The Culture House

• Freyja - goddess of fertility and love (This was the name of the main character in the Icelandic film I watched, The Seagull's Laughter)
• A Woman symbolized the country and its people
• The Edda poems are the most important books to explain religious life at the time of heathens
• Symbolic image - woman presenting the king with a drink
• Many animals are depicted in the images of the Snorra Edda - people are seen killing, eating, and riding animals
• "People in the 18th & 19th centuries had very lofty notions about the splendour of ancient Icelandic culture, the size of houses and the magnificence of ships
• Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit drew heavily on Icelandic literature
• Saga of Fridiof The Brave - popular in 19th century (written in 14th century) and many artists have tried to portray the scene of Fridiof fighting off the awesome sea trolls who were sent to destroy the ship
• Leif Eiriksson discovered America in the 10th century and named the eastern coast, Vinland
• After 1980's historians protested that children should not be taught the Sagas as if they were reality
• Halldor Laxness published editions of the Sagas in the 1940's
• From the earliest times the tradition of reading aloud and storytelling in the home existed, vagrants could find work on farms as storytellers
• By writing Sagas, the Icelanders preserved the geographical knowledge that had previously been processed orally
• Margaret's Saga - small books of prayers to St. Margaret to help women during childbirth, the small book was often placed on a woman's thigh during childbirth
• I watched a short film on Icelander's relationships with animals...
• Horses and dogs alike are like members of the family, contributing to the daily work of the household
• Even today, horses carry packs, lumber, and assist people in traveling, and sometimes die due to the difficulties of traveling long distances
• Dogs are primarily used to herd the sheep and it seems that many farmers would have much difficulty herding without their sheepdogs. The dogs are also a part of the family unit
• Sheep are not so much a part of the family, but more a difficult task to deal with in order to produce wool and/or meat.
• Horses and sheep alike are allowed to roam free, but when a farmer wants their horses or sheep back, their freedom ends
• Puffins are caught with a hand net. Even today, fathers and sons walk to the coast with their nets, catch a puffin and immediately twist its neck and begin eating it
• It is customary to set the first puffin caught free
• The Eidur (AEdur) is a duck that farmers often collect the down of after nesting time. The ducks often make their nests too close to the water, so farmers will use a large shovel to transfer the duck and her nest to somewhere dry and free from predators. Many farmers help to protect the ducks and her eggs and chicks, enjoying having many ducks on their farm
• Seals are often a part of many farmers lives, as they spend time along the coast near homes. The film did not show much about seals, but there was a part where a man was driving his truck with a seal pup in his lap as if it were a dog. He was taking it to the water near his home