Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.11.2018, Qupperneq 16

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16 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • November 15 2018
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Explore the stories of Icelandic Canadians who served
as soldiers, nurses, and medics with the Canadian
Expeditionary Forces in Europe. In commemoration
of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World
War, this exhibition features medals, photographs,
letters, and other artifacts from the 197th (Vikings
of Canada) and the 223rd (Canadian Scandinavians)
Manitoban Battalions. It also includes a multi-screen
video installation from the National Museum of Iceland.
The Manitoba
Museum
Remembers
Canadian Scandinavians
Overseas Battalion Badge •
c. 1916 • Loan: Joe Martin
© Manitoba Museum
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190 Rupert Street • Infoline: 204-943-3139
ManitobaMuseum.ca @ManitobaMuseum
Media Sponsor
Arni Thorsteinson and Susan Glass
Sponsored in part by
Identification Discs
# 294770 • c. 1917 •
Loan: Joe Martin
© Manitoba Museum
Vikings of the
First World War:
Icelandic Canadians in Service
Every birthday is significant – celebrating Elín and her foremothers
On October 14th, 1929, a second
child – and second daughter –
was born to Johanna Victoria
May Sigurgeirson and Sigurgeir H.
Sigurgeirson in Gimli, Manitoba. She
was named Elín, after her maternal
grandmother, Elín (Anderson, née
Þorsteinsdóttir), who had immigrated
to Canada with her family in 1887, as
a child of nine, from Snæfjallaströnd
in the Westfjords. Amma Elín played
a prominent role in the young Elín’s
life until she passed away when her
granddaughter was seventeen years old,
the amma and the whole family then
living in Steveston, BC.
This year, Elín Ross celebrated
her 89th birthday at her residence in
Nanaimo, BC, with a surprise visit from
her neice, Lisa Sigurgeirson Maxx, and
sister-in-law, Doreen Jolliff, who travelled
from Salt Spring Island and Victoria,
respectively, to pay a celebratory visit.
A small luncheon was enjoyed by Elín,
Doreen, and neice Lisa, and then these
three were later joined by Elín’s middle
son, Eric Ross, his wife, Mandy, and their
two children, Hannah (20) and Trevor (13)
– who also reside in Nanaimo – for gifts,
cake, and tea. (No, not coffee. Strange, I
know, but true. Truth be known, there was
a stronger contingent in the room hailing
from the British Isles than our beloved
North Atlantic island’s Icelandic shores.)
Among her gifts, Elín was thrilled
to unwrap a package of harðfiskur and
another that contained vínarterta.
Over the course of the afternoon,
Elín regaled the small party with tales
of earlier years, including recollections
of her “amma í búðinni” – her paternal
grandmother, Viktoría Jóhannesdóttir,who
had emigrated from Skeggjastaðir in
1883 as a girl of 13 with her mother and
two younger sisters. She kept a shop in
Gimli all the years Elín knew her and she
remembered, rather fondly, that amma
í búðinni (amma in the shop) often sent
little bags of sweets out to Hecla after the
family had moved there in 1933, much to
the children’s delight.
It is the strong held belief of this
writer that, though “89” is not often a
widely celebrated birthday, once one
reaches these “later 80s” every birthday
becomes significant and we don’t need to
wait for the “Big Numbers” for an excuse
to celebrate. The few elders of our greater
families that are left standing deserve to
be honoured and revered each year – each
day – we are blessed to have them with
us, for their stories are treasures and their
laughter the truest of gifts.
As a parting gift for the birthday visit,
Lisa sang for her auntie, a song she has
written for Amma Elín – Auntie Elín’s
beloved amma, and Lisa’s langamma. The
song is entitled Wild Blueberries, evoked
from the image of those young Icelanidc
girls living on the remote farms in the
Westfjords being expected to go out onto
the hillsides and gather the blueberries for
their families’ larder.
The song was written the year
Ísafjörður was celebrating 130 years as a
town, and Lisa realized it was 129 years
since the family had sailed from that port
to Kanada. Lisa wrote the song with
the dream of singing it at Bláberjadagur
(the Blueberry Days festival) in 2016 at
Súðavík, a small village in the Westfjords
just 20 minutes from where Amma
Elín and her family sailed in 1887, and
directly across the fjord from where that
great-grandmother had been born. The
alternative title of the song is The Saga of
Langamma mín, as it truly does chronicle
the life story of Elín Þorsteinsdóttir –
from the Westfjords of Iceland, where
the wild blueberries grow in abundance,
to Manitoba, and finally to Steveston,
BC. Lisa was moved that she was able to
have that dream come true and sing this
song in the homeland of her foremothers
in September 2016. Auntie Elín was very
impressed with the story the song tells of
her beloved amma’s life.
Overall, the 89th birthday celebration
of one beloved elder in our midst was a
pleasantly enjoyable success, with much
sharing of memories and storytelling,
gales of laughter, and some good food –
and tea – shared.
Lisa Sigurgeirson Maxx
Salt Spring Island, BC
PHOTO: LISA SIGURGEIRSON MAXX