Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.11.1987, Side 4

4-CENTENNIAL YEAR/ALDARAFMÆLISÁR, FÖSTUDAGUR 27, NÓVEMBER 1987
Á liðnu sumari var margt um
mannin hér á slóðum vorar í
Vesturheimi. Þessir góðu gestir og
frændur komu í heimdoð
þjóðræknis Félagsins.
Gestamótið stöðvaðist á tveimur
kvöld stundum í Skandinava
Húsinnu hér í borg. Margt var um
mannin og vel skemt.
Islendingar hafa frá upphafi
njótað ánægju gagnvart skáldskap,
og mun svo vera en þann dag í dag
During the summer several large
groups from Iceland visited with
our people. They were invited to
the Scandinavian Centre here in
Winnipeg as guests of the Icelandic
National League, on two different
occasions. These Gestamót were
successful and our Icelandic cousins
seemed to enjoy themselves.
Icelanders have traditionally been
entrepreneurs of poetry, which still
intrigues them in Iceland. One
group brought with them a fairly
léngthy poem by Guttormur Gut-
tormsson, a well-known and high-
Ritstj órnargrein
á íslandi. Annar hópurinn flutti
kvædi eftir Guttorm heitinn
Guttormsson, vel metið skáld
Vestur íslenginga. Ástæður til þess
að kvæðið var flutt mun vera að
kvæðið er vel metið, og tilkynna
okkur hér í Vesturheimi að skáldið
valdar mikilhæfa virðingu á ætjörð
forfeðra vorar.
Þetta virtist vera í heiðurs
merkingu að kvæðið var flutt í nánd
skáldsins og afhent okkur í
þökkunnar tilkynningu, þar sem
andablær skáldsins hefst í tileinkun
íslands.
Hvaddi þessi bráðabirgða athöfn
okkur og við virtum fyrstu fjögur
versin, þýd á Ensku án þess að
ríma, í þeirri meiningu að lesendur
gættu skilið hugarfar skáldsins.
Þar með vóru lesendur hvattir að
tilkyna ef þeim fjellist á, að alt
kvæðið væri birt. Ef hluttur þeirra
yrðu samhljóða værum við
Editorial
ly regarded Western Icelander. The
visitors read this poem at one of the
gatherings for two reasons. One, be-
cause they regarded it as a fine
piece of poetry and, secondly, to in-
dicate to us and their group that our
Western Icelandic poet was held in
high esteem by people in Iceland.
This seemed to be a singular
gesture of honour, in a spirit of
repatriation of a poem which had
been directed to the Icelandic na-
tion and of historical significance to
our readers. For these reasons, four
stanzas from the poem were pub-
lished in the Icelandic form. In ord-
er to accommodate the readers of
Lögberg-Heimskringla, we translat-
ed four stanzas into unrhymed En-
glish, which conveyed the meaning
of each verse, the thoughts of the
poet and the spirit in which he
created the poem.
We went on further and invited
our readers to respond, committing
oufselves to publishing the re-
mainder of the poem with transla-
tion into English, provided we
received a reasonable response. To
date there has not been one single
tilbúnnir að hlíða játun þeirra.
Ei gallaði í strokki, algjörleg þögn,
ekkert svar kom til skila á næstum
tvegja mánaðar fresti.
Hver er ástæðan gagnvart þessum
tómleika? Mun þetta atvik gefa í
skyn, að kvæði á blaðsýðum
Lögberg-Heimskringlu njóti sýn ei.
Ein reynsla valdar ekki samfæringu
en er að líkendum hvatning til
alvarlega ransóknf
E.A.
response after nigh onto two
months.
It is a good poem, held in high
regard by visitors from Iceland and
presented so that its meaning could
be grasped. What is the significance
of this silence? Does it mean that
the pages of our paper are using up
valuable space, when a poem is
published?
While a one-time effort is not con-
clusive evidence that poetry is not
popular, it is probably an indication
and the matter should be pursued
further. E.A.
