Hvaler is a municipality that is a group of islands in the southern part of Østfold County, Norway.

This was chosen since this island municipality has been dependent on boats for all its history, and because fisheries and sailing have been the main economic activities for many centuries.

All the silver that belongs to the costume is portraying the locally famous Hvalerbåten (The Boat of Hvaler) and herring, which has been an important commodity to the islands through the ages.

On all of these islands, with the exception of Søndre Lauer, summer houses fill the landscape.

Although equipped with a good stretch of roads, car traffic is forbidden there and no commercial activity whatsoever exists.

In many ways, this gives its population (mostly summertime vacationers) a greater feeling of isolation from the average Norwegian's hectic life, and it acts as a buffer against pollution.

Nordre Sandøy is thought to have been one of the bases of Peter Tordenskjold during his time as a privateer.

In 1997, a local boy, Simon Rene Magnussen, found three old golden coins while scuba diving in the area.