Let Charm Lead the Way: Hidden Folklore and Conservation in Iceland
Helgafell, holy mountain, ancient volcanic plug in western Iceland. Thorolf, who named the mountain, believed he would enter it after his death. (courtesy of Nancy Marie Brown)
american writer Nancy Marie Brown Published several books on Icelandic culture.in her latest book, looking for hidden peopleshe dives into ethnography, drawing on Icelandic accounts of the hidden world of elves and trolls as well as her own lived experiences.
Norse and Celtic settlers of Iceland in the 9th century arrived in an inhabited country without any narrative or landmarks. Soon, however, the land is filled with stories. Stones, hills, glaciers, volcanoes, and mountains are believed to host hidden beings with powers of their own, speaking to humans and interfering in their affairs. The many accounts offered in legends and later folklore emphasize the tragic consequences that would follow if humanity did not heed these forces. Brown wonders, is such a narrative relevant today when circumstances have changed radically?
Brown recounts the many stories of the hidden creatures of the land and their encounters with (other) Icelanders. Some of these stories have surfaced in public media, politics and the courts. Hidden People apparently have a say in many issues, including road construction.Occasionally, the discovery of elf habitats leads to national infrastructure agencies diversion planning route“The fascination,” Brown points out, “can be found on farms all over Iceland.” How, she wonders, is one supposed to understand this?
looking for hidden people is a comprehensive and moving journey – through myth and theory, language and comparative literature – into a world of wonder and fascination. It provides a compelling and surprising case for recognizing a power and presence that is not necessarily “seen” in everyday life but is nonetheless felt in some way. Brown’s evidence draws neatly from multiple fields, including physiology (evidence about human vision), physics (gravity and the concept of “vacuum” space), and anthropology (comparative understanding of magic and materiality). In particular, she draws on the knowledge of anthropologist Tim Ingold. She quotes Ingold as saying that a stone “cannot be understood apart from the many ways in which it participates in the currents of the living world.” Often these currents are imbued with hypnotism. “Why,” Brown asked, “should we acquiesce in disbelief? Why should we laugh at our sense of wonder?”
The home wall of an abandoned farm in Thingvellir National Park, Iceland. In order to reach Thingvellir, Altyn, the Northmen had to walk among the mountains, imagining the Elven Queen and her hunters sweeping down from the mountains. (courtesy of Nancy Marie Brown)
Iceland is often associated with fire and ice. In fact, Iceland’s volcanic geology is very active, providing fertile ground for all kinds of speculation about another world. Brown’s narrative focuses on the magic of glaciers, especially Snaefell Glacier. This relatively small “glacier” is often considered a sacred mountain and attracts a steady stream of tourists. According to geologist Haraldur Sigurðsson, whom Brown interviewed, this is not only a mystery to New Age enthusiasts, but a geological conundrum. Because the Snaefellsjökull volcanic belt runs perpendicular to Iceland’s main volcanic belt, Sigurðsson says it “presents a real paradox for geologists…it doesn’t follow the simple paradigm of plate tectonics.” had to give up. Every trip she’s made to Iceland in a row, she said, “was made or lost by what she saw or what she didn’t see.”
Snaefellsjökull is a key location in the novel Glacier Christianity, by Icelandic Nobel laureate Halldor Laxness. When it was published in 1968, it was generally considered superficial, playing silly magic tricks. Brown had read the book before attempting to climb the glacier, but didn’t pay much attention to it.However, when she got home, she reread the book and was “amused (or ashamed) to discover [her] The obsession with Snaefellsjokull is well explained. ’ It expresses beautifully, she says, ‘I feel like this mountain is sentient, it’s watching me even though I can’t see it. Brown admits that she was “a little distracted” and “a little eccentric and a little off-kilter” when she returned. Umby) commented: “My shoelaces were flapping around my ankles and I ran as hard as I could the way I came. I hope I can find the main road again.” However, Brown offered a meaningful path with long-term benefits. The “main road”. For her, like another character in the novel (priest/philosopher Jón Primus), the strangeness of the wizarding world blends together into a seamless whole, like a glacier on top of an active volcano.
The Snaefellsjökull glacier radiates energy and mystery in the evening sun. (courtesy of Nancy Marie Brown)
In the 80’s and 90’s, Glacier Christianity It’s starting to make sense. For some (including current authors), the novel’s key plots flesh out postmodern issues such as how to distinguish fact from fiction, fiction from ethnography. “So we come full circle,” Brown said of the Icelandic seers, who “speak to spirits who live in rocks, and who, in their place in the community of artists, writers, philosophers, and anthropologists, contemplate words and the world, the gods and the stones, and I am confident that his vision can provide us all with a path forward.”
Some elf stories are allegories about human-animal relationships, warnings of the dangers of the Anthropocene, and calls for an ethics of humility and caring. Brown concludes that more science and technology will not get us out of the environmental crisis. The fusion of modern and ancient perspectives can fascinate us, and it may show us the way.
The tidal flat extends to the Snaefellsjökull glacier. (courtesy of Nancy Marie Brown)
In Search of Hidden Peoples: How Icelandic Elves Saved the Planet, by Nancy Marie Brown, October 2022.
c is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Iceland and is currently a researcher at the Swedish Institute for Advanced Study in Uppsala. Born and raised on the Westman Islands in Iceland, he studied anthropology at the Universities of Iceland and Manchester. He has written extensively on a variety of issues, including environmental change.
