Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.04.1990, Page 6

6 • Lögberg - Heimskringla • Föstudagur 27. aprll 1990
by Joan Eyoljson Cadham
Some memories are too precious to
be trampled. Some memories are too
strong to be challenged.
It took an act of will and courage to
add the tiniest bit of mysuostur to the
plate I had cheerfully mounded with
salads and meats and fish. I was fully
halfway through the plateful before I
dared try to reconstruct an old mem-
ory.
“Your eyes are full of tears,” Jack
said.
“I’m nine years old,” I whispered.
“I’ve just walked in from school. Mom
is pulling fresh hot bread from the
oven and she will cut off the front end
crust and the back end crust then,
finally, the top and bottom crusts, and
she will lay these one at a time in a
bowl and she will ladle creamy cara-
mel coloured mysuostur over the
bread, mysuostur that is as smooth as
silk and, itself, so newly made that it’s
still a little runny. It has taken Mom all
day - and two gallons of milk - to
produce this little jarful of spread. It’s
worth the two and one-half mile walk
home from Rose Vale. There’s no
describing the taste, and there’s noth-
ing on earth better than a slice of home
made bread and this simple milk-based
spread. I’m nineyears old again. Life is
wonderful.”
I’d paid for this speck of mysuostur
- and the subsequent spoonfulls that I
pile onto a slice of bread or two for me
and for an equally enchanted Jack. We
had driven from Montreal to the porra-
blót sponsored by the Icelandic Cana-
dian Club of Toronto in weather that
had made a mockery of any notion that
we were coming to a spring festival.
And our long-term intent to do porra-
blót had been thwarted several times
because the party was on Palm Sunday
weekend - one of the times when I was
up to my elbows in little kids, pageants
and cameras at my church. This was
the first year the two celebrations
didn’t overlap.
The experience was worth the wait.
I would assume that porrablót was
part of my childhood, along with
school picnics, fowl suppers and
Christmas concerts. Maybe porrablót
was one of the rare occasions when
Mom and Dad left the little ones at
home with an older sibling and went a-
partying by themselves. I don’t have
any clear childhood memories of por-
rablót though I’m almost certain this
wasn’t my first.
Nine year olds exhibit some strange
behaviours. My usual reporterish in-
stincts mean that I spend most social
events photographing, interviewing,
filling note pads and rolls of film, get-
ting background, verifýing the spell-
ing of names. Nine year olds with their
eyes and hands on what appears to be
an unending supply of mysuostur,
vínarterta and pönnukökur, especially
when the nine year old is perceived to
be an adult and is not beset with adults
who want to insist she have a large
Working To Keep Our Heritage
CANADA ICELAND
FOUNDAHON
Secretary - phone 1 - 204 - 453-3022
Mrs. S. Borga Jakobson
205 Montrose Street
^ Winnipeg, Manitoba R3M 3L9 j
April 14, 1990
Dear Editor,
For your information, I am not
Icelandic (people always ask when
they see my name) -1 am just inter-
ested in Icelandic history and cus-
toms and have been twice to Ice-
land. As with any volunteer organi-
zation, there is always a shortage of
people to do the work so occasion-
ally they accept an ‘útlendingur’! I
am actually Slovak and the one thing
I have learned is that the immigrant
experience is the same for anyone
and on that basis, I can relate to
much of the Icelandic experience.
Despite not being Icelandic, I al-
ways enjoy your paper - there is
somethingfor everyone. Thanks for
the good work.
Sincerely,
Maraya Yurko, Toronto
Editor’s note:
I couldn’t resist publishing a part
of the letter uihich accompanied
Maraya Yurko’s article on page 1
of this issue. It reveals how varied
L-H’s readership really is.
JOIN
ICELANDIC
CANADIAN FRÓN
Send nienibcrship fcc of
$15.00 singlc or $25.00 family
lo
lceiandic Canadian l'rón
764 Erin Strect
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3G 2W4
Telephone: 774-8047
time.)
When I got back to Montreal, the
reporter-me realized in some shock
that I had not researched the roots of
Porrablót. I had given over to having
fun, instead.
The food was wonderful. The people
blót, are a door through which those of
us who are disenfranchised Icelandic
Canadians (no language skills) can
slip back gracefully to our roots and
our traditions.
But more to the point, the mysuos-
tur was wonderful.
Upcoming Events
P.WDIC

>ctv
Every Saturday
9:30-Noon
Víuicouver
Every Wed.
7:00 p.m.
Gimli
Sat., Apr. 28
Vancouver
Sat, Apr. 28
Winnipeg
Sun., Apr. 29
Winnipeg
May 4, 5 & 6
Winnipeg
Wed., May 16
Toronto
Icelandic Language Classes , at Oakridge Lutheran Church
Lower Auditorium, 585 W 41 st Ave., Vancouver. Three levels of
Instruction $20. Call Lara Thordarson to register 321-8861
□ □ □
Icelandic Language Classes , at Gimli Composite High
School. There will be a $10. fee. Call Gwen Geirholm at
642-5251 to register.
□ □ □
Spring Tea & Bake Sale, 11:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. Sponsored by
Women’s Auxiliary of the Oakridge Lutheran Church, 585 W.
41 st Ave., Vancouver
□ □ □
Spring Sunshine Tea - First Lutheran Church Women
invite you and your friends to attend - 2 - 4 p.m. At the Parish
Hall, 580 Victor St. • Home baking • Handicrafts • Skyr
• Iifrapylsa • White Elephant sale.
□ □ □
Sumardagurinn Fyrsti, (The First Day of Summer) Buffet
Brunch at 12:30 p.m., Norwood Hotel, 112 Marion St. Premier
showing of the Islendingadagurinn Film “Celebrations” $25.
per person. For your ticket call Sonia 488-7970 orTami 668-1890
□ □ □
INL Convention, in Winnipeg at the University College,
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.
□ □ □
Annual General Meeting, Weneedyourideasandyouractive
participation for withoutyou, there is no Club. Please call David
Scarth at 929-0509 or Tom Einarson at 453-3202 to volunteer'j
Porrablót 1990
helping of lifrapylsa. based delicacies. My solution was to
The pönnukökur rated right up wraP eabh tiny particle with a small
there with those made by my aunt mountain of mashed potato and to
Mary Finnbogason of Elfros. I left the swallow the entire combination whole
lifrapylsatohusband,Jack. (Asachild, hi one I declared adulthood by
I was forced to eat it and other liver- foreswearing liver-based dishes for all
I met were all intent on finding a com-
mon link - a person, a relative, a town,
and I caught myself doing the same
thing so that after some serious dis-
cussion I dragged one hapless lady
over to Jack, shrieking, “Jack, she’s
ERIC’s (Olafson, of Wynyard) AUNT”,
as though the person in question had
no other claim to immortality.
Although he foreswore dancing
when he was stood up by some young
Torontonian when he was 12 years old,
Jack was so caught up in the spirit of
the evening that he invited me onto
the dance floor more than once.
My mother and father, in the same
valiant attempt to have us “fit in” that
affected so many Icelanders, elected
not to teach Icelandic to us younger
children. A recent CBC discussion on
roots and multiculturalism suggested
that, when the language goes, the
culture is not far behind and Mom
realized that by denying us Icelandic
she had denied herself someone to
talk to so that she began to lose her
vocabulary.
Possibly festivals of fun, like porra-
Above: Joan Eyolfson Cadham and her
husband Jack.
Right: At the porrablót.