Lögberg-Heimskringla

						Lögber

eimsKringia

The lcelandic Weekly

Logberg ítofnað 14. janúar 1888

105. Árgangur

105th Year

Heimslringla Stofnað 9. september 1886

Föstudagur 7. júní   1991

Friday,  7  June   1991

Inside this week:

Lögberg-Heimskringla — Why not?..........................page 2

A mystery solved.................................................................3

Team-work is important to Bob Ásgeirsson........................6

Active lifestyle keeps this Senior on the go........................7

featuring . . . the lcelandic

Canadian Club of Toronto Newsletter

pages 4 & 5

7

Númer 21

Number  21

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Propaganda Films------

prospers:

Sigurjón Síghvatsson, co-owner of

Propaganda Films, along withhispart-

ner Steve Golin, produced Madon-

na's newly released rock documen-

tary, Madönria Truth orDare. Through

their eompany, Mahifesto, they also

financecf half of the productíon of

Barton Fink, the filrn which received

this year's Palme D'Or award in

Cannes. Manifesto will be in charge of

the fi|mrs dístribution outsídethe U.S^;

Pröpaganda Fitms is now Amerí-

ca's largest producer of musíc videos

with about 40% of the market. It ís

best known for producíng Wild a.i

Heart, whích won iastyear's Bést Filrn;

award in Cannes, and the TV seríes

TwJn Peaks.

Icelandic

News

A Viking Feast:

The Fjörukra (Beach Tavern) in

Hafnarfjörður will now offer íts clients

rQasted mountain lamb and brerinivin

drunkfromspeciallyrnadesheephorns

and served by Viking maidens, who

now and then break irtto song. The

Pjörukró's decor is based upon au-

thentic Víking abodes— the perfect

surroundingsfora regufarVikíng Feast

Mexico seeks advice:

Mexico has been seekíng lcelandic

CQHaboration and know-how in the

'íeld of físheríes Oscar Gonzales

^odriguez, Mexíco's ássistant Minis-

ter0f Fishenes.saidthattheMexicans

come to the iceianders because they

are leaders in many areas of ihe físh-

tígcj 'ndu-itry—and understandably so,

•¦¦¦¦ce they, more than most nations,

^epend upon sensíble harvestíng of

fish;

tn view of a possibie free^trade

deal between Mexíco, the U.S., and

^anada, the Mexícans intend to mod-

ernize their fishing índustry.

TranslateJ frotn lcelandic

K.                           tvewspapers, HrK.&.

Goolies meet

in Gulf

a/pw'

Karl V. Burkhauser and Brlan H.

Guðmundsson

During the recent Gulf War, an

American soldier of Icelandic descent,

Captain Brian H. Guðmundsson, the

son of ívar and Barbara Guðmundsson

of Washington, met, by chance, an-

other soldier also of Icelandic descent.

Captain Guðmundsson saw the tattooed

image of of a Viking's head and the

Icelandic flag on the arm of Corporal

Karl V. Burkhauser. Needless to say, he

inquired about Burkhauser's origin.

Burkhauser told Guðmundsson that his

mother, Sif, is lcelandic from Húsavík

and his tather is an American. His fam-

ily had moved from Iceland when he

was 13.

Ready to set sail

All Icelanders know that Leifur

Eiríksson discovered America around

the year 1000 and that he was an

Icelander, the son of Eiríkur the Red,

who settled in Greenland. The sailors.

in the above photo — Herdís Ellen

Gunnarsdóttir, Ríkharður Pétursson,

and Gerður Rósa Gunnarsdóttir — are

three of the five Icelanders selected

to represent Iceland on the voyage of

the Gaia.the Saga Siglar and the

Oseberg viking ships, to commem-

orate Leifur's find. The Gaia alone

will sail from Norway to Iceland, then

to Greenland and L'Anse-aux-

Meadows. She will be joined by the

Saga Siglar and the Oseberg in

Halifax. The three ships will then set

sail to Washington D.C., and are

scheduled to arrive there on October 9,

Leifur Eiríksspn Day, with a number of

port-stops on the way.

Þorrablót, Toronto Style

by Joan Eyolfson Cadham

Two non-Icelandic impressions of

Þorrablót probably describe, as well as

anything does, the reason why this is

such a popular ethnic celebration.

I had told a Montreal friend that we

were off to Toronto for Þorrablót. "Is is

a craft fair?" she asked. "Is it a show-

case for artisans?" No, I told her, won-

dering if she'd think our annual festival

was very unsophisticated. First, I said,

there's a wonderful buffet of all the

traditional foods, the foods that remind

us of the hardships faced by a race that

had to preserve food well enough to

survive winter gales and blizzards. Then

there's either a literary element or some-

thing for the kids—people bring their

little ones along—and a dance that is

punctuated with various folk dashing

by to say: There's someone you must

meet from Elfros, or, do you know so-

and-so from Foam Lake, as the partici-

pants establish links and connections.

Joanie's eyes sparkled. "What a vi-

brant celebration!" she exclaimed.

"How very lucky you are."

My other nonlcelandic friend was

much more pragmatic. She had come to

Þorrablót with us in Toronto before

and she was anticipating a second invi-

tation with undisguised enthusiasm.

'i'm impressed," she said. "I've never

Good food fuels good conversatlon

met an entire race that celebrates food

with such unabashed delight."

Þorrablót was late in Toronto this

year, a condition of availability of the

hall more than for any other reason, but

in welcoming the 200 guests on April 6,

club president David Scarth suggested

that we might consider we were cel-

ebrating Góumót (spring gathering)

rather than Þorrablót the sacrifice to

Þór.

Whatever the occasion, the crowd of

200 plus made this one of the largest

spring festivals in Canada this year.

Special guests were the Honorary

Consel for Iceland, Jon Johnson and his

wife, Dr. Patricia Johnson. All the door

prizes and raffle prizes were drawn by

Icelanders who identified themselves and

Continued on page 5