Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.03.1994, Blaðsíða 1

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Inside this week:
neimskrmgia
The lcelandic Weekly
Lögberg Stofnaö 14. janúar 1888 Heimskringla Stofnaö 9. september 1886
Letters to the Editor...............2
Message from lceland................3
Speaking of Storms..................4
Sólskin Heritage Library............7
Word Search.........................7
108. Árgangur Föstudagur 4. mars 1994
108th Year Publications Mail Registration No. 1667 Friday, 4 March 1994
Númer 7
Number 7
lcelandic
News
Gýmir changes
owners:
■ The very promising lcelandic riding
horse Gýmir, who has shown great
potential for the last few years has
been sold.
Jóhanna Björnsdóttir, the horse's
owner has sold Gýmir to Hinrik
Bragason, a member of the national
team and a horse trainer. It is consid-
ered likely that Gýmir will compete at
the national meet this summer.
Gýmir has a splendid record in
competitions. His sale price is not
known, but those who are in the know
estimate the price around one million
lcelandic krónur. (Approx. S 19,000
Canadian).
Icelandic products
in Chile:
■ ICEFISH-TECH is the name of a
recently established company in
Santiago, Chile. The parent compa-
nies are lcecon, Hampiðjan Meka and
Sæplast. The company will sell
lcelandic products as well as know-
how. It can also take on any kind of
jobs or consultation regarding prob-
lems in the Chilean fishing industry.
There is a great market for lcelandic
knowledge and technology in South
America where 200 million people
live. The fishing grounds off Chile
have great potential, as Chile is most-
ly utilizing the 40 miles of shallow
water off the coast for sardine and
anchovy production. Beyond that
should be great potential for all kinds
of fishing which has not been
explored. The Chilean coast is about
5,000 km long
and offers vast
opportunities
within the 200
mile limit. "We
have the wealth,
lcelanders have
the know-how
and together we
should be able to get results", said
Ricardo Parisi Munoz, manager of ICE-
FISHTECH in an interview with
Morgunblaðið.
S____ GUNNUR ISFELD .
The Boy from Glenboro
John Harvard, MP
By Tom Oleson
He is the last, lone
Western Icelander
in the Canadian
House of Commons. He
might prefer to be called an
Icelandic-Canadian, or sim-
ply just a Canadian who
happens to be of Icelandic
descent and, indeed, even
though his face and his
name are familiar to most
Manitobans and to a great
many Canadians, the fact
that he is of Icelandic
descent is not generally
known.
He is John Harvard, and
last week he took a couple
of hours out of his hectic
schedule to talk to Lögberg-
Heimskríngla about grow-
ing up in Glenboro
Manitoba, his career as a
broadcaster, his continuing
life in politics, and what
part his Icelandic back-
ground has played in form-
ing and shaping his life.
He was born John
Harvard Heidman, a mem-
ber of a large extended fam-
ily of Icelanders that settled
in the Argyle district of
Manitoba. Glenboro was a
mixed town of Iceianders
and Scots and like many
people of his generation, he
can recall that everyone
knew the difference but by
then any animosity that had
existed between the groups
in the earlier generation
had passed. His parents,
who did remember it, spoke
Icelandic but made no
strong effort to pass it on to
their children. Their genera-
tion’s hope was that their
children would grow up
feeling absolutely at home
in Canada and the fírst step
in that direction was to
have English as their prima-
ry language. John does not
speak Icelandic today, but
his pronunciation of
Icelandic words and names
even now reflects the expo-
sure that he received to his
ancestral language when his
parents spoke to each other
and their friends.
Neither were Icelandic
culture and heritage actively
pushed in the home. It was
always there, but “it was
done a silent way. There
was Icelandic food and
Icelandic values present in
the home but they were
never made an issue.”
At Christmas, of course,
the whole town knew who
was Icelandic, because the
Heidmans, like the rest of
the Westem Icelanders, cel-
ebrated Christmas Eve in
the traditional Icelandic
way.
When John left Glenboro
to make his way in the
world, he wound up in
broadcasting, first in Por-
tage la Prairie and later in
Ontario where he adopted
the name that he uses to
this day — John Harvard.
The change had nothing to
do with his identity, he says,
but was done simply
because no one could spell
or pronounce his surname
correctly. “People were
always calling me Hideman
or Heedman,” he says so he
simply dropped the sumame
and kept his first two.
(Interestingly, the Heidman
was adopted by his grandfa-
ther, whose name was
Sigurdson and who grew
tired of being confused with
all the other Sigurdsons in
the district).
It was when he came to
Contlnued on page 3
“Úti í bæ á öskudag”
“Þorra dægrín þykja löng þegar hann
blæs á norðan. ”
Eftir Gunnur Isfeld
orradægrin hafa san-
narlega verið löng í
köldu og dimmu
landi. Ekki að undra þótt
menn gerðu sér dagamun
með hátíðarhaldi
Þorrablóti. Við sem ólumst
upp á íslandi söknum stun-
dum sérstakra daga sem
haldið var uppá á íslenskan
máta. Um þetta leiti árs er
um að ræða þrjá daga við
upphaf föstu, sem hafa sér-
lega gómsætan hátíðarbrag í
minningum okkar. Eg á hér
auðvitað við bolludag,
sprengidag og öskudag.
Gamanið byrjaði vanale-
ga með því að okkur var
gefinn skrautlegur vöndur,
eða að við bjuggum hann til
úr skrautpappír sem límdur
var á prik. Vöndinn tókum
við svo með okkur í rúmið
um kvöldið í þeim tilgangi
að vakna á undan öllum
næsta morgun og flengja
eins marga fjölskyldu-
meðlimi og hægt var áður en
þeir komust á fætur. Sá
flengdi varð svo að borga
fyrir hvert högg með krem
eða rjómabollu.
Sprengidagurinn er næs-
tur, þann dag átti að kveðja
kjötið í katólskum sið og
smakka það ekki aftur fyrr
en á páskum. Áður fyrr var
siður að ryðja í fólk svo
miklu af kjöti og floti sem
það gat í sig látið og helst
meiru. Borðaði þá margur
meira en holt var. I seinni
tíð var hinsvegar borðað
kjöt og baunir. Ekki hafði
Framhald á blaöslöu 7