Lögberg-Heimskringla - 08.06.1984, Page 7

WINNIPEG, FÖSTUDAGUR 8. JÚNÍ 1984-7
Art display at Icelandic
Heritage Days at Gimli
Stefan Helgason
Icelanders are known for their in-
terest in visual arl. Artists in Iceland
are quite numerous and their oppor-
tunities to exhibit their works are ex-
cellent. Every coffee house, restaur-
ant or bar offers excellent breaks for
painters. Art galleries also are quite
numerous, not only in Revkjavík but
in all major towns around Iceland'.
Although North American artists
are not given similar opportunities,
they do struggle and work as well as
possible at their art. Icelanders on
this continent, who know of this
unbelievable interest in Iceland en-
vy their colleagues. But when an op-
portunity knocks they grab it and use
Life after death
Continued from page 6
such men; their services are, in fact,
more sought after than other ac-
tivities of psychic nature. Of those
polled, 41% said they had visited a
faith healer, or a little over half of the
women and around a quarter of the
men. Around half of the group reply-
ing affirmatively had done this only
once or twice, and nearly half hád
visited just one faith healer. The
reason for seeking help from faijth
healers was strictly own iilness 'in
32% of cases, while 29% had doná it
only because of the illness of others,
and 39%' both because of their oý/n
illness and that of other persons!
"In other words, of those who
went to faith healers, 71% needed
help themselves, but 68% did this
because of the ailments of others.. . .
It seems probable that in the latter
case the one needing help was absent
as a rule . . . In the study nothing!was
asked about peoples attitude toward
faith healing. But the above figures
show clearly that there are many
among Icelanders living today who
trust, or at any rate hope, that the
faith healers have 'the strength and
power of spirit which the doctoring
requires.' to use the words of a well-
known Icelander.
Surprising Resuits
"To what extent are the hopes for
cure fulfilled? Collectively, the
answers on hand offer a surprising-
ly clear cut judgment; 91% felt that
benefits of one kind or another came
from their visits to faith heaiers —
with 34% saying that the results were
very satisfactory, while 57% describ-
ed them as useful. Only 9% were of
the opinion that nothing could be
gained from seeing a faith healer, and
no one reported that doing so had
been detrimentai in any way.
"This writer knows oí only one
foreign opinion survey dealing with
people s belieí in faith healing. Men-
tioned rather in a different context,
it was one sponsored by Britain’s
Sunday Times in 1968. The question
asked was: Do you believe that faith
healers can cure people? Faith heal-
ing has long been in considerable evi-
dence in the U.K., we might note. Of
it as well as they can.
The art display at Gimli june 2,
was interesting. Several local artists
such as Thura Bjornsson and June
Valgardson had numerous works on
display. They both had lovely paint-
ings which sliowed the life of Gimii
Icelanders in the past and at the pre-
sent. But they also had delicate still
life paintings as well as landscape
ones. Mrs. June Valgardson told our
reporter that she had been painting
the last 16 years and had a good col-
lection of her works during that time
span at her home. That would cer-
tainly be worth seeing.
Another artist Mr. Stefan Helgason
of Selkirk had numerous paintings in
the Gimli Museum. Mr. Helgason
also is interested in life by the lake.
His paintings are very personal for
example. One shows a lone fisher-
man on the ice in a storm, sur-
rou.nded by dogs who never left theii
master, even though he was dead.
This man was a very ciose friend of
Stefan Helgason, “like a brother" as
he pointed out as he explained his
works. These paintings are on a per-
rnanent display in the Museum and
anyone visiting Gimli should make
the effort to see them.
those replying, 39% said that faith
healers could cure people, 51 were
convinced that they could do no such
thing, and 10% did not even know
what the terrn faith healer referred to
— a highly inprobable reply if the
question were posed to an Icelander.
"The British survey revealed no
significant difference between the at-
titudes of men and women toward
faith healing; but on the other hand,
it seemed that belief in it in the U.K.
was more widespread among the so-
called upper classes. ln Iceland, tliere
is no knowledge of how people's
belief in faith healing varies with
socio-economic status — but based
on the commonness of visits to faith
healers, it might be inferred that their
practice attracts more people with
limited formal education than the
other way around. Interestingly,
young Icelanders were found to be
somewhat more inclined to believe in
faith healing than were their elders.
Despite considerable belief in faith
healers in Britian, it was found that
very few in that country, had sought
help from them — just 3%, a figure
that, seems incredibly low in com-
parison with what has been learned
from research in Iceland."
The Eternal Question
Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson s book is
not only of interest to Icelanders.
What he has to report is bound to ap-
peal to all, anywhere, who, are
curious about the matters he keeps
investigating. In many parts of the
world, there seems to be a growing
preoccupation with what is bevond
ordinary perception — an interest far
from being Iimited to experiences
associated with orthodox religion.
What it all entails is, at bottom, man s
continued struggle to come to terms
with the riddle of existence. Dr.
Harldsson s study of the Icelanders
reactions to questions in that domain
will, at the very least, become useful
for such as have set their minds on
comparing the views that prevail in
different cultural comnrunities as
regards what is and what is not. After
all, questions of that kind are no
doubt as old as humanitv.
Icelandic fisherman
Business anci Prof essíonal Cards
TAYLO R Mr. David King and Mr. Eric l.istcr attcnd gJ^^22ELL Gimli and Rivertbn on thc first and third A Friday of each month and in Winnipeg Beach McCAFFREY *»» the afternoon on the second and fourth Fri- _ . „ _ .. . dav of each month. Barristers & Solicitors Office hours are held in Gimli at 3rd 4th Floor — 386 Broadway Avenue and Centre StreCt between the hours Winnipeg. Manitoba R3C 2R6 of 9:30 . 12;00 and 3:30 ■ 5:00 p.m. Winnipeg phone 949-1312 In Riverton Mr KinS or Mr Lister attend Gimli phone 642-7955 m the Rlverton VillaSe office betwee» ‘be Winnipeg Beach phone 3S9-2999 hours of 1:30 P ,n and 3:00 P-m-
'í 9 Minnist Tallin & Kristjansson Barristers and Solicitors 300 • 232 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 0B1
VETEL í •rfSoskrám ySor
GOODMAN and KOJIMA ELECTRIC KLECTRICAL CONTRACTORS 640 McGee Street Winnipeg, Man. R3E 1W8 Phone 774-5549 M KOJIMA RES.: 889-7564 Evenings and Holidays Working To Keep Our Heritage Alive CAfSIADA ICELAMD FOUNDATION SECRETARY: 1 - 204 - 475-8064 40 Garnet Bay Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 0L6
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