Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.01.2017, Blaðsíða 56

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01 — 2017
56
Heavy clouds hover only dozen
of metres above the ground,
confirming the presence of an
approaching blizzard. I slide my
fingers over the cool hood of the
car, carefully tracing invisible
lines and arches. Adding the last
circle, I’m done. With a Vegvi-
sir—the magic stave for finding
one’s way through bad weather—
to guide us, we set out on our
journey to Iceland’s mysterious
hotspot of sorcery.
The eastern coast of the West-
fjords, known as Strandir, has a
population of under 1000 people.
For centuries, this remote region
has been known for its ties to the
practise of magic. Driving over
the quiet hills that guard the way
to the Westfjords, I feel a strange
mix of exhilaration and anxiety.
The serene scenery faces the
merciless winter winds as if they
were mere summer breezes, hint-
ing at the land’s ancient power.
Imagining long-lost secrets and
chants, we greet Strandir.
Isolated pro-salesmen
The small town of Holmavík is
home to the Museum of Sorcery
and Witchcraf t—the perfect
place to commence our investiga-
tion. Sitting in the warm dining
room, we enjoy the company of
its manager, Sigurður Atlason,
also known as The Sorcerer.
With a peculiar woolen hat
on his head and a cheeky smile
in his eyes, Sigurður says that
one possible source of Strandir’s
reputation, besides its severe and
longstanding seclusion from the
world at large, could be the al-
most supernatural bargaining
skills of its past inhabitants.
This region’s coast at one time
had a forest of driftwood to be
found along its beaches, attract-
ing people from the north, who
came to barter for it. Most of the
time, they’d find themselves pay-
ing well above the expected price.
This was taken as proof that the
people of Strandir obv iously
knew spells that made visitors
give in to these deals.
The Westfjords also have a
dark history of witch trials as
well, mostly from the 17th centu-
ry. But again, as Sigurður points
out, they aren’t connected to true
magic. At the time, accusations
of witchcraft were used as a po-
litical instrument—a manipula-
tion used to gain more wealth
and power.
Magic of hope
One characteristic of Icelandic
magic is its connection to na-
ture—respecting it, and being
a part of it. The spells are most-
ly carried out as invocations,
chants and rituals or drawing
staves. But reading descriptions
of some spells, I feel a shiver run
down my spine. They often in-
volve the use of blood, and in the
case of the famous “necropants,”
even skinning a corpse. Look it
up. Just not while you’re eating.
But necropants aside, most
Icelandic spells were quite prac-
tical, mainly helping with daily
activities like fishing and farm-
ing. As Sigurður puts it, they
were a way of providing hope for
a better tomorrow, which was es-
sential to endure the harsh con-
ditions of Iceland’s Middle Ages.
For better or worse, many
spells have been lost to the time,
so practicing Icelandic magic
nowadays isn’t easy. Nor is it al-
ways safe. Even when refraining
from blood rituals or ill-meaning
chants, it’s best to take caution.
Each stave and chant has its own
purpose and power, but many of
the details are lost, and nobody
has full knowledge of how they
work. So, if you’re thinking of
getting a runic tattoo, make
double sure you’re not getting a
zombie-making one.
Freestyle chanting
We part company with the muse-
um’s hospitable master with new
knowledge in our minds, and a
weather spell in our pocket. After
a quick look up at the stormy sky,
and a quick glance at each other,
we’re ready for some practice.
We follow the instructions and
find a grass hillock, then run
clockwise and counterclockwise,
have a freestyle chanting session,
kick and shout, and order better
weather. The magic is cast. Gig-
gling and flustered, we retreat to
the warm car. Two minutes pass,
and to our great amusement, the
continuous rain suddenly stops.
Our day ends in the hot pots
at Drangsnes, looking over the
ocean under a clear, star-scat-
tered sky. Beginner’s luck?
The Sorcerer says that the peo-
ple of Strandir are no different
to other Icelanders, and that the
reputation for magic is probably
just tall tales. But noticing a stave
medallion around a local knit-
ter’s neck, a magical sign in the
old restaurant’s bar, the cheeky
smile on the face of the Sorcerer,
and the whispering wind of the
ancient hills and shores: there is,
without doubt, something magi-
cal about Strandir.
SHARE & MORE PICTURES:
gpv.is/pm01
Practical
Magic
Words SIGNE SMALA Photos ART BICNICK
Exploring Icelandic
sorcery in Strandir
To look back on
Grapevine’s year in
travel, we decided
to first go the em-
pirical populism
route, and drew
up a list of the most clicked, liked
and read stories we published in
2016. The first noticeable pattern
was that our darling readers—you
guys! Hi!—had a strong interest in
Iceland’s smaller towns. A photo
gallery of Iceland’s “second city”
of Akureyri was the single most-
read piece at grapevine.is, followed
closely by articles from the “drive-
through towns” series, which in-
cluded Borganes, Akranes, and
Hafnarfjörður. It’s a nice reminder
that off-the-beaten-track towns
have a lot to offer. And you won’t
find out their secrets on TripAd-
visor—you have to go there, ex-
plore, and find them for yourself.
That said, Iceland’s blockbuster at-
tractions also had an understand-
able draw. An account of a trip to
Katla, the volcano under Myrdal-
sjökull, during a suspected immi-
nent eruption, made the top five.
The Vatnajökull ice caves did too,
having gone from being a custom
trip mainly requested by photogra-
phers to having busloads of tourists
roll up every day. Our writer said:
“Inside, we found that surprising,
unusual blue colour, with the ice
illuminated by the light from out-
side. We had to crawl on all fours
to get to the main chamber, where
we met another group of tourists.
After a while, they left, leaving us to
get these shots of the frozen beauty
of the cave.”
The extreme weather of Iceland
also holds a particular fascination.
Whether a step-by-step account of
the many picturesque stops dot-
ted around the Snæfellsnes pen-
insula and Snæfellsjökull glacier,
or a gallery documenting a snow-
drenched, wind-whipped road trip
along the southern coast, the up-
side of the difficult and unrelent-
ing winter conditions is that they
also create a certain severe beau-
ty. The same was true of articles
documenting life on the islands
surrounding Iceland, whether the
northernmost settlement of Grím-
sey, or the southernmost point of
Vestmannaeyjar. Find links to all
these pieces at gpv.is/trips, and stay
tuned in 2017 for much, much more.
2016
IN
TRAVEL
Distance from
Reykjavík
230 km
Car provided by
gocarrental.is
Accommodation provided by
malarhorn.is