- This is soølje.

This is also a soølje.

And this can also be a soølje.

Soølje is a style of silver jewelry that is distinctive to the people of Norway.

And in Nordic folklore, magic resides in every soølje.

(mysterious orchestral music) Once upon a time, a family living in the land of 10,000 lakes, gave birth to a beautiful little girl.

She was as precious as can be, but near their home on Eagle Mountain, an evil troll dwelled.

See, the troll had been waiting, nine months to be exact.

One night when all were asleep, the evil troll snuck into the house and slowly made way to the cradle, inching his way towards the baby.

But as the troll unwrapped the blankets, a small, silver, dangly brooch peaked through.

Pinned onto her pillow, a shiny soølje.

- The Scandinavian culture always has had a fear of the hidden folk or the huldra.

And that could be trolls.

And they're the people that live in the mountains that come out and basically exchange their babies for your babies to strengthen their bloodline.

So, to protect against that, they would pin a small pin onto the baby's pillow so that if the huldra came in the middle of the night, that they would take the pin instead of the baby.

They'd be sort of like fairies, but not necessarily the nicest kind.

- This is Liz Bucheit, a goldsmith with Scandinavian roots of Norwegian descent.

And I'm here in Lanesbro, Minnesota to visit her shop, Crown Trout Jewelers, to explore the history of soølje, the magical powers they hold, and how they became heirloom pieces for many Norwegian families.

- Well, soølje or "solya" however you want to pronounce it, just is basically is silver.

Silver jewelry or adornment in Norway.

So these are examples of a couple of different soølje styles here.

The pins and jewelry vary widely across Norway.

- Soølje completes a traditional folk outfit or a bunad as the Norwegians call it.

And it's been recorded as integral part of their fashion since the medieval times.

We're talking as early as the fifth century.

- [Liz] Back in the day, before we all had buttons on our clothing, the only thing that would hold our clothing together would be silver pins.

And the pins are probably the most predominantly identified piece that go with regional costumes.

This very simple pin idea over the centuries has developed into something incredibly ornate and beautiful.

So there would be pins, there would be cufflinks, lots of necklaces, and the most beautiful and ornate soølje would be the bridal crown.

(laughs) Oh good!

Silver, like for a lot of cultures, is very special.

It is basically a protective element.

It was also used to cure sickness, and silver marks the different points in your maturity.

- Traditionally, individuals receive soølje following three important life transitions.

First, as newborns, second, at the age of 16 or at the start of adulthood, and third, marriage.

- It's three important benchmarks in human life, but also a vulnerable benchmark, so that's why the silver is there to protect you.

And there's an old, there's an old saying about why some of it is constructed the way that it is.

Basically, the little spoons or like, the little dishes that you see that kind of dangle down, if you run into the devil he's supposed to see his reflection and be so mortified, he'll leave you alone and run away.

So it's sort of a protection against the evil eye too.

- But how do they become heirloom pieces?

Well, besides warding off evil forces, social status has something to do with it too.

- A lot of people throughout history have worn silver as also a show of wealth.

And depending upon the size of the pins or the elements in the pins, would show sort of a hidden vocabulary.

You'd be able to tell if somebody was married or single or where they were from or what family they were from.

So this is an example of my mother's family type bunad.

And as you can see, that really large pin is actually positioned right in the center.

They have these two brooches on either side of the pinafore with a chain hanging down and that's specific.

My mother, she had quite a collection and has quite a collection herself, which is all going to be going to me.

And I would, I would make sure that it would go to my nieces.

Kind of keeping my eye out over the years to see who's interested in it and who would really has an appreciation for it.

- So it really is a tradition to pass down these pieces as heirlooms then?

- Yes, I think it's even more important that people really held onto those types of traditions because it's identity.

And when people pass things down, they kind of like gained sort of like a, an additional magic with each generation because the previous generation has to explain why that's special to the next generation.

- Baseplate on them.

Jewelry is one of those things.

It's portable.

It's something that can actually travel with the wearer their lifetime and beyond.

(mellow rock music) Even at the turn of the century, when there was a lot of immigration happening here, people who came from Norway in particular, they wanted to be Americanized.

So they wanted American clothes and they wanted to like wear like the long dresses and the bustles and all that sort of stuff, the Victorian look.

And it's interesting because you'll find photos of women who basically the one part of their outfit that is not American is they will still wear their silver pin.

That's one thing that they would bring with them to mark their Norwegian identity.