The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2004, Side 43

Vol. 58 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
137
an illustration of each home. The farm was
named Sigluvik by the first owners, 900
years ago, and will never be changed. The
book stays with the property and is contin-
uously updated as required. We were
awestruck at this efficient record keeping.
Erik took us on a tour of his home.
One room was full of medals and trophies.
When asked whom these medals belonged
to, Erik admitted with a shy smile that he
had been the Icelandic cross-country skiing
champion for several years, and had repre-
sented his country at the Albertville
Olympics. Another unforgettable day in
Iceland! It was not to be our last.
Akureyri hugs the steep slope of a
magnificent fjord. It was the home of our
next search. This time, we were looking for
real roots, as in the roots below trees. In the
late 1960’s, a relative had visited the
Stefansson family in Tyndall. His name was
Jon Ragnvaldsson. My father and aunt
remembered that he had worked at an
experimental farm in the city of Akureyri.
He went back to Iceland with a variety of
Manitoba plants. We know he took poplar,
spruce and birch trees from our farm in
Tyndall. After my grandfather Arni
Stefansson passed away in 1970, we lost
touch with him.
We easily located the city’s botanical
garden. The office directed us to a bronze
bust of our relative. The receptionist told us
she could bring out a record of all the plants
he had gathered, or we could just look for
all of the tallest trees, since they were the
original ones he planted in the late 60’s.
Some of those trees were now 20 metres
tall. This is truly unusual for this land at the
edge of the Arctic Circle. A favourite joke
asks “What should you do if you get lost in
a forest in Iceland?” The answer.... “Stand
up!”. Shrubs were the largest plants we
had seen in our travels that had taken us
nearly three-quarters of the way around the
island.
Gazing at the only real forest we had
seen on this trip, we imagined how proud
Jon would have been to see the progress of
the project he had started over 30 years ago.
He passed away in 1973, and we were very
sorry we didn’t have time to search for any
of his family who might still be in the area.
When we left Canada, we knew we
wanted to visit Klungurbrekka on the
Snaefellsnes Peninsula. This was where my
great-great-grandmother, Karitas
Gudmundsdottir, had lived before emigrat-
ing to Canada. The twice-widowed Karitas
arrived in Canada with several of her chil-
dren in 1883, among them the 14-year-old
Gudmundur Kristjan Gudlaugsson who
later became my great-grandfather. The
family changed their name to Breckman.
Gudmundur eventually married Jakobina
Isleifsdottir, and their first child, Kristin
Breckman, born in 1898, was my grand-
mother. “Amma” died in her 103rd year.
She had managed to return to her family’s
former farm twice in the 1970’s. She was
the one who had stayed in touch with rela-
tives in Selfoss. We owe much gratitude to
Olafur and his wife Gyda as well as their
children who helped us plan our “root-
seeking” tour of Iceland. We covered many
miles in our short 14-day stay.
The choice of souvenirs from Iceland
was quite simple. My parents and aunt
decided that each of their children and
grandchildren should get a ponnukokur
pan. Ponnukokur was a special treat Amma
always seemed to have on hand when we
would visit. She continued to make them
until her death in July 2000. Olafur, our
Selfoss cousin, took on the task of finding
two dozen pans for us. When we arrived to
pick up the pans from the aluminum facto-
ry where they are made, we discovered that
we were related to the manufacturer. This
was the same style of pan used by our
beloved Amma to make her delicious
“birthday pancakes.” This is the name used
by our family for ponnukokur, as no birth-
day ever passed without them being served.
In July, we made our way back to the
Keflavlk airport for the flight home, toting
24 ponnukokur pans. Since our return,
many of them have begun to produce the
crepes that are so important a part of fami-
ly special occasions. These pans will be
passed on, as Amma’s has been, from one
generation to the next. At these gatherings,
as we savour this Icelandic specialty, we
carry on the great Icelandic tradition.