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Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of the lambing season at Brimnes, a farm in the north of Iceland, in April 2008. Sheep farmer Arnar Gústafsson and his girlfriend Edda Björk take shifts watching over the nearly 300 ewes and helping them give birth 24/7 for about two months or until the last lamb is born. In Iceland, the arrival of lambs is synonymous with the arrival of summer. The lambing season is currently at its height.
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Located just 40 minutes by car and six minutes from Keflavík International Airport, Sandgerdi (“Sandy Hedge”) is a growing town of 1,700 with a storied history and loads to see. Read this special promotion about the hidden secrets of one of Iceland's most charming seaside villages.
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A couple who run a restaurant and travel service at the farm Heimabaer in Arnardalur valley by Ísafjardardjúp in the West Fjords invite visitors to participate in heathen ceremonies based on the Norse Ásatrú religion this summer.
A pagan ceremony. Photo by Jennifer Zoltek.
“We want to present this noteworthy cultural heritage of ours to as many people as possible,” tourism entrepreneur Anna Sigrídur Ólafsdóttir told Morgunbladid, stressing that they respect everyone’s religious beliefs.
She and her husband Úlfur Thór Úlfarsson repaired the outbuildings of Heimabaer and turned them into a restaurant and reception hall so that they could have their own wedding reception there in 2007.
They were married on the beach and it was the first mixed wedding ceremony in Iceland, performed by a Christian priest and a heathen chieftain.
Ólafsdóttir is a member of Ásatrúarfélagid, which honors the Norse pagan religion, and Úlfarsson is a member of the National Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland.
When Ólafsdóttir studied tourism at Hólar University she started wondering whether it was possible to have travelers to Iceland participate in heathen rituals. She has now developed tours where Ásatrú is part of the traveling experience.
People are taken to the beach in Arnardalur where a bonfire is lit and the religion introduced to attendees, then a ceremony takes place in which attendees participate.
“There aren’t many sources on how religious rituals were performed in ancient times. We therefore model them on the blót held by Ásatrúarfélagid,” Ólafsdóttir explained. Blót, which literally means “sacrifice”, is the word used for Norse pagan ceremonies.
In the blót tours, the couple is joined by guides from the association, including the West Fjords chieftain Eyvindur P. Eiríksson.
“It is not missioneering, which is frowned upon in Ásatrú. It is first and foremost an experience for travelers, not highly dramatic but fun and educational,” Ólafsdóttir described.
The blót ceremonies always ended with a huge feast and so the tours in Arnardalur end with a banquet in the cowshed where Westfjordian ingredients are emphasized.
It is possible to book Ásatrú tours through Vesturferdir in Ísafjördur.
Click here to read about other new travel opportunities in the West Fjords.
The young Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men, which has enjoyed incredible popularity in the US, will be on Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show, on June 29. This will be the second time that the band performs on an American talk show.
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The first archeological research in Iceland this year will begin at Hafnir in Reykjanes, southwest Iceland, on Monday. Archeologists will continue their study of a hut which may originate from 770-880 AD and predate the historical settlement of Iceland in 847.
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A small glacial burst occurred in the volcano Katla, which lies underneath the Mýrdalsjökull icecap in south Iceland, on April 28 and lasted a few days. The activity was registered by seismic monitors and increased conduction was measured in the river Múlakvísl until May 7.
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Kexland (“Biscuit Land”) is a new events organizer and tour operator based at the hip KEX Hostel in Reykjavík, where its plans were presented on Wednesday. These include a guided tour and exercise at the capital’s swimming pools with comedian Dóri DNA.
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The current issue of the quarterly magazine Iceland Review includes interviews with fashion photographer Saga Sig and conceptual artist Rúrí. Also, we take you to Grímsstaðir á Fjöllum, that desolate land coveted by a Chinese tycoon, and also explore Icelandic archeological remains. We discuss the Icelandic Church, the flourishing gaming industry, debate the future of Iceland’s energy resources and interview the president of the Icelandic National League of North America. Subscribe now and receive a free photo book by IR’s editor Páll Stefánsson of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. Click here to subscribe to the magazine and here to buy a gift subscription.
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REVIEWS
The Reykjavík Shorts&Docs was held in Reykjavík from May 6 to 9 in Bíó Paradís, and what an enriching experience it was to attend the festival.
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Shedding light on Iceland’s thousand-year history, as manifested in remains ranging from Viking graves to enchanted sites, Mannvist is a fundamental piece of writing. Ásta Andrésdóttir met with its author, archaeologist Birna Lárusdóttir.
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“The House Project” currently on display in Hafnarborg, the Hafnarfjörður Centre of Culture and Fine Art, is a new artwork by Hreinn Friðfinnsson consisting of a photography series of the three houses. His work is described as “a poetic and philosophical exploration of every day human experience.”
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