CHAIN Cultural Heritage Activities and Institutes Network Iceland - landscape and legends 13-18/6/16 W.G. Collingwood. Hlíðarendi in Fljótshlíd, August 4, 1897. Watercolor. The National Museum of Iceland The course is part of the EU Erasmus+ teacher staff mobility programme and organised by the CHAIN foundation, Netherlands Contents • List of participants................................................................................................3 Programme • Programme.........................................................................................................5 • Story line - 'Landscapes and Legends'.....................................................................7 • Scenes..............................................................................................................10 • Images of Reykjavik...........................................................................................12 • Ingólfr Arnarson - first permanent settler..............................................................15 • Viking longhouses in downtown Reykjavík.............................................................16 • Short history of Whaling in Iceland.......................................................................17 Sagas • Skaldic poetry....................................................................................................20 • Kennings in skaldic poetry...................................................................................22 • Sonatorrek........................................................................................................23 • Njal's Saga - story outline....................................................................................24 • Poetic metres: Homer, Donelaitis, Sagas, Lusiades, Kalevala...................................25 • Egill's Saga (Synopsis)........................................................................................32 • Poetic Edda........................................................................................................34 • Egill Skallagrímsson: poet, warrior, farmer............................................................35 • The role of women in Njal's Saga: Hallgerd's and Bergthora's feud...........................37 • Female Characters in Njal saga............................................................................40 • Njall's Saga - some background information..........................................................41 Literature • Halldór Laxness: Icelander, catholic, socialist, taoist and ... a great writer.................51 • „Independent people“ – masterwork of H. Laxness...............................................................52 • Jonas Hallgrimsson, Gunnarshólmi........................................................................................53 • Bard of Iceland - Jonas Hallgrimsson.....................................................................55 Backgrounds • History of Iceland...............................................................................................59 • Thingvellir depression.........................................................................................61 • Thingvellir assembly...........................................................................................63 • First explorers of Iceland: Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson...............................................65 Presentations..........................................................................................................................67 Participant articles • Kefalonia...........................................................................................................77 • Kefalonian music and dances...............................................................................78 • Legends about Lake Melissani in Kefalonia.............................................................78 • Cultural heritage of my environment in Peiting, South Bavaria.................................79 • Getting "crazy" in Huittinen.................................................................................81 • Some stories about our country and region Caldas da Rainha, Portugal.....................83 • Ancient lake Saimaa...........................................................................................86 1 2 Participants Name Address Town Country Blazquez Pereira Ana Rua Marquês de Pombal, nº2 - 1ºEsq Caldas Da Rainha Portugal Isabel Heather Byrne Gragadder Kilcock Co.kildare Ireland Michelle Cahill Newtown, Whitehall, Co. Roscommon Tarmonbary Ireland Maria João Dias Casal da Canastra lote 3 Óbidos Portugal Fokko Dijkstra Groenendaal 32 Groningen Netherlands Dražanac 62 (private) ; Matice Maja Duplančić Split Croatia hrvatske 11 (school) Barbara Friedl Langenried 1 Peiting