Reykjavík Grapevine - Aug 2021, Page 6

On the evening of July 2nd, 2021, skies
darkened across southwest Iceland. A
loud crack reverberated through the
sky, shaking the very earth below as a
mysterious figure emerged from the
clouds above.
Against the pale northern night, it
hung, bigger than the moon. Mountain
ranges, clouds and oceans swirled
above in perfect detail, unveiled in an
instant.
Geologists and meteorologists
across the country scrambled to
interpret the readings of seismo-
graphs, barometers, and a battery of
remote sensors across the southwest
of the nation as clouds of dark ships
hovered in battle array.
The War Planet had arrived.
This is the image that passed
through my mind upon reading recent
news of a meteoroid detonation over
southwest Iceland, leading me to
dive into the finer points of Icelandic
meteorology and astronomy. The
original headline from Morgunbla'i'
ran as “Vígahnöttur möguleg sk!ring
á drununum,” which Google trans-
late artfully rendered as “War Planet
Possible Explanation for the Drones.”
Besides the obvious strangeness of
“War Planet,” I might point out that
"drones" here refers to loud sounds,
not the airborne cameras.
The most common word for a
meteor is lo"steinn, and true to the
rugged simplicity of the Norse tongue,
it quite literally means "air stone."
Steinn will be familiar enough to
anglophones out there, but we also
might recognise our old friend lo"
from such fine cognates as alo%, lo%y,
the lo% of a building, and the German
airline Lu%hansa.
There is, however, another more
obscure word for a meteor in
Icelandic: Vígahnöttur, which
translates literally to "war
globe."
From Old Norse víg, meaning
"battle," we have here a fine
compound with hnöttur, or
"globe," to denote a dangerous
ball from outer space.
By the way, mythology
nerds may recognize víg- from
vígrí!r, literally "battle surge,"
the plains on which the battle
of Ragnark is fought. EP
Fighting the coronavirus can only go
as well as people follow the health
guidelines. As there seems to be some
persistent confusion on the subject,
here are the pandemic restrictions in
place as of August 6th. The current
restrictions will be in place up to and
including August 13th. As always, the
latest COVID-19 news and restrictions
can be found on covid.is.
At the border
Travellers to Iceland, including resi-
dents and tourists, must present a
negative COVID test—either a rapid
test or PCR—on arrival that’s not more
than 72 hours old. This applies to the
vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.
Failure to do so could net you a hefty
fine—up to 100,000 ISK—so do be sure
to come correct.
Domestically
Public gatherings are capped at 200
people. Masks are required in indoor
spaces. People will be required to main-
tain a distance of one metre between
one another. Restaurants, clubs and
pubs can’t let new patrons enter after
23:00, with the last person required
to leave at midnight. Pools and gyms
are limited to 75% of their maximum
capacity.
All of this is to be in place until
August 13th.
But are vaccines safe???
You may have been alarmed to see
recent news that most of the new infec-
tions for the coronavirus are among
vaccinated people. This point might
have you questioning the efficacy of
vaccines. Don’t fret: there’s more.
According to data provided to
reporters by the Directorate of Health,
when the total number of vaccinated
people and the number of those who
subsequently caught the virus are
taken as a whole, the effectiveness of
these vaccines comes into focus.
In any given group of people
vaccinated by a particular vaccine,
the percentage of those who later
contracted the virus never surpassed
0.18%. Furthermore, even amongst the
infected, their symptoms have been far
milder than those unvaccinated.
So rest assured: vaccines work and
you should get yours if you haven’t
already.
A reader picking up the Sagas of the
Icelanders can often be struck by
the strange modernity of the prose.
However, there are also many impli-
cations that are very foreign to us.
For instance, a rider dressed in blue
was very often a frightening sight.
We turned to Dr. Anita Sauckel, post-
doctoral researcher and teacher at
Háskóli Íslands, for answers.
In the Sagas of Icelanders, depictions
of clothing are an essential part of the
plot. Di&erent kinds of garments not
only help the audience identify cer-
tain characters, but they also express
gender, social status, travels, as well
as emotions and specific intentions.
A very special type of garment in
the Sagas is a cloak or tunic of the
colour blár; this Old Norse adjective
can be translated as “blue,” “black” or
“blue-black.” This colour seems to be
associated with death, aggression and
violence. For instance, in mythology,
Hel, the goddess of death, is described
to be half the colour of human skin and
half blár.
Saga characters wearing clothing
in blue-black more o%en than not find
themselves in dangerous situations
or are in the mood for killing: In 'Valla-
Ljóts saga,' the chie%ain Ljót Ljótólfs-
son owns two outfits that reflect his
current state of mind; whenever Ljót
was in a good mood he would wear
a brown tunic, but should he be in a
“slaying mood” he would wear a short
blue-black tunic.
However, blue-black garments in
the Sagas are not reserved only for
men. Women are depicted wearing
them as well! The most prominent fe-
male character wearing blár ís Gu'rún
Ósvífrsdóttir of 'The Saga of the People
of Laxardal,' who is depicted in the
colour as her husband is killed. °
ASK AN
Expert
Q: Why Was Blue A
Dangerous Sign In The
Icelandic Sagas?
Government Announces
New Domestic Restrictions
A refresher...
Words:
Andie Sophia
Fontaine

Photo:
Art Bicnick
First 6 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08— 2021
LOST IN GOOGLE TRANSLATION
Katrín, holding her breath
The War Planet Cometh
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