Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.09.2009, Blaðsíða 34

22
the reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2009
All summer long, the sheep roam hills
and fjords without a care in the world.
Lambs nestle into their mothers’
backs until they are too big to carry
and rams stubbornly block the pas-
sage of tourists on roads. They fatten
up on grass and lichen and their hair
grows long and lush. Then September
rolls around, the supply of woollen
sweaters is depleted and there’s barely
any lamb meat on the supermarket
shelf. The time has come for réttir, the
annual gathering and distribution of
the herds!
The three hundred year old tra-
dition is one of the most important
events of the year for Icelandic farmers
and their families, bringing together
entire communities. On top of herd-
ing sheep, the weekend-long affair is
well known for long horsebacks rides,
stopping at every farm in the area for
coffee, traditional sing-alongs, eating
your own weight in kjötsúpa (‘meat
soup’) and copious alcohol consump-
tion.
réttIr #1: sheep eVeryWhere!
We spent the first day at Högnastaðir,
a farm in Flúðir owned by a delight-
ful couple named Jón and Helga. The
first order of business was to help shoe
the horses and get drunk in a barn.
The rest of their huge family arrived
in the evening and we all got a good
night’s sleep. Except my friends and I,
who drank until 3 AM. Oops. Bright
and early on Friday morning, we got
ready to go out to our first réttir in the
county of Hrunamannahreppur. We
rode horseback to and from the réttir,
drinking all along the way.
We arrived at the main event
around mid-day. The whole thing
takes place in a large round encase-
ment called... réttir, consisting of an
outer and inner circle, with several
pie-slice compartments between the
two. Each compartment is designated
to a farm for their sheep or their hors-
es. There are also two compartments
that are open on the outer end through
which the sheep are brought in. The
inner circle is known as ‘the public,’
where sheep and human come head to
drunken head.
Sheep run amok, bleating and
bucking and generally avoiding being
mounted by children who grab their
horns and drag them over to the farm
that matches their ear-tag. Young folks
stand around shooting the shit and
carelessly passing around bottles.
Farmers lock arms around shoulders,
holding each other up and singing
old folk songs that everyone knows
by heart. Orange and green rain suits
abound.
The 9-year old girls in our group
have each climbed aboard a sheep and
are giggling triumphantly. One little
boy is standing over a sheep that has
laid down on the ground and doesn’t
know what to do about it. A weathered
old gentleman has a big ram by the
horns, its front feet off the ground, ef-
fortlessly swinging it to the pen. A gor-
geous young blonde girl in an orange
rainsuit stumbles through with her
hands gripped on a pair of horns and
a cigarette hanging from her mouth.
I get distracted by something funny
and I’m knocked into the mud by a
running animal. Convicted embez-
zler-slash-MP Árni Johnsen plays the
guitar in the middle of the public. Ev-
eryone is peeing everywhere. A giant
ram runs by me, one of his has horns
ripped off and it’s gushing blood all
over his left side. I get really drunk and
lose track of time.
Back at Högnastaðir that evening
we have the traditional meat soup with
the whole family. It’s unbelievably deli-
cious and filling. It feels like Thanks-
giving. There’s a grown-ups’ table, a
kids’ table and the 20-somethings on
the couch. The night sees a steady in-
and-outflux of visitors from the area,
mostly other farmers, who stop in for
drinks, coffee, soup and songs. I try
to keep up but after twelve hours of
drinking I go take a nap and die for the
night.
Did you know that sheep smell pretty awful when you're rounding
them up? They certainly don't smell like that when they're roasting
in an oven.
travel | Réttir
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Nature’s Hot Spot
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8 hour Day Tour
Lake Mývatn
Mývatn
12 hour Day Tour
In the Footsteps of the Fishermen
Eskifjörður
10 hour Day Tour
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There Ain’t No Party Like a Réttir Party
Getting shitfaced, sheep style