Hå

Hå is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is the southernmost municipality in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Varhaug. Other villages in Hå include Brusand, Hæen, Nærbø, Obrestad, Ogna, Sirevåg, and Vigrestad.

The 258 km2 municipality is the 281st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Hå is the 67th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 19,649. The municipality's population density is 79.3 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 11.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The 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 (population: 1,806) and 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 (population: 1,470). In local politics, the divisions between the three previous municipalities remain very visible.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hå farm (Háar or 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 which means "aftergrass" (the grass that grows after the first crop has been cut down). Ti may also come from the word which means "rowlock" (possibly referring to the shape of the headland on which the farm is located). On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Haa with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Hå, using the letter å instead.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 5 July 1991. The official blazon is "Sable, a winch stand argent." (På svart grunn eit sølv vinsjestativ). This means the arms have a black field (background) and the charge is a winch stand. The winch stand has a 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 soils of the municipality. A winch of this type (called a "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, Varhaug, and Ogna that were merged to creat Hå in 1964. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Hå. It is part of the Jæren prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger.

Government
Hå Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Sør-Rogaland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Hå is made up of 33 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Hå (incomplete list - missing 1838-1894):


 * 1964-1967: Erik Årsland (LL)
 * 1968-1969: Erik P. Skretting (LL)
 * 1970-1975: Kjell Lund (LL)
 * 1976-1979: Kåre Sandve (KrF)
 * 1980-1983: Gabriel S. Rimestad (LL)
 * 1984-1985: Mindor Jelsa (LL)
 * 1986-1987: Rasmus Pollestad (KrF)
 * 1988-1989: Kjell Lund (Ap)
 * 1990-1991: Eldar Odland (LL)
 * 1992-1993: Ingvar Gausland (LL)
 * 1994-1995: Tobias Skretting (Sp)
 * 1995-1999: Eldar Odland (Sp)
 * 1999-2003: Gunnar Siqveland (H)
 * 2003-2011: Terje Mjåtveit (LL)
 * 2011-2015: Mons Skrettingland (H)
 * 2015-2023: Jonas Skrettingland (KrF)
 * 2023-present: Andreas Bjorland (KrF)

Geography
Hå municipality is located on the southwestern shore of Norway, along the North Sea. The municipality is located mostly in the very flat, coastal Jæren district. The southeastern part of the municipality begins to get a little hilly and rocky and it marks the border of the Dalane district (located to the south and east). Much of the land in Hå is used for agriculture because of its flat landscape. The river Hååna runs through the municipality. The shoreline of the municipality is marked by the Kvassheim Lighthouse and Obrestad Lighthouse.

Weather
Hå has a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb), also known as marine west coast climate. The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below 0 °C) in spring is 16 April and average date for first freeze in autumn is 10 November giving a frost-free season of 207 days (1981-2010 average).

Transportation
The Sørlandet Line runs through the municipality, making several stops. The stations in Hå include Brusand Station, Nærbø Station, Ogna Station, Sirevåg Station, Varhaug Station, and Vigrestad Station.

Notable people

 * Jacob Rasch (1669 in Ogna – 1737), the rector of Christiania Cathedral School from 1706 to 1737
 * Sven Aarrestad (1850 in Varhaug – 1942), a writer, politician, and leader in the Norwegian temperance movement
 * Tor Obrestad (1938 in Hå – 2020), a Norwegian novelist, poet, and documentary writer
 * Gunnar Torvund (1948 in Nærbø – 2019), a sculptor
 * Kjell Arild Pollestad (born 1949 in Hå), an author, theologian, philologist, and Dominican priest
 * Magnus Matningsdal (born 1951 in Hå), a judge and a Supreme Court Justice from 1997
 * Helge Torvund (born 1951 in Hå), a psychologist, poet, literary critic, and children's writer
 * Geir Pollestad (born 1978 in Høyland), a politician and government minister
 * Vidar Nisja (born 1986 in Vigrestad), a football midfielder with 324 club caps