Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.07.1994, Blaðsíða 21

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 22. júlí 1994 • 21
The bride wore white and she
was beautiful and she was
French. The mother of the
groom wore teal-blue and she was
beautiful and she was Swedish-
Norwegian. The father of the bride
wore black and looked elegant. The
father of the groom wore a dark blue
suit and he looked — well, he looked
like Ray Gislason, but since this was
a wedding he looked elegant, too.
The groom looked handsome, if a lit-
tle nervous at first, but grooms
almost always look nervous. The best
man and master of ceremonies at the
reception was Richard Lim, and he is
a Chinese-Canadian.
This was the wedding of Anne,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Francois
Dubouloz of Marseilles, France, and
Dan, son of Ray and Barbara Gisla-
son, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The cer-
emony was held this month at Grant
Memorial Baptist Church. It was
moving and dignified, both solemn
and happy as a wedding should be.
The reception that followed was held
at the Centre cultural franco-manito-
bain and it was a great success.
Lögberg-Heimskringla does not
usually cover weddings, although we
will print wedding announcements,
just as we will for births, graduations
and awards, but this one was so close
to home that it is hard to ignore.
Ray, Barbara and Dan run Keystone
Graphics which does the production
for Lögberg-Heimskríngla. They will
be familiar to some of you through
the occasional mention in the
columns of this paper and familiar to
all of you in the fine work they do in
producing the paper and which is
evident in every issue. Anne, too, has
become a familiar figure around the
office in recent months. Lögberg-
Heimskringla congratulates the par-
ents of Anne and Dan and wishes the
new couple every success and much
happiness in the years to come.
There was more to this event than
just a lovely wedding and a good
time. There was also a lot of food for
thought for Western Icelanders in
attendance, thought about what the
future holds for us, our culture, tradi-
tions in a North America which,
while it may be officially multicultur-
al, is increasingly, inevitably, a melt-
ing pot.
I am Icelandic on both sides of my
family. My wife is partly Icelandic,
but she is also partly English, Irish
and German. My children are mostly
Icelandic, and they are aware of that,
but that is mainly because of their
parents’ involvement in the Icelandic
community and my personal obses-
sion with it. But they have three
other bloodlines flowing into them as
well, three other cultures and sets of
traditions to choose from and there is
no logical reason why they should
choose to preserve the Icelandic
°nes, to identify themselves as
lcelandic Canadians, as Western
Icelanders, rather than one of the
ít(Ð Ít[fí)c& ffwítWP(&
The Gislason Wedding
others.
As I watched Anne and Dan at
the altar and later as they danced at
the reception, I wondered what their
children would be. They will be,
after all, part Icelandic, part French,
part Swedish and part Norwegian.
There is no logical reason for them,
either, to choose to cherish their
Icelandic roots over their other
equally proud and distinguished her-
itages. That wonder increased at the
reception, which was bilingual —
English and French — with the only
Icelandic spoken in a short speech of
good wishes by L-H President Neil
Bardal.
For institutions like Lögberg-
Heimskringla — indeed, for the
Icelandic community in North
America as a whole — this is a seri-
ous issue. The ethnic groups, Iike the
Icelanders, that arrived mainly in
North America in the late 19th cen-
tury and early 20th century have
intermarried and it is a miracle of
stubborn persistence that they have
been able to hold on to their roots at
all. The same intermarriage and inte-
gration will happen eventually to the
Photo courtesy Philip Hjartarson/Horizon Photography 253-7010
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more recent arrivals as well.
This is not a bad thing; it is
inevitable, perhaps even desirable.
We are all, after all, Canadians or
Americans first. It does, however,
pose an increasingly difficult chal-
lenge to those of us who, while
remaining as Canadians or Amer-
icans, want to keep the hyphens that
enable us to hold on to our heritage.
Roots are important and North
American roots do not yet go deep
enough to provide a true sense of
identity. Perhaps for my children,
and for the children of couples such
as Anne and Dan they will; time will
tell.
In the meantime, Lögberg-
Heimskringla and other Western
Icelandic institutions must seek out
new strategies and new supporters in
the fight for survival. Part of this bat-
tle for survival will be fought in the
homes where parents have the
opportunity to make children aware
of their Icelandic origins but those
will be individual decisions made by
the individuals themselves.
This newspaper must find ways
to reach out to new, younger sub-
scribers while continuing to serve
the hard-core of supporters who
have kept it alive for 107 years — a
remarkable achievement — and ways
to reach the new immigrants from
Iceland that arrive in North America
each year.
It is perhaps a bit of a paradox
that even multiculturalism eventually
means a kind of assimilation.
Weddings like that of Anne and Dan
take place every year across North
America. Even in Iceland, once one
of the most ethnically homogenous
nations in the world, immigration,
intermarriage and the powerful
impact of a new intemational culture
are changing the face of the nation.
They, like us, will have to make new
efforts and travel in new directions if
we are to manage to hold onto the
past while still moving into the
future.
Once again, we wish Anne and
Dan and any children they may have
much happiness in the future. We
also hope they will be subscribers to
Lögberg-Heimskringla for genera-
tions to come.
— Tom Oleson
ALBERT W. EYOLFSON, LL.B.
Barrister and Solicitor
INKSTER, CHRISTIE, HUGHES, MACKAY & CO.
7th Floor - 444 St. Marys Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3T1
Phone Business (204) 947-6801 Phone Residence (204) 888-2598
An Intermediate Care Facility
Herman O. & Julia Thorvaldson & Staff
PHONE
452-4044
Herman O. Thorvaldson
President
495 Stradbrook Avenue
PHONE
475-8484

OVER THREE DECADES OF CARING FOR THE ELDERLY'