Nothing remains forever the same
As this world twists 'around itself
and orbits the sun nothing continues
to remain the same least of all the cir-
cumstances of the modern technolog-
ical nations, especially so in the mode
of dress. This has become a
phenomenon that fashion designers,
clothing manufacturers and retailers
must contend with or perish in the
highly competitive marketplace.
This applies equally to the ubiqui-
tous Icelandic Lopa Peysa, which has
enjoyed a popular spot in the market-
place, but as you will have noticed
seems to have less space in the retail
outlets than during the early part of
this decade. The Morgunblað fea-
tured an article last August on this
very fact, written by their correspon-
dent in Washington. He in turn
through being close to the major mar-
ket area in the northeastern United
States could sense this change, and
had ready access to the importers and
retailers in the major market place of
the Icelandic^sweáters and1knitted
goods.
The Icelandic sweater came on the
market in the form which had deve-
loped in Iceland for several reasons.
The climate demanded warmth, out-
door activity demanded flexibility for
freedom of body movement and
limbs while carrying on with outdoor
tasks. The wool from the Icelandic
sheep answered these requirements,
but it also has distinct physical
characteristics of its own which dis-
tinguishes it from other world
sources. The fibres are long and the
colours are somewhat varied in their
natural state. This allows for innova-
tive natural colour contrasts which
the industry was able to make use of
in producing a striking garment,
which captured the fashion-
conscious market of the world where
outdoo.r activities in wilderness set-
tings gained in popularity, such as
cross-country skiing. The Icelandic
cottage industry produced the sweat-
ers in creative patterns and the indus-
try was quick at turning the wool into
distinctive women's fashions but the
natural colours prevailed.
The popularity of the hand knitted
woolen products has not changed but
the fashion conscious public tires
quickly of garments that begin to
look like last year's model. The Ice-
landic woolen products began to take
on a trend stuck in a sameness rut.
When the importers in visiting Ice-
land noted artificial colours appear-
ing on the streets of Reykjavik and
Akuræri, giving the woolen garments
a new and fresh look, their en-
thusiasm was greeted a rejection of
horror. Artificially coloured woolen
goods might be acceptable within Ice-
land but only natural colours would
be supplied for the export market.
Apparently the feeling was that one
of the major attractions on the world
markets was this distinctive natural
colour design unique to Iceland, not
readily obtainable from any other
source.
The buyers on the foreign scene
had a different viewpoint. The mar-
ket place is fickle especially in the 18
to 40 year range. However, that is
where the customers were coming
from and not wishing to lose this
valuable trade, they turned to Cana-
da and Yugoslavia where they found
a source which would produce these
woolen goods, using the lopi or wool
from Iceland in artificial colours to
meet the market demand. They are
still hand-knitted but have a varied
look departing widely from the natur-
al colours of Icelandic wool.
As the article alludes to, it was not
from its Icelandic fact that the lopa
peysa or woolen garments became
popular.
Looking at it from a marketing
point of view it was probably the
uniqueness of the natural colours and
pattern designs, together with the
comfort aspect which brought on the
demand, when these Icelandic woo-
len goods first appeared on the world
market.
While in conversation with a
20-year-old cousin from Iceland, she
emphatically declaréd that she would
never wear an Icelandic sweater for
othef. specific reason it had no style,
that it was merely a utilitarian gar-
ment whose sole usefullness was to
protect against rural inclement
weather in Iceland. She felt comfort-
able in loose-fitting shapeless attire
such as bulging harem pants and
oversize shirt-like blouse in contrast-
ing black and white which are not
even classified as colours in the
colour spectrum.
The market place is fickle and re-
jects that which appears to be outdat-
ed and accepts that which seems to
be the trend regardless of origin or
look.
As the Morgunblað article points
out it is not that there is no market
for the natural colour design Ice-
landic woolen goods, it is still to be
found on retailer shelves, it is the
volume which has fallen off.
If you want to be chic, throw away
the old sweater; if you want comfort,
retain it.
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