Thor II filming headed for Iceland?

"Filming for the upcoming action sequel is just getting underway in the United Kingdom, but now several sources have said that the crew will head farther afield in the North Atlantic. The location would be more than appropriate, as the figure of Thor and Norse mythology originate from a handful of Germanic countries, one of which is Iceland."

Read more at Ice News.

Lagarfljótsormur

This story has begun to circulate recently:
"A video was recorded this weekend of what may or may not be the legendary Lagarfljóts Worm — Iceland’s answer to the Loch Ness Monster.
The video was taken of what looks like a giant, icy swimming snake in the Jökulsá í Fljótsdal river, which runs in to Lagarfljót. The unexplained creature, or phenomenon, appears to be swimming upstream, against the current." Read more, with link to the video footage, at Ice News.

The Sagas of Icelanders as a Historical Source

Courtesy of Medievalists.net:

"The Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders), sometimes called the Icelandic family sagas) are a valuable resource in the study of society and culture in the Viking age. However, for a variety of reasons, one can not depend upon the sagas as historical fact. This article provides an introductory look at using the Sagas of Icelanders as a historical source. The Sagas of Icelanders are comprised of about two score longer narratives and a larger number of tales. The stories are unique among medieval literature in that they focus not on kings or saints or mythological heroes, but rather on the farmers and chieftains who settled Iceland during the Viking age. Theyíre stories about plain folk in the pursuit of honor, while engaged, for the most part, in their normal, everyday activities. Additionally, the stories are unique because they were written in the vernacular, old Icelandic, rather than in Latin." The complete article by William R. Short, first published in 2005, may be found at the Hurstwic site.

Icelandic Feasts and Celebrations - Þorrablót

"Þorri is one of the old Icelandic months. It always begins on a Friday, between the 19th and the 25th of January, and ends on a Saturday between the 18th and 24th of February. The first day of Þorri is called Bóndadagur or "Husband's Day/Farmer's Day", and  is dedicated to men (formerly only farmers). In my family (and many others) , the women bring the men breakfast in bed on this day - just as the men will do on Konudagur - Woman's Day (if they know what's good for them). ...
The tradition of a Þorri feast is an ancient one. It has its roots in old midwinter feasts, Þorrablót, which the advent of Christianity could not quite abolish, although the way in which it is celebrated has changed. This month falls on the coldest time of the winter, and therefore it is no surprise that Þorri has become a personification of King Winter. He is usually portrayed as an old man, tall and grizzled, who is as cruel to those who disrespect him as he is gentle to those who show him respect. Some have suggested that the month is named after the legendary king who united Norway into one country. Others think it is derived from the name of the thunder-god Þór (Thor), and that this was his feast during the pre-Christian era in Iceland.... "

More on this celebration, and a menu of traditional and non-traditional food items, may be found here.

Þorrablot

"The month Thorri starts in the 13. week of winter, 19.-25. January. This is often the hardest winter month. So, in the last decades it has been traditional to have celebrations, Thorrablot (blot is the name of the old heathen "masses" in honour of the old gods), where people mix up old traditions and new traditions, and have generally a good time.

Individual traditions can be different in details between neighbourhoods or groups that are having the Thorrablot, but the blot here was wonderful as always. All day long we the women at Langhus were preparing the food that our group was going to eat in the evening."

This article at Icelandic Horse includes a sample menu of foods that served at a Thorrablot celebration, for those of you outside Iceland who are thinking of what to prepare for your own celebrations. The author notes that while the foods may not seem appetizing to the unfamiliar, they are partly eaten in remembrance of the days when Icelanders did not have refrigerators or supermarkets and had to rely on what little was available during the  hardest and most difficult part of the winter season, when winter stores of food would begin to deplete.  The full article may be read here.

Iceland celebrating thirteenth and final day of Christmas

"Today is the thirteenth and final day of the Christmas festival in Iceland and what better way to celebrate than with more bonfires and fireworks?
The skies across Iceland will light up one more time this evening as the end of Christmas is celebrated and the last of the Yule Lads makes his way back home to the mountains." Read more at Ice News.

Njáls saga as a novel: four aspects of rewriting

Via Medievalists.net:

"Inspired by Njáls saga and Laxdæla saga, the novel Fire in the Ice by American novelist Dorothy James Roberts is one of numerous modern rewritings of classical and medieval literature. With her works Roberts joined a diverse group of nineteenth and twentieth century writers who borrowed plots and themes from Iceland’s early literature in their own works. The earlier adaptations were often influenced by the nationalistic and racial concerns of the rewriters, but the tides had changed when Fire in the Ice was published in 1961. By then the sagas were celebrated as remarkable works of art, even as milestones in the history of World Literature. “The best Icelandic Sagas,” writes Roberts in her preface, “approach the finest of modern novels, and are more closely related to them than to the European literature of their time.” With this statement in mind, four important aspects of Roberts’ rewriting are explored." The full article by Jón Karl Helgason of the Reykjavík Academy, originally published in The Garden of Crossing Paths: The Manipulation and Rewriting of Medieval Texts, edited by M. Buzzoni and M. Bampi (Venezia: Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina, 2005), may be viewed at the Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia site.

