Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.2008, Page 10

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10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15 December 2008
Christmas Night in
Old Iceland
One sign that you are not young anymore is when you say “Is Christmas
coming again so soon?” Be-
fore, when you where a child,
that magical time of Christ-
mas was always miles away
and when it suddenly was here
it was finished in the a blink
of an eye. Christmas hasn’t
changed much through the
ages, except now we buy more
stuff; but the spirit of Christ-
mas is still the same. It’s the
spirit that makes families and
friends meet and celebrate to-
gether. In the folktale collec-
tion Íslenskar þjóðsögur og
ævintýri I found the following
text describing how Christmas
night was in Iceland around
the 19th century.
Jólanóttin / Christmas Night
It’s the children that look
forward most to the mother of all
celebrations, Jól, or Christmas.
These very same children can’t
wait to see all the lights in the
churches and their homes. But
this celebration of the light was
also held among the huldufólk og
álfar, or the hidden people and
the elves, because they too deco-
rated their houses with lights, and
their houses were full of celebra-
tion, with dance and music. It is
not clear if humans got their idea
to dance the Vikivaki around the
Christmas time from the hidden
people and the elves, but it is ev-
ident that Christmas has always
been the celebration of the light.
In the ancient times the women
cleaned the houses before Christ-
mas Eve and New Year’s Eve,
and then put lights all over the
house so there wasn’t any dark
place anywhere to be found. In
this way they welcomed the hid-
den people and elves that might
pass through their house at this
time. After cleaning the house
and putting lights all over they
walked around it and welcomed
the hidden people and elves by
saying:
Come the ones that want to
come,
Stay the ones that want to
stay,
Leave the ones that want to
leave
Without harming me and
my family
After this the women put
out wine and food on the table
for the hidden people and elves,
and they say that these victuals
were always gone in the morn-
ing. The woman of the house
always took care that all the
lights lasted through Christmas
Night and New Year’s Night. It
is still a custom in some places
in Iceland to let a light stand for
both of these nights, but they
don’t put light in every corner
like before. The children were
given candles for both nights,
and this candle was called
jólakerti, Christmas candle, and
nýjárskerti, New Year Candle.
But people can’t enjoy
Christmas without worrying
about the creature known as
Jólaköttur - the Christmas Cat.
It didn’t harm anybody who got
new clothes before Christmas but
for the ones who didn’t get any-
thing new before Christmas Eve,
all of them went to fóru í jólaköt-
tinn, or went to the Christmas
Cat. He took these people and
ate them, or at least
ate their jólaref, the Christmas
fox. Christmas fox was what
each person at the household
was given as food before Christ-
mas. That’s why so many people
worked very hard: so they would
get some new clothes as well as
some good Christmas fox and
their Christmas candle. They did
everything they could to avoid
becoming just another victim
of the Christmas Cat. So its no
wonder they were happy when
they got what they needed be-
fore Christmas.
And now, here is a song
about the children’s celebrations
of Christmas.
Það skal gefa börnum brauð
að bíta í á jólunum,
kertaljós og klæðin rauð
svo komist þau úr bólunum,
væna flis af feitum sauð
sem fjalla gekk á hólunum.
Nú er hún gamla Grýla dauð;
gafst hún upp á rólunum.
Gleðileg jól og farsælt ko-
mandi ár.
Merry Christmas and Hap-
py New Year!
References.
Íslenskar þjóðsögur og
ævintýri II
Jón Árnason 1961, 548-549
Björk Bjarnadóttir is an
Icelandic environmental eth-
nologist living in Hollow Water,
MB. She is also a storyteller
and gives talks in schools and
community centres.
“It made me think how I would have felt if I had been taken away
from my parents and my home
when I was six and told that I
couldn’t speak my language, or
eat my food, or believe in any-
thing I had been taught,” said
Audrey Shepherd, who had a
role in a Joey Stylez rap vid-
eo exploring the aftermath of
residential schools. The video,
Living Proof, was released at a
CBC Regina Open House.
For Shepherd, who is Presi-
dent of the Vatnabyggð Icelan-
dic Club, acting in the video
was an emotional experience
as she remembered her own
childhood. “I couldn’t even
stay overnight at my cousin’s,
I got so homesick,” she said.
Vancouver-based rap art-
ist Joey Stylez has roots in
the area, the former Residen-
tial School near Lestock is the
only one standing and intact
(though now with a new, better
purpose), and Stylez used au-
thentic sites. Created for MTV
and Much Music, the video
is available on You Tube, on
the Joey Stylez website. Both
Shepherd and another Wynyard
cast member, Barb Degelman,
play Residential School nuns.
The offer of a role came out
of the blue, Shepherd said. The
casting person was from Saska-
toon, didn’t know the area, and
used the Internet to find people
with some acting experience.
Both Shepherd and Degelman
are involved in Wynyard Little
Theatre. “It took an adven-
turesome spirit,” they said.
“There was no audition. We
just showed up. They were city
boys and out of their element.”
One of the aspects of making
a rap video, they learned, was
that there were no rehearsals
and almost no direction.
The video opens with a
simple statement. “Thousands
of Indigenous children were
forced into Residential Schools
between 1880 and 1960. Their
descendants fill Canadian jails.”
The story line connects
modern rough street life, shot
in Saskatoon in colour, with life
in a Residential School, shot in
black-and-white at the former
school. Several locals were re-
cruited, including a man with a
wagon who takes away the kids
while their mother watches
and weeps, and an elderly lady
who spoke only Cree. Other
extras included boys who are
at the former school, now a
Residential Treatment Centre
for troubled youth from across
the province.
Joey Stylez is a former gang
member who is trying to show
a new way through rap music.
The video was in good taste
with no off-colour language. It
had to be cleared through Phil
Fontaine, the National Chief of
the Assembly of First Nations.
Would Shepherd do it again?
Would Degelman do it again?
“To be asked, it was quite an
honour,” said Shepherd. “And,
yes, when the video was over, it
didn’t matter how we got there,
just that we did. The experi-
ence was wonderful and we felt
like we were transported back
in time. Thinking back, I can’t
imagine how some of the First
Nations people in the video felt
about us “nuns.” I’ll bet that the
Kokum at the end of the video
was a survivor. I’m sure they
were viewing the day from their
perspective.”
Joan Eyolfson Cadham,
freelance writer and storyteller
from Foam Lake, SK, carries a
full contingent of Icelandic DNA
courtesy of both her paternal
and maternal ancestors.
illustration:
lesley nakonechnyÞJÓÐFRÆÐI
ICELANDIC FOLKLORE
Björk Bjarnadóttir
hollow Water, Mb
READ. WRITE. RANT.
Joan Eyolfson Cadham
Foam lake, sk
Brent Stefanson, C.A.
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Vatnabyggð club president in rock video