eksingedalen]] valley (population: 151) was transferred from Modalen to the municipality of [[Vaksdal]]. Also on that date, the Nipo, Dyrkolbotn, and Eitrdalen farm areas (population: 12), located north of the village of [[Romarheim]], were transferred from Modalen to the neighboring municipality of [[Lindås]].<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>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''[[Mo, Hordaland|Mo]]'' farm ({{langx|non|Mór}}) since the first [[Mo Church (Hordaland)|Mo Church]] was built there in the Middle Ages. The first element is {{wikt-lang|non|mór}} which means "[[Heath (habitat)|heath]]" or "[[Moorland|moor]]". The last element, {{wikt-lang|no|dalen}}, was added later and it is derived from the old word {{wikt-lang|non|dalr}} which means "[[valley]]" or "dale".<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 |pages=336–337 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 2 November 1984. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], three spades [[palewise]] two and one [[argent]]"'' ({{langx|no|På græn grunn tre kvite spadar, 2-1}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a set of three [[spade]]s aligned vertically with the center one sitting lower than the others. The charge 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. The spades are a symbol for the [[agriculture]] and sand digging in the municipality, which historically were of great importance. The arms were designed by Egil Korsnes. 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=Modalen |access-date=2023-05-18 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Modalen, Hordaland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-12-52.html |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1984-11-02 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1984-11-02-1837 |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

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

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Modalen'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|Mo||[[Mo Church (Hordaland)|Mo Church]]||[[Mo, Hordaland|Mo]]||1883
|}