Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.12.2003, Page 6

page 6 « Lögberg-Heimskringla » 5 December 2003

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Jólatré berskunnar
Christmas Tree From The Past
Before Christmas last year a
group of people gathered at
the Leisure Centre, Punkturinn,
in Akureyri to make or remake
the “Christmas Tree from their
youth.” The exhibition that
went under the same name was
on display at Punkturinn. There
one was able to see a variety of
Christmas trees.
trees in the latter part of the
nineteenth century. Many of the
trees were home-made, created
and decorated with material that
was at hand. Such trees disap-
peared in the middle of the
twentieth century, put aside for
imported Christmas trees. The
staff at Punkturinn wanted to
revive this old tradition, which
Artificial Christmas trees Jökull Guðmundsson made a
that were re-made at Christmas tree like his
Punkturinn
father’s
Icelanders began to deco- is being forgotten, and therefore
rate their homes with Christmas the exhibition was put on and
Betel Home Foundation
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people were encouraged to
come and make a Christmas
tree from their youth.
Jökull Guðmundsson
was one of those. who met at
Punkturinn to remake a tree
from his youth. Jökull build a
tree like his father had before
him. He still had to wrap the
branches with green crepe paper
and decorate it when
Morgunblaðið looked in. “This
will be like the tree I grew up
with. I won’t promise to quit
having a live tree, but this will
be the tree this year,” said
Jökull.
At Punkturinn there is a
good collection of different
trees, old as well as remade
ones, like the picture shows. In
the forefront one can see a
Christmas tree that Sveinn
Vigfússon from Þverá in
Skíðadalur made. Vignir his son
now owns it. Jón Böðvarsson
from Dalvík made the other
trees in 1942. The tree to the left
was being used until 1965 and it
had electric candles on it. Now
Ágústína G. Jónsdóttir owns it.
The tree to the right in the pic-
ture is owned by Brynjar H.
Jónsson, the son of the carpen-
ter Jón, and was the Christmas
tree of the farnily at
Svertingjastaðir in Eyjafjörður
where Brynjar grew up.
Information from Morgunblaðið, Á. H.
WMVL
real estate Inc.
Dianne
SlGVALDASON
Tel: 979.0000
Toll Free: 1.800.361.6789
E-mail: diannes@escape.ca
Ung táta sókp
flottasta Ketkrókinn
A Young Girl Created the
Most Extravagant Meat Hook
Kjalarnes / Dagbjört An-
drésdóttir, a seventh grade
student at Kléberg school, won
the prize for the best Jule Lads’
spoon for the year 2003. She
received as a prize the first
spoon that was made from her
drawing of Meat Hook. About
two hundred and sixty- ideas
came in from eleven to twelve-
year-old children living in
Reykjavík.
The competition was the
collaborated effort between the
gold and silver factory Erna,
the educational information
centre Reykjavík and the
Icelandic association of artists.
The competition for the best
Jule Lads’ spoon has been held
since 1995, and the aim is get
school age children to create
beautiful original spoons,
which can be collected. It is
very important that the pictures
render the character of each
Jule Lad in an uncomplicated
way.
Having received her prize,
Dagbjört is in seventh heaven,
she said, and happy to have
received this beautiful spoon
which she herself had a hand in
creating. “At first I thought
that my heart was going to
burst,” Dagbjört said and
grinned from ear to ear. “I was
not expecting this. I just tried
to show what Meat Hook looks
like, thus I drew a hook for one
of his hands with a piece of
meat hanging on it.” Dagbjört
loves to draw. She sings in an
all girls’choir in Reykjavík and
DINEIN *TAKE OUT
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• CATERING
DINING

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Centre Street 8í 2nd Avenue
cHzala Uíland adie.’iitagE.
Descendants and friends of
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Assisting in the
developmcnt ofHecla's
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We welcome
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PICTURE: MORGUNBLAÐIÐ/JIM SMART
also in the Kléberg school
choir.
The Jule spoons have a
long history in Iceland, the first
one being made in 1947. It had
a picture of Dómkirkjan on it.
Dagbjört did receive one such
spoon as a gift from her aunt
when she was baptized and
kept it and now she has two
beautiful spoons. Perhaps she
will collect all of them one day
although she has no such plans
today. Dagbjört said that she
doesn’t know what the future
has in store but one thing she
knows: “It’s worthwhile to
compete in a competition like
this one, because one never
knows what can happen.”
Information from Morgunblaðið, Á. H.
DArcy&Deacon
ÐARRISTERS AND SOUCITORS
Grant A. Stefanson
B.A., LL.B.
1 2th Floor
330 St. Marv Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3C 4E1
Tel 204.925.5376
Fax 204.943.4242
E-Mail gstelanson@darcydeacon.com
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