Lögberg-Heimskringla - 16.03.2001, Blaðsíða 5
Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 16. mars 2001 • 5
\ Vhat’s happening in...
lceland USA
LUiiuuar uiu am ai
Tomátoes grown year-round
Seattle’s Nordic Heritage
Museum and Iceland Room
Gunnur Isfeld
lcelandic Editor
Reykjavík, Iceland
PRODUCTION OF ICELANDIC vegeta-
bles is steadily increasing and
following better knowledge of
using electric lights in winter, a variety
of vegetables is grown year-round.
Production of cucumbers has doubled
since 1995 from half a million kg to
one million kg; cucumbers have been
grown year-round in Iceland since
1994. Besides cucumbers a variety of
lettuces are grown and now tomatoes
have been added.
According to Kjartan Olafsson,
chairman of Vegetable Producers, the
Icelandic-grown vegetables are con-
stantly gaining on the markets in
Iceland. Consumers are pleased with
the Icelandic products and the quality
is excellent over the winter months
compared to imported vegetables.
Kjartan said that continuous develop-
ment has taken place since electrical
lights were used. Every yeai' there have
beeen new technological developments
and farmers have closely followed new
development in this field.
These are a few items I found in
the news in Iceland. The unusual
weather continues here with one low
pressure system following another
Nonnahús
Continued from page I
of children’s books.
In the summer of 2001 Zonta plans to
do an exhibition on the life of Jón’s moth-
er who was Sigríður Jónsdóttir, born
August 14, 1824 in Reykjahlíð at Mývatn.
She moved to Canada in 1876, where she
helped with the household in William
Taylor’s home. He was a widower and
brother of John Taylor. Two of Williams’
daughters married Icelandic settlers,
Halldór Briem and Sigurður
Kristofersson.
Nonni’s brother Friðrik Sveinsson,
born November 4, 1864, also moved to
Canada in 1873 from Espihóll in
Eyjafjörður, where Ólafur Ólafsson had
been liis foster father. Friðrik took the
name Fred Swanson in Canada. He
worked as a painter in Winnipeg. Among
other things he painted theatre scenes and
designed the stained glass windows of the
Unitarian Church on Banning and Sargent.
He married Sigríður, an Icelandic woman,
bringing strong winds, snow, and hail,
followed by warmer temperatures,
more wind and rain. However, people
here say Góa has just begun and she is
temperamental and cannot be underes-
timated.
We keep attending one art event
after another. The outstanding
Icelandic singer Gunnar Guðbjörnsson
came from Germany to sing at a special
concert with the male voice choir
Stefnir, held at Grafarvogs Church.
Guðbjartsson sang some well known
gems of Icelandic music, ending with
“Hamraborgin” by Sigvaldi Kaldalóns
with text by Davíð from Fagraskógi, a
magnificent piece which he sang for the
first time publicly.
Another specail concert was held at
Hallgrímskirkja. This one was a special
concert in connection to the
Christianization Celebration. The
music, Passía, was composed by
Hafliði Hallgrímsson to texts by
Hallgrímur Pétursson, Steinn Steinar,
Matthías Johannesson and others.
Special soloist was Mary Nessinger,
mezzo soprano from New York, who
sang in Icelandic with the Mótettukór
of Hallgrímskirkja, conducted by
Hörður Askelsson. This was a truly
unforgettable event. Again the church
was filled to capacity, over twelve hun-
dred people.
Greetings to all of you at L-H.
Gunnur Isfeld
and they had four daughters. Before that
Friðrik had a daughter named Freyja.
Sigríður Guðlaug Sveinsdóttir,
Nonni’s sister, was bom August 18, 1867
and moved to Canada in 1888. She stayed
for some time with her mother, but that is
all that is known about her after she left
Iceland.
To make the special exhibition about
the life of Nonni’s mother as good as pos-
sible, Zonta needs all the information that
it can get about her, her children, and their
families after they came to Canada. They
would be grateful if anyone has old pic-
tures or things related to this family that
they would be willing to lend thern for the
exhibition. All expenses will be taken care
of by the club.
L-H will be happy to collect items to
send in one package to the Museum.