Germany Marianne Heikkinen Koulukatu 12 Mikkeli Finland Pekka-Tapani Heikkinen Haastajantie 50 a 3 Sodankylä Finland Marita Hietala Lokantie 13 Tanhua Finland Ioannis Kosmatos spirou malaki 59 Argostoli Greece Antonia Kosti Argostoli Greece Ritva Lepola Aihkitie 6 Sodankylä Finland Carmignani Mathieu 19 jardins de l île Cruas France Elina Pesonen Hiukkavaarantie 1 a 4 Oulu Finland Anu Poikela Mantovaarantie 49 Sodankyla Finland Chrysanthi Pozidou Razata, Argostoli Greece Vesa Riihisalo Rekitie 5 as 6 Huittinen Finland Yann Senot 362 chemin de la Bareze Privas France Janne Sipinen Teiskontie 3 A 11 Tampere Finland Karmelava, Kauno Jolanta Varanaviciene Vilniaus g. 6-25 Lithuania Raj. Maria Vidigal Rua Vitorino Frois, nº14, 2º Esq. Caldas Da Rainha Portugal Daniel Zappi Abingdon, Oxfordshire Oxford United Kingdom 3 4 Programme 13/6 - mo Arrival, meeting each other, dinner. evening Introduction chain / course programme and tasks/roles Reykjavik • The oldest Viking longhouse (excavation) • The first settlers : Landnámssýning (The settlement exhibition ) 14/6 - tu • The Saga Museum Afternoon • National Museum of Iceland • Icelandic Baths • Watching theatre performance (evening) The world of Egil - Icelandic sagas 15/6 - we - • Borgarness - Borgarness Settlement Museum - Egil's Saga morning • Egill's burial mound The Golden Circle: the border of the Eurasian continent • Þingvellir National Park • Almannagja fissure : crossing from the North-American to the Eurasian tectonic plate. 15/6 - we • Þingvellir site (Assembly plains) - historical background - afternoon • Poet's Tomb • Walk • Geysir • Back to Reykjavik The world of Njal - Icelandic sagas 16/6 - th - • Saga Centre in Hvolsvollur morning • the basic themes in the Njal's saga: vendetta or law • Locations related to Njal's saga 16/6 - th • Glacier walk (Solheimajokull) - afternoon • Back to Reykjavik 17/6 - fr • Whale watching tour - morning 17/6 - fr • Sagas in the Streets (with Jon Karl Helgason, professor of Icelandic and - afternoon Comparative Cultural Studies); • Certification • Performances 18/6 - sa • Evaluation • Icelandic poetry session • Optional: visit to the Blue Lagoon Optional programme: 19/6 - su Workshop: project planning using the course outcomes in relation to the new morning chain related project 'Comprehending Europe' (http://compreu.eu ) 19/6 - su Departure evening 5 6 Story line - 'Landscapes and Legends' A key element in each chain course is the story line. Such a narrative structure creates coherence and offers a tool to make a selection from the endless possible activities. Ideally the course group 'embodies' this story line and expresses the content, physically as well as in products. Arriving The course group will arrive in Iceland, just as the first settlers/colonists/migrants did. Therefore a natural place to start is the recent excavation of the probably oldest Viking longhouse in Reykjavik: article . From this excavation site it is a few steps to the exhibition site 871±1, built around another excavation. Here we can get an impression of the world in this period of the first settlers (article ). What stories were told in these places? The settlers may have spoken about the hardships and joys in the old days. These stories may have been transferred to later generations and - centuries later - were recorded as the Sagas. They come to life in the Reykjavik Saga Museum. A small impression: Searching for Egill One of the most dramatic characters in the sagas is the warrior-poet Egill Skallagrímsson. Legend has it he wrote his first poem at the age of three (' ....You'll find no three-year / Babe among bards / More brilliant than me.'). He says he killed his first opponent at the age of seven - after being cheated in a game. His mother praised him for this and predicted a great future as a viking. And .. at the end of his life he wrote a moving poem after the death of a beloved son ('... An old man, unaided, / Helpless, unhappy, / Can hold out no hope. / The rough storm has robbed me / Of my best riches, / It's cruel to recall ...'). Michelle Bird (Bogarness, 2015), Egill returns Monument cemetery Bogarness, Egill brings home the home after his first killing dead body of his son Böðvarr Did this man really live? Did he travel, fight, plunder and trade in the world around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea - Norway, Denmark, England, the Baltic Coast, maybe even further as member of the Varangian Guard in Constantinople? Or is he a literary creation by his 'descendant', the politician/historian/poet Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), two centuries later. The Bogarness Settlement centre gives no answers to this, does not even raise the question. We will experience the arrival of the first settlers and the landscape they encountered. A second