The Weight Of Mountains 6 – Stories

 

 

 

The weather this week has been surprisingly gentle! Not too windy and not too cold and often clear! The others are feeling disappointed, as we have been hearing stories from last winter (5 metres of snow, roofs being blown away, that sort of thing!) and they want more snow and wild weather. I for one am really enjoying the still crispness of the air, and the beautiful colours of the sky. The other day, I went for a walk along the coast a little way, the opposite direction from where I walked along the cape (TWOM 3). The light was so wonderful and clear, it was just amazing. Rachel and I walked on the black pebble beach part of the way and i was just amazed by the colours of the stones! Also, I saw kelp for the first time, big branches that had washed up, which looked like driftwood!!
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I’ve been kinda fascinated by this little rocky island out in the water, I briefly thought of trying to get out there to build a small house on it for my film piece, but Melody has advised against it due to the dangerous rocks around there and the potential slipperiness of the island itself. 
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This is Loppa, Melody’s lovely and snow-obsessed dog! She just loves having snow thrown for her, and to fill her mouth upwith it!

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I think these feet belonged to an Icelandic Raven. They are massive birds, and it is very clear why they are so prevalent in Nordic mythology. I haven’t been able to get a good close picture of one yet, but I’m trying!
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This weekend, we had our first symposium, which involved each of us showing some of our past work and then answering questions and giving a bit of a talk. I screened Zyklus, and had a great response! The symposiums are taking place in the library of the BioPol building, which is a research lab. The library itself is so cozy and luxurious, with elaborate wallpaper and big chandelier lights. It is a wonderful place to watch films, and its always warm and has free wifi! Whats not to love?

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View of the cape out of the BioPol library window, fourth floor.

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Jolene, enjoying the comforts (and Wifi) of the library room.

It was wonderful to see the films the others had made, as they were all so different, but so enjoyable, and of such high quality! It was very inspiring, and it was good to learn more about each person, and a bit about the stories of their lives.

On Saturday evening, we went to the Spakonuhof Museum, which is right next to the studio, and is a all about the first settler of Skagastrond, a seer and pagan prophetess by the name of  Þordis (pronounced “thordis”)

Wikipedia says the following:

“The first information about a settlement at Skagaströnd comes from the 10th century. Then a prophetess by the name of Þordis lived there at Spákonufell (Prophetess Mountain). She crops up throughout the Icelandic sagas and her reputation was ambivalent as she was skilled in witchcraft. The sagas tell that that Þordis walked up to Spakonufell every day (646 m.) and combed her hair with a golden comb. It is said that she had hidden her gold in the mountain and put a spell on it so that no one could use it except women which were not baptized and who hadn’t learnt any of Gods words.”

We were also told that the one to find Þordis’ treasure must be an 18 year old woman who had only ever been fed milk from a horse. We therefore deduced that none of us had a chance of finding the treasure, unfortunately. The story goes that if someone fitting that description was to climb the mountain without looking back, two ravens would appear, one carrying a key in its mouth, and would lead her to the treasure.

We met Dagny, who runs Spakonuhof museum, and also tells fortunes, in a variety of ways. There are little booths, each decorated differently for different forms of fortune telling:

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Booth for casting of rune stones

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Booth for tarot card readings

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Palmistry booth

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Adorable booth for reading of coffee grounds!

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Hey, doesn’t this look just like that painting I made for the Creature exhibition!?

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Dagny had us each pick out a tarot card, and told us about its meaning, mine was the “strong beautiful woman” and she told me that was me, and that the others had better not get on my bad side, and everyone ought to do as I say! Haha! Yu picked the same card and we decided we must be some kind of mafia bosses or something.

We also met the mayor of Skagastrond, Magnus, who is so friendly and warm. We began a conversation about the “hidden folk”, or Icelandic elves, and Magnus explained that whilst Icelanders are very practical, scientific and well educated people, deep down in their hearts, most people still believe in the hidden folk. I have heard this before, but it was different to hear it directly from the Mayor! He recounted a story of seeing an elf near a hydro dam which he had worked on in his previous job as a bulldozer operator. He drove past a big rock that he recalled moving during the construction, and saw a little figure standing on the stone and gesturing angrily at him! Moments later, his car began to belch black smoke, and when he got it to a car yard, they discovered that a nozzle on the oil tank had been unscrewed. I loved the way Magnus told this story, with a hint of a skeptical smile, as though he knew how it sounded, but could help believing it anyhow.

I had previously asked Melody about the idea of building a little island in the water, just out from the shore, in lieu of claiming the rock pictured in the fist image above. I asked her about the idea of moving rocks for it and she mysteriously replied that I should ask a local about the possible consequences of moving stones around. I asked at Spakonuhof and was told how the hidden folk are said to have houses which to our eyes just look like big rocks, and when their houses are inadvertently moved, they can get angry (hence Magnus’ encounter!)There is a bit of a local theory (unofficial of course) in Skagastrond, that says that the building of the docks, and subsequent moving of tons of rock from the cape was the cause of the sudden and mysterious disappearance of the herring which had up till that point been the town’s main export.  I learned that the cape is called Spákonufellshöfði – after the prophetess mountain, and is often referred to simple as “Höfðinn” – “the cape”.  Due to its large number of big interesting looking rocks, it is prime real estate for hidden folk!

The following is an excerpt from a guide to Spákonufellshöfði:

“During the time the harbour was built, in the thirties and fourties, stones were detached from the cape’s rock by huge explosions and used as fruition. This was not popular among all inhabitants. When the explosions were at their maximum, a fairy woman visited one of Skagaströnd ‘s locals in a dream. The fairy was very sullen and told him that the cape’s fairy settlement was being destroyed and therefore predicted that the next twenty years would be very difficult for the community. Whatever can be said about the fairy’s prediction, it is a fact that soon after that, the herring disappeared from Hunafloi bay, and caused a tremendous damage for the settlement. It was not until 1970 that employment began to prosper again. Since then, many believe that ships and companies named Höfðinn will receive bad luck.”

Food for thought…

– Em xoxo