The Axed Man of Mosfell: Skeletal Evidence of a Viking Age Homicide and the Icelandic Sagas

Courtesy Medievalists.net:

"When Christianity was adopted by law in Iceland (1000 A.D.) Grim of Mosfell was baptized and built a church there. . . . When a church was built at Mosfell, the one Grim built at Hrísbrú was demolished and a new graveyard was laid out. Under the altar some human bones were found, much bigger than ordinary human bones, and people are confident that these were Egil’s because of stories told by old men – Egil’s Saga, Chapter 86.

The discovery of the skeletal remains of the person described in this chapter is one of many scientific results of the Mosfell Archaeological Project, an ongoing international research effort we began in 1995. The project’s goal is to produce a comprehensive reconstruction of human adaptation and environmental change in Iceland’s Mosfell Valley from Viking times until the present. To do this, we have used a multidisciplinary approach that integrates information from archaeology, physical anthropology, saga studies, and the environmental sciences."

The full article by Phillip K. Walker, et al, originally published in The Bioarchaeology of Individuals, may be read at The University of California Santa Barbara Department of Anthropology site.

Forget the crisis - Iceland survived 500 years of Danish rule

"How a deserted island became Snowland, and then Iceland, adopted Norwegian sovereignty and then Danish, took all our cash and gave us back ash." This encapsulation of Iceland's history, which includes the legend of  Ingólfur Arnarson, is available for viewing at the Copenhagen Post.

Remnants of Revenants: The Role of the Dreaded Draugr in Medieval Iceland

Via Medievalists.net: "The term 'revenant' is a French term for ghost, derived from the verb revenir, 'to return.' The Icelandic term is more specific to the returning and violently unhappy dead: the feared draugr. These Scandinavian ghosts are almost always purely physical. They rise from the burial grounds (howes), bash the living, and generally make horrible nuisances of themselves until heroes overpower them and destroy their corpses for good. They owe their place in folklore to earlier Germanic literature: a heroic and supernatural tradition that shows up in the medieval Icelandic sagas and ghost stories from northern England."
Read the full article by Mistresss Caitlin Christiana Wintour at Caitlin's Crossroad.

Jolasveinar

It's not Mother's Night yet, but here is an early gift, a modern tale of the "Yule Lads" from Paul Bristow at Tales of the Oak:

Huldufólk 102

Trailer for the 2006 documentary by Nisha Inalsingh about the continuing belief in the huldufólk ("hidden folk," or elves) in modern Iceland:




One native writer's input on the hidden folk may also be read at Iceland Review.

Glíma - Beware the slaying stone

Wikimedia Commons

"In settlement times glíma fell under two categories: “leikfang” or play wrestling and wrestling “in earnest,” the purpose of which was to get a man on the ground and kill him. Yet even leikfang had potential for harm. As it says in Jónsbók, a book of laws dating from 1325, 'whosoever participates in the contest of friendly wrestling does so on his own responsibility.' This warning may have had something to do with the involvement of 'the slaying slab. This was a waist-high tapered stone stuck into the ground that a wrestler would try to bring his opponent to in order to throw him onto it and break his back or, for varietes sake, on occasion slam him belly-down on it and crush his ribcage." The full version of this article on Icelandic folk wrestling may be viewed at the  Reykjavik Grapevine.

Amid simmering speculation, Iceland volcano keeps intentions quiet

"Iceland’s Katla volcano is always aquiver with seismic activity and local people and scientists have been waiting for an eruption for years — although they probably experienced them this year and in 1999 without even noticing."  Read more at Ice News.

Kristnitakan – The Adoption of Christianity

Brief and more or less neutral encapsulation by Katharina Hauptmann of the introduction of Christianity to Iceland. She makes note of some of the compromises made with the local pagans, such as the eating of horse meat and private pagan sacrifices remaining legal. She also notes at the end of her article the revival of Asatru in Iceland. Full article may be read at Iceland Review.

Viking religion Asatru: A new research project explores the faith of Odin's descendants

This article, in German, is about the study of Asatru as practiced in present-day Germany and in part compares it with Asatru as practiced in Iceland. It may be found at the Grenz | Wissenschaft-aktuell  (Current International Science) blog site.

Monstrosity in Old English and Old Icelandic Literature

Courtesy of Medievalists.net:

"Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to examine Old English and Old Icelandic literary examples of monstrosity from a modern theoretical perspective. I examine the processes of monstrous change by which humans can become identified as monsters, focusing on the role played by social and religious pressures."

The full doctoral dissertation by Alistair McLennan to the University of Glasgow may be found here.

"From the Aesir and Vanir" - the pre-Christian religion in Iceland and their attempt at resuscitation.

Article on the modern practice of Asatru in Iceland, in German, at ORF.at.

Historian revives Scandinavian past through mythology

"These are the cultural stories that really shaped Scandinavia,” says Jill Johnson of the Nordic Arts Alliance, which is bringing in the speaker ... Johnson says that while (Ingibjörg) Gisladottir is billed as a storyteller who shares myths, the stories aren’t necessarily pure fiction and she tells them in some historical context." Read the full story at InForum.

New Historical Exhibitions in Iceland and Germany

"On occasion of the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair, October 12-16, and Iceland being the fair’s guest of honor, the National Museum of Iceland opened an exhibition about the making of manuscripts and archeological discoveries from the Icelandic settlement era in the Archeological Museum in Frankfurt on Friday." Full story at Iceland Review Online.