Please deliver them to our office in
Winnipeg at Suite 650, 5 Donald St., or
mail to PO Box 1859, Winnipeg, MB R3C
3R1. The club can be contacted by send-
ing e-mail to nonnahus@ ismennt.is, or
by post.
Theodore R. Beck
Nordic Heritage Museum
Seattle, WA
The Nordic Heritage Museum is
a must when Icelanders come to
Seattle. This museum is the only
one in North America that shows
exhibits from the five Nordic countries:
Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
and Finland. Discover colourful textiles,
cherished china, books and Bibles,
woodworking tools, photographs, and a
myriad of other treasures brought from
the old countries to enrich life in a new
land. Gathered in the museum’s five eth-
nic galleries, one for each country, they
illustrate the differences and bonds link-
ing Scandinavian people in the Pacific
Northwest and applaud their achieve-
ments. The museum is in Ballard, the
part of Seattle where most of the Nordic
people settled early in the 20th century.
The address is 3014 N.W. 67th street.
Hours are 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Tuesday
through Saturday, and 12:00 pm to 4:00
pm on Sunday. Check out the website at
www.nordicmuseum.com.
The Iceland Room was planned and
built by a dedicated group from the
Icelandic Club of Greater Seattle after
the museum was established in 1980.
The room illustrates the conditions in
Iceland in the late 1800s and early
1900s when the bulk of the emigration
to North America occurred, and the way
the immigrants adapted to their new
environment.
The primary focal point is the all-
purpose living room in the ancient fami-
ly turf farmhouse, the baðstofa. This
replica has a central place in this exhibit
because the home was the heart and cen-
tre of the rural life that was Iceland until
the early part of the twentieth century.
The baðstofa was where they ate, slept,
carded, spun and knitted wool, carved
wooden utensils, and read the sagas. It
was the school for this very literate soci-
ety and was the community centre for
communication and creativity.
Books were the most prized posses-
sions of the immigrants as seen in the
picture of Jakobína Johnson reading in
her library. Jakobína, a well-known poet
in the Icelandic community, was born in
Iceland but lived most of her life in
Ballard. Pictures of other poets and
writers of the Pacific Northwest like-
wise symbolize the paramount place of
literature in the Icelandic heritage and
psyche. Music, art, and drama were also
part of the cultural pursuits as shown in
the exhibits.
Religion and the church provided
for the spiritual needs of the immigrants
and provided places for sharing experi-
ences in the strange new environment.
Churches were built as soon as they set-
tled into their new world. The altar and
other fumishings in the comer alcove
are from the old Calvary Lutheran
Church on 23rd N.W. and N.W. 70th in
Ballard, which housed “Hallgrim’s
Congregation.”
Most of the early immigrants settled
in Manitoba and in North Dakota. There
the way of life was growing grains, far
different from sheep raising and ocean
fishing left behind in the old country. In
the centre of the room is an exhibit of
old tools and farm implements used by
the early pioneer Icelandic-American
farmers. Another window shows
woolen goods from present-day Iceland,
considered the finest in the world.
Other exhibits illustrate history and
contemporary Iceland. A new exhibit is
dedicated to Viking times. A bronze
bust of Leifur Eiríksson, a painting of a
Viking ship by Leif Karlsen, and a sun-
stone Viking navigation aid researched
by Leif Karlsen are on display. On May
1, 1990, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, then
President of Iceland, was in Seattle and
dedicated this room. Her picture is over
the entrance to the room. Current
President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar
Grímsson, and his then wife, Guðrún
Katrín Þorbergsdóttir, attended a recep-
tion at the museum on August 1, 1997
and their picture is also featured.
The Iceland Room Group meets
every Tuesday moming at 10:00 for cof-
fee and plans the moming activities in
the room and the library. Presently Sig
Johnson and Ted Beck are the co-chairs
of the committee for the Icelandic Club.
The group invites anyone interested in
the room, the library and museum to
join us for coffee on any Tuesday mom-
ing.
Contributors and
Advertisers
Please direct submissions,
photos, camera-ready art, and
notices (events, births, obitu-
aries, etc.) to:
Lögberg-Heimskringla
PO Box 1859
Winnipeg, MB
R3C 3R1
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