The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1961, Side 14

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Summer 1961
EDITORIAL
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In September, 1961, tlie President
of Iceland, Asgeir Asgeirsson, will visit
Manitoba four score years and six after
the first settlers from Iceland landed
on the shores of Lake Winnipeg to
establish new homes in a fledgling
province of a nascent state. His visit is a
commemoration and a tribute to the
courage, fortitude and achievement of
those bewildered immigrants and their
descendants. On the other hand it can-
not but bring into focus the radical
change of outlook that has taken
place in the Icelandic communities of
Manitoba, now integral parts of an
emergent Canadian nation.
The settlers had clearly defined ob-
jectives. Here they would establish a
new Iceland, where their own beautiful
language would be preserved, the “ast-
kaera, ylhyra inaliS, og allri rodd
fegra” (beloved, heart-warming lang-
uage, every tongue fairer). Here they
would maintain Icelandic traditions
and the Icelandic way of life. Here
the erosive waves of alien cultures
would forever beat in vain against
their right little, tight little Icelandic
island.
The years have passed; the Iceland-
ic pioneers have gone to the beyond;
gone also are many of their hopes and
fears. That was inevitable. Some of
their objectives were incompatible
with the process of nation-building.
Some of their fears have not come to
pass, thanks to their efforts and those
of their children.
But Asgeir Asgeirsson, the repre-
sentative of a progressive, fairly
prosperous modem nation, and a
people to whom its Heroic Age is still
an inspiration and a bulwark in times
of trial, will still hear his beloved lan-
guage spoken, well by some, haltingly
by others. He will find that the tongue
that Ingolfur Arnason and Egill
Skallagrimsson spoke has not been
completely forgotten on the North
American continent. He will also find
a strong desire on the part of many
to maintain close relations with Ice-
land, its traditions, and its unique,
virile culture, doggedly cherished and
maintained throughout the centuries
in spite of inconceivable hardships
caused by Nature’s caprices, and in the
face of subversive foreign influences.
He will come to know that the Ice-
landic people realize that in the
crucible of tribulations the dross has
been removed, and the pure gold re-
mains. He cannot help but feel a sense
of kinship with us of the West, the
silken bonds of a common heritage,
common interests and mutual respect.
To the shores of Vinland the Good,
almost a thousand years later than
Leif the Lucky, will come Asgeir As-
geirsson, a symbol of all that was best
in the Viking spirit. Who is this man,
Asgeir Asgeirsson?
Ele was born at Karanesi a Myrum,
May 13, 1894. He graduated in Theol-
ogy from the University of Iceland,
and pursued further studies at the