Lögberg-Heimskringla


Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.09.1994, Qupperneq 1

Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.09.1994, Qupperneq 1
r i Inside this week: Heimskringla The lcelandic Weekly Lögberg Stofnaö 14. janúar 1888 Heimskringla Stofnað 9. september 1886 The Walking Pioneers...................2 All About Recycling....................3 First European Mother in North America" dedicated in lceland.................4 Poet gaining recognition...............5 George Johnson— the Order of Canada ....6 A Whale of a Visit.....................7 108. Árgangur Föstudagur 2. september 1994 108th Year Publications Mail Registration No. 1667 Friday, 2 September 1994 Númer 29 Number 29 r lcelandio News M yg| * They Practíce on Kerlingar Mountains; ■ The Canadian National Ski team arrived in lceland at the end of July for practícing on Kerlingarfjöll ski slopes until the 8th of August. The group consists of eight skiers, four trainers and one assistant. The reason for this choice lies with one of the skiers who practiced in Kerlingarfjöll tast summer. He was impressed with the facilities and the result was that the team decided to practice in lceland. Peter Bosinger, a member of the Natonal Team, was happy with the conditions and said that thís was a good change ''somethíng altogether new". The team has practiced in Oregon, U.S.A., in Europe and in South America, where the team will practice later this summer. The managers of the ski-school in Kerlíngarfjöll received the group and brought them there, with a stopover at Laugarvatn, where the group dined on trout, and at Geýsir where they went for a swim. Valdimar Örnólfsson, a spokesman for the ski-school at Kerlingarfjöll, said that skiing was good right now and that preparatíon of tracks was in full swing. He was happy that a good ski-team, such as the Canadian one should choose to practice there even though it was no surprice as facilities are excellent. In Commemoration of Fishermen: ■ The président of lceland, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, unveiled a sculpture by Grímur Marinó Steindórsson on the "Seamen's Day", at the Stykkishólmur har- bour. The sculpture is titled "On The Way Home", and shows a sailboat with out- stretched sails, made from rustfree steel, This piece of art is in commemoration of fishermen. Qn a basalt rock near by is this inscription from a poem by Jón from Vör: "The coast is a church to us\ the ocean and the mountain\ the gospel of the day\ man is fragile\ in life and in death". Sea-urchin: ■ Last year lcelanders exported sea-urchin and sea-urchin roe worth about one hun- dred miliion krónur. Japan and the U.S.A. are the maín buyers. These two nations consider the sea-urchin and the roe a deli- cacy. A few restaurants in lceland have been offering díshes with urchins and roe, and some fish stores have tried to offer it to their customers. Utilizing sea-urchin for food began only four years ago in lceiand. Sea-urchins feed on see weeds and kelp and the taste is similar to that of fresh ^elp. lt ís rich in calcium. The shell has also been used for chicken food, as well as for jewellery and crafts. GUNNUR ISFELD THE HUMAN SQUL 'ý:: The hwman so«j is nefther mortj notéve, rsor beginning rrw endíng. it is etemai, unfeöUhded as space itsetf, neither guííty nor innocent, btatisitseiftíod. mopgun né kyöid, ÖUTTÖRMUR |. GUTTORMSSON SKÁlO/POfT 1878- Memorial Honours Bard of Riverton Riverton, Manitoba’s most famous son was honored July 30 when a memorial; to the intemationally known and acclaimed poet Guttormur J. Guttormsson was unveiled in the town park. The afternoon ceremony at the park was short and dignified with short speeches by Oli Narfason of the Icelandic National League and George Johnson, the former lieutenant gover- nor of Manitoba. This was followed by a reception at which Salóme Þorkelsdóttir, Speaker of the Alþing, brought greetings from Iceland, com- ments from Helgi Austmann, President of the INL, which, together with the Guttormsson family and sup- porters through the community raised the money for the monument. A per- formance by the poet’s granddaughter, Heather Ireland was particularly ele- gant and appropriate and Magnús Elíasson gave an eloquent recitation of Guttormur’s poems. The century farm award century sign and certificates were awarded to Guttormur’s farm, where Gilbert Guttormsson still lives and the program concluded with songs in Icelandic by Riverton stu- dents. Refreshments followed and were enjoyed by a large and apprecia- tive crowd. Guttormur, who was bom in 1878 and died in 1966, either here or in Iceland. Indeed, Heather Ireland tells of taking a taxi in Reykjavik and the cab driver upon learning she was Guttormur’s granddaughter, refused any fare. When she insisted on paying said forcefully that it was his cab, he would decide who paid and who didn’t and no granddaughter of Guttormur’s was going to pay. Even so, the program offers a brief biography of the poet this beautiful monument honors: Guttormur “was born in Canada in 1878, at Icelandic River (now Riverton), to Jón Guttormsson and Pálína Ketilsdóttir who left eastem Iceland in 1875 with their small son Vigfús. Pálína died in 1885 and in 1889 Jón married Snjólaug Guðmundsdóttir. Jón passed away in 1894 when Vigfús was 20 and Guttormur was 16. In 1903 Guttormur moveef to Shoal Lake where he met and married Jensína Julía Daníelsdóttir on April 14, 1904. In 1911, they and their two daughters, Arnheiður and Pálína, returned to the Icelandic River and built a new home in 1916. Two more daughters, Bergljót and Hulda, and one son, Gilbert, completed their fam- ily.” Guttormur’s body of work is large but skills were not limited to the poet- ry for which he is best known today: “As the index to the book Aurora indi- cates, he was a pioneer, a naturalist, a Cont’d p. 5 Gimli Unitaríans off to a dramatic new start Sixty-two people gath- ered in Gimli’s historic Unitarian Church on Sunday, July 17, for that community’s first Unitarian worship service in thirteen years. The first of three ser- vices planned this summer, the event marked the retum of this liberal faith to the cra- dle of Unitarianism in Westem Canada. In his sermon, Stefan Jonasson, the Unitarian UniVersalist Association’s district executive, stressed that personal relationships are more important to the spiritual quest than creeds, doctrines and church build- ings. “People passing by here today will see the building and think that they’ve seen a church. But it is the people who are the church, not the building. Today we have returned the essential ingre- dient — the people — to this magnificent and historic place.” Don McKinnon, who brought greetings as presi- dent of the denomination’s Western Canada District, predicted “that within the next couple of years this church will be holding regu- lar services all year round. We salute this new begin- ning.” McKinnon noted that Gimli Unitarians have been inspired by the example of the Unitarian Church in Arborg, which has experi- enced a dramatic renais- sance in recent years. For this year, further ser- vices are planned for the first and third Sundays of August. Next year, the Unitarians intend to hold regular ser- vices from June through September. The old Unitarian Church on Second Avenue has long been a commanding Gimli landmark with its towering spire. Constmction began in 1904 and the church was dedicated on Qctober 29, 1905. The building has been owned by the Unitarians ever since, although activity declined precipitously in the 1950s. It was rented for a time to the Gimli Alliance Church, the Gimli Christian Fellowship and now the A- Sprire Theatre. The Gimli Unitarian Church is the old- est Unitarian church build- ing in all of Canada that is still in Unitarian hands. Submitted by Stefan Jonasson, Winnipeg and Marj Tretiak, Gimli

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