Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.03.2019, Síða 5

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. mars 2019 • 5
Family is central to our
being and part of our
strength, more so than
in other cultures, and Icelandic
has a more extensive lexicon of
family terms than does English.
Of course, English has many
family terms that also appear
in Icelandic: mother, father,
son, and daughter immediately
come to mind.
In the summer of 2000, I
went to meet a relative from
Iceland on the steps of the
Manitoba legislative building.
I saw an Icelander and asked,
“Do you know if Bjarni from
Borgarnes is here? He is a
relative.”
“Yes, you have the same
nose,” was the reply.
I soon found Bjarni and took
him to visit some of the family
in Winnipeg, to uncle Peter (the
recently retired president of
Lögberg-Heimskringla) at his
workplace, Indus Automation,
to uncle Magnus, and finally to
my amma, Rosa Johnson, who
then lived in a seniors’ home in
Charleswood. Rosa and Bjarni
spoke a little in Icelandic. Rosa
kept in touch with the large and
widespread Johnson / Peterson
family in Canada. Her father,
Peter Peterson, had come to
Manitoba from Langárfoss near
Borg around 1900. Rosa was
given the name of a previous
Rosa, who had died as an
infant, a fairly common custom
in those days of high infant
mortality.
Rosa was Unitarian, but
her cousin in Kópavogur,
Árni Pálsson, served as a
Lutheran pastor. His son,
Þorbjörn Árnason, served as
pastor at Borg, the old home
of our illustrious ancestor Egill
Skallagrímsson. Bjarni played
the organ at the church in Borg.
Bjarni once recounted
to me the lineage, from
son to father, starting from
Peter Peterson, my great-
grandfather. Soon a series of
Lutheran pastors appeared in
the lineage, ending with one
whose brother was the first
Lutheran Bishop of Iceland.
Genealogy comprises part of
our strong family fabric. The
strength of that weave appears
when we meet our family in
Canada or Iceland.
I went to Iceland in 1999,
my only visitation. For part of
my visit, I stayed in the home
of Jóhann Hjartarson, a cousin.
Jóhann had a unique library,
full of books with what looked
like algebra in them. They
were records of chess matches.
Jóhann, the highest-ranking
chess grandmaster of Iceland at
the time, had played against the
Russians during the Cold War.
We were both born in 1963 – he
is a few months older than me –
and we both have an elder son
and younger daughter.
In 1999, Jóhann had
already retired from chess;
he worked as an intellectual
property lawyer for DeCode
Genetics. He told me that a law
degree was easy to pick up as
he travelled the globe playing
chess. While I was staying with
the family, Jóhann appeared on
Icelandic television. He had
begun the process of gaining the
permission from the Icelandic
people to have access to the
meticulous medical records,
so crucial for the success of
DeCode. He would succeed in
doing so.
He told me that a great
game of chess is like a work
of art. I would have to take his
word on this, for in my inept
hands a game of chess had
no such characteristics. His
great-grandmother, Sesselja
Jónsdóttir, and my great-
grandfather, Helgi Jónsson
(Johnson in Canada), were
brother and sister. “We are
fjórmenningar,” he said,
“men related in the fourth
generation.” Yes, the Icelanders
have such specific genealogical
terms, completely unknown in
English!
I also had the good fortune
to meet Jóhann’s father
Hjörtur. He gave me a copy
of Egill’s Saga in Icelandic,
which I still have. He showed
me a picture of Helgi Jónsson
(his grandmother’s brother),
adding, “He was a very highly
intelligent man.”
Living and working as
an immigrant in Japan, I
have a sense of the loss of
family contact known to our
ancestors who left Iceland
to find a new way of life as
pioneers in Canada and the
United States. This isolation
only increases my perception
of how important and vital
family connection is. Lögberg-
Heimskringla serves as a
keystone in this determination
of family, keeping us informed
of events and personalities in
our diaspora or still back home
in Iceland.
FJÓRMENNINGAR
Kevin Jon Johnson
Sakai, Japan
“Living and working
as an immigrant in
Japan, I have a sense
of the loss of family
contact known to our
ancestors who left
Iceland to find a new
way of life as pioneers
in Canada and the
United States. This
isolation only increases
my perception of how
important and vital
family connection is.”
“
government.is – For the
tenth year in a row, Iceland is at
the top of the World Economic
Forum Global Gender
Gap Index. Three Nordic
neighbours follow Iceland on
the Index – Norway in second
place, Sweden comes third, and
Finland in the fourth place.
Iceland’s Prime Minister,
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, says the
country’s ranking reflects the
joint efforts of the government,
academia, and civil society for
gender equality over the past
few decades. “The women’s
movement paved the way for
progress in Iceland. Gender
equality does not happen by
chance. We have put in place
special measures such as
affordable quality childcare
and parental leave for both
parents that have made a big
impact. We must also work
to eliminate gender-based
violence, which is both a cause
and a consequence of women’s
inequality,” says the Prime
Minister.
Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
is pleased with the results:
“The Gender Gap Index
reminds us that we still have
work to do when it comes to
closing the gender gap, but
we are encouraged by the
results. We are also eager
to share our experience and
expertise with other countries
to accelerate progress all over
the world. Gender equality is
a fundamental human right
and a key to progress and
development.”
The government has now
put in place its third action
plan for women, peace, and
security. Gender equality and
women’s empowerment will
become a priority in Iceland’s
development cooperation
once a new International
Development Cooperation
Strategy for the years 2019-
2023 has been approved.
About 12 percent of
Iceland’s total development
assistance funds gender
equality programs and projects
and this number is set to rise
by a third next year. “We
see great opportunities to
positively influence the status
of women, including in our
partner countries, Malawi and
Uganda,” says the foreign
minister.
Furthermore, Iceland will
continue to work closely with
UN Women, as its largest donor
per capita, the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) and
the United Nations University
(UNU) Gender Equality
Studies and Training Program,
which is based in Iceland.
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Name
Address
City/Town Prov/State
Post/ZIP Code Tel:

CONTACT THE INL OF NA OFFICE
103-94 First Avenue, Gimli, MB R0C 1B1 • 204-642-5897 • inl@mymts.net
(or the INL Chapter/Society nearest to you)
OR, within North America, clip and mail this order form. Send to:
Lögberg-Heimskringla, 835 Marion Street, Winnipeg, MB, R2J 0K6
Yes, I’d like to order _______ (qty) of the 2019 Our Family Album 1919-2019 calendar from
L-H. Please send to:
I enclose $12.00 plus $3.00 CDN / $3.00 USD / $8.00 INT shipping for each.
Make cheques payable to: Lögberg-Heimskringla, Inc.
2019 INL of NA Calendar now available
ONLY
$12
PLUS SHIPPING
Our Family Album 1919-2019
Iceland tops Global Gender Gap Index for 10th consecutive year
PHOTO: LJÓSMYNDASAFN-REYKJAVÍKUR
The Women’s Day Off in 1975