Welhaven with his poem 'børnelege' (children's games) from 1839 gives a picture of his childhood-years in 1814: "Vi stilledes os siden i lange Rader, marsjerende tappert i byens gader ;vi plyndrede Søstrenes Dukkeskrin og gjorde Mundurer av silke og lin. I krigsraadet taltes med megen vekt om fienden stilling og skjulte planer, paa chefens kommando, vi stormede kjækt med skillingstrompeter, karduspapirfaner". ("We organized ourselves in long rows, marched bravely the streets of the city; we plundered our sisters' doll-boxes and made coats out of silk and linen. In the council of war we gravely discussed the enemy's position and secret plans, and on the command of the chief we charged with shilling trumpets and paper banners".) Nils Hertzberg says of the 1830s: there were organized boy-gangs in the different neighbourhoods which under changing alliances gave each other full-blown battles: the Nordnæs-, Drægge-, Nøste- and Skive-Boys. They employed guards and scouts who made strategic moves to surprise the enemy. In the 1850s these boy-gangs still rampaged, but the violence and hostility had to come to an end. Who it was that finally ended these hostilities and turned them into the current peaceful pursuits of the buekorps is uncertain. History Traditionally an activity exclusively for boys, the first girl buekorps was formed in 1991. This stirred some controversy in Bergen, but the girl and mixed gender battalions are now accepted by most people. The buekorps tradition, even with many battalions experiencing trouble in keeping up the recruiting of new members, continues to be a popular and proud feature of Bergen, excepting the odd complaint about noise. Lørdagskorps and Søndagskorps Lørdagskorps ("Saturday-brigades") and Søndagskorps ("Sunday-brigades") are historically the two main types of buekorps. These terms originate from the day the brigades marched on. Saturday-brigades were composed of the sons of those who could afford to take a day off on Saturday to march. The three surviving Saturday-brigades are Nordnæs Bataillon, Nygaards Bataljon and Dræggens Buekorps. Sunday-brigades were the ones from working-class neighbourhoods where the children had to work on Saturdays, and thus could not march on any other day. Most of the brigades were Sunday-brigades. Some of these brigades came from such poor families that they could not afford real uniforms, wearing instead ornate shirts. Today, Laksevågs Bueskyttere and Løvstakkens Jægerkorps still march in these shirts. The current brigades Dræggens Buekorps (24 March 1856), – Dræggens Archery Company, boys brigade Eidsvaags Kompani (28