Editing Vefsn Municipality (section)

==History==
[[File:Paviljong Mosjøen.JPG|thumb|left|Part of the city park in Mosjøen, Vefsn municipality.]]
The municipality of Vefsn was established on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). In 1862, the vast eastern district (population: 921) was separated from Vefsn Municipality to become the new [[Hattfjelldal Municipality]]. This left Vefsn Municipality with 5,051 residents. In 1876, the town of [[Mosjøen]] (population: 379) was separated from Vefsn Municipality to become a separate town-municipality. This left Vefsn Municipality with 4,672 residents.<ref name="Dag">{{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=no |isbn=9788253746845}}</ref>

In 1927, Vefsn Municipality was split into three: the small northern district (population: 964) became the new [[Drevja Municipality]] and the large southern district (population: 1,746) became the new [[Grane Municipality]]. After the split, Vefsn Municipality had 3,119 residents remaining. In 1939, a small area of Vefsn Municipality (population: 45) was transferred to neighboring town of [[Mosjøen]].<ref name="Dag" />

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1962, Vefsn Municipality (population: 5,358) was merged with the neighboring town of Mosjøen (population: 4,628) and the neighboring [[Drevja Municipality]] (population: 1,001) and [[Elsfjord Municipality]] (population: 920) to form a new, larger Vefsn Municipality. On 1 January 1995, the mainland areas of the neighboring [[Alstahaug Municipality]] (population: 70) were transferred to Vefsn Municipality.<ref name="Dag" />

===Name===
[[File:NK 4 Vefsn 28-12-1859.jpg|thumb|left|The post office was named VEFSEN in 1859.]]
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the river [[Vefsna]] ({{langx|non|Vefsnar}}) which flows through the municipality into the [[Vefsnfjorden]] ({{langx|non|Vefsnir}}). The meaning of the river name is unknown, but it possibly comes from the old word {{wikt-lang|non|vefja}} which means "to wrap" or "to wind around".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |author-link=Oluf Rygh |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 |page=64 |language=no}}</ref> Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Vefsen''. On 3 November 1917, a [[royal decree|royal resolution]] changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Vefsn''.<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=Kristiania, Norge |publisher=Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri |pages=1057–1065}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 13 September 1974. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Sable (heraldry)|Sable]], a rooster [[argent]] armed [[gules]]"'' ({{langx|no|På svart bunn en sølv hane}}). This means the arms have a black [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[rooster]]. The rooster 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 rooster is also [[attitude (heraldry)|armed]] which means its claws, beak, and [[Comb (anatomy)|comb]] are colored red. The rooster is a symbol for watchfulness and alertness. The arms were designed by Arthur Gustavsson.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Vefsn |access-date=2023-02-04 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref name="FW">{{Cite web |title=Vefsn, Nordland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-18-24.html |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1974-09-13 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1974-09-13-10 |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

The coat of arms was originally adopted by the municipality of [[Mosjøen]] on 25 March 1960. In 1962, Mosjøen was merged with Vefsn Municipality, [[Drevja Municipality]], and [[Elsfjord Municipality]] to form a new, larger Vefsn Municipality. After the merger, the old arms of Mosjøen were chosen for the new municipality. Since the arms officially became obsolete after the merger, they were re-granted in 1974.<ref name="FW" />