Atlantica - 01.09.2000, Page 44

42 A T L A N T I C A
It was here that Eiríkur
the Red gave “the
Land of the People”
(Kalaallit Nunaat) the
name of Greenland.
And it was here that
his son Leifur the
Lucky embarked on
his voyage west in
1000 AD to become the first European to discover North
America. In the same year, the Norse colonists of
Greenland converted to Christianity and built their first
church on Eiríkur the Red’s land at Brattahlíd (Qassiarsuk).
In mid July this year,
a festival was held to
commemorate these
important landmarks
in Greenland’s history.
A Viking longhouse, of
the type that Eiríkur
the Red would have
lived in, was raised at
Qassiarsuk, along with a church named after Eiríkur’s
Christian wife, Thjódhildur. And the reconstructed Viking
ship Íslendingur (Icelander) sailed from Iceland to join in
the celebrations, before voyaging onwards in the wake of
South Greenland is a whole new world
with its Norse ruins,
green meadows and
modern Inuit culture.
During the celebration: a staged meeting between Vikings and Inuits.
Past and Present
Photos by
Páll Stefánsson
ATL 5/00 42-43 Greenland cmsx 17.8.2000 13:38 Page 42