Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.10.1996, Blaðsíða 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 4, október 1996
^orging the Jcelandic
(3haracter
by Helgi Carl Johnson
Countries, like individuals, are
tested in the course of their
lives. Seldom has a nation
been tested as was Iceland in 1856.
Basaltic lava from Mount Hekla
blocked rivers creating violent floods.
Volcanic ash obliterated summer. An
epidemic claimed 200,000 sheep.
Under the Danish trade monopoly, the
price of flour increased five fold—Ice-
landic fishermen were paid seven dol-
lars for a quantity of fish that sold
abroad for thirty to forty dollars. Un-
scrupulous Danish merchants foisted
weevily flour upon the people.
When Lord Dufferin visited Iceland
in 1856, amidst this hardship, the in-
domitable spirit, hospitality, culture,
and innate human dignity of the peo-
ple deeply impressed him. A noted
orator, he summed up his views at a
reception held in his honour in Rey-
kjavik: “Crime, theft, debauchery are
unknown amongst them; they have
neither prison, gallows, soldiers nor
police, and in the manner of the lives
they lead in their secluded valleys,
there is something of a patriarchal
simplicity....”
What factors shaped the character
of these remarkable people?
The majority of Iceland’s original
settlers came from the districts of
Hordaland and Rogoland in westem
Norway. These districts had contrib-
uted most to the great Viking age and
provided the oldest home of the
skaldic (poetic) art. Many aristocratic
and talented emigrants traded raftered
manors for sod huts in order to
maintain their personal freedom. This
unique community was seasoned by
an admixture of Celts, primarily Irish,
some of noble birth, some from their
skaldic class.
From the beginning, the literary arts
flourished. Icelandic poets dominated
in the courts of Norway and other
Scandinavian countries for the next
two centuries.
The Eddas, composed in the twelfth
century from traditional poems passed
down in the oral tradition, are justly
put in the front rank of world poetry
with Beowulf and the Iliad.
The Icelandic saga was the sec-
ond great expression of the
new art of narration. Aunique
contribution to world literature, the
sagas, written in the vernacular,
brought a sense of realism, a control-
led objective style, powerful charac-
ter delineation and an overwhelming
tragic dignity to the craft of writing.
In 1121 Ari Thorgilsson, the
Leamed, completed “Islendingabok”,
the book of Iceland. An artistic form
and fine observation characterized this
historical work. Taking nothing for
granted, Ari’s conclusions were tested
by his natural spirit of doubt. This
landmark book broke ground for other
Icelandic scholars who played a
preeminent role in recording the his-
tories of the Nordic countries.
“By justice shall our country be
maintained and not by lawlessness be
ruined!” Thus spoke Njal the great
Law Speaker of Iceland. The early
settlers widely accepted Njal’s view.
They believed that law mirrored the
habits of thought, the ethical devel-
opment and the intellectual endow-
ment of a nation. The nation’s laws
were enshrined at the Alþing, the na-
tional assembly, in 930 A.D.
From the beginning Icelandic
women enjoyed a far greater
freedom of action than their sis-
ters in Norway. Time and again we
encounter women as independent
landtakers in The Book of Setdement.
The Eddic lays record the significant
role played by women, not only in
maintaining strong family units, but
in building the nation.
Iceland was the first of the Nordic
countries to establish a public school
system in the eleventh century. De-
spite the geographical and logistical
problems faced by a widely dispersed
population, Iceland had wiped out
illiteracy by 1801.
In general, every Icelander, con-
scious of his own worth, felt as good
as his neighbour. The absence of class
differences reflected an essentially
aristocratic outlook, taking equality
for granted without insisting on it, and
setting greater store on independence
and individual excellence.
The last straw:
Easter Sunday, March 28, 1875,
9:00 p.m,—a dark cloud rose from the
Askja caldera. By 3:00 a.m. the fol-
lowing morning, a massive eruption
had commenced. During the follow-
ing eight and a half hours more than
two cubic kilometres of ash blasted
into the atmosphere. At 11:00 a.m. on
March 30, dust began to fall on Stock-
holm, some 1860 kilometres away, to
such an extent that the city’s gas lamps
had to be tumed on. Natural scientists
in Scandinavia, greatly interested in
this phenomenon, produced adetailed
map of the tephra sector. The ash from
the Askja eruption covered an aston-
ishing 650,000 square kilometres.
By a serendipitous tum of fate, a
delegation of Icelanders investigated
the west side of lake Winnipeg as a
potential site for settlement in July of
that year. The allure of the great lake
with its abundance of fish and wild-
life, rich plains, wooded areas and
bright sunny weather proved irresist-
ible.
No strangers to adversity, Icelandic
Canadians soon discovered that their
new chosen land provided unexpected
challenges. A small-pox epidemic
broke out in September, 1876. Quar-
antined, colonists could not secure
employment outside of the settlement.
Requisitions for essential food stuffs
were refused on the grounds that there
was no money to pay for them. The
temperature plunged from 56 to 63
degrees below zero. Forty people died
in December. By April 1877, the epi-
demic was over. Just over one hun-
dred people had died. Between one
third and one half of the population
had contracted the disease.
On September 14,1877, his Excel-
lency Lord Dufferin, now Governor-
General of Canada, addressed the peo-
ple at Gimli. He began his oration by
commenting on the dramatic history,
the picturesque literature, and the
kindness that he had experienced at
the hands of Icelanders. He further
declared, “...you possess in a far
greater degree than is probably imag-
ined, that which is the essence and
Continued on page 5
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