Contemporary Iceland Huldufólk

1 contemporary iceland

1.1 surveys
1.2 tourism
1.3 road construction stopped
1.4 other incidents
1.5 changing beliefs

contemporary iceland
surveys

Árni björnsson, former director of ethnological department of national museum of iceland, did study of icelanders born between 1870 , 1920. disappointed find 10% believed in supernatural beings.

according 1975 survey psychologist erlendur haraldsson, icelanders’ level of belief in hidden people , fairies can broken down following percentages:

impossible, 10%
unlikely, 18%
possible, 33%
probable, 15%
certain, 7%
no opinion, 17%

there 1995 survey pétur pétursson, looked @ people interested in alternative belief systems , alternative medicine rather general population. according survey, among people of group, belief in elves broke down follows: 70% believed in existence, 6% did not believe in existence, 23% unsure, , 1% not answer.

a july 1998 survey dagblaðið vísir found 54.4% of icelanders surveyed claimed believe in elves, while 45.6% did not. notably, showed supporters of framsóknarflokkur (the progressive party) believed in elves more other political parties.

a 2006 rerun of erlendur haraldsson s 1975 survey erlendur , terry gunnell found there little bit more doubt there used be, figures same were. sontag summarises results: 8.0% of 650 persons [...] existence of huldufólk , álfar, 16.5% thought existed, 31.0% assumed possible, 21.5% thought unlikely, 13.5% thought impossible , 8.5% did not have opinion on this.

anthropologist kirsten hastrup found different ways of asking icelanders huldufólk elicit different responses. similarly, folklore professor terry gunnell has said: few believe in such, won t deny either.

icelandic communities in other countries may have lower levels of belief in huldufólk. daisy l. neijmann claims among icelanders in canada, belief in these creatures... geographically bound seeing part of icelandic landscape, , therefore not, ultimately, survive among icelandic canadians.

tourism

the icelandic elf school in reykjavík organizes five-hour-long educational excursions visitors.

hafnarfjörður offers hidden worlds tour , guided walk of 90 minutes. includes stroll through hellisgerdi park, paths wind through lava field planted tall trees , potted bonsai trees in summer, , said peopled town s largest elf colony.

stokkseyri has icelandic wonders museum, museum guests walk world of icelandic elves , hidden people , glimpse of life.

road construction stopped


Álfhóll in kópavogur. since elves believed live here, road narrows.

Álfhóll (elf hill) famous home of elves in kópavogur, , Álfhólsvegur (elf hill road) named after it. late in 1930s, road construction began on Álfhólsvegur, supposed go through Álfhóll, meant Álfhóll have demolished. nothing seemed go well, , construction stopped due money problems. decade later road construction through Álfhóll continued, when work resumed machines started breaking , tools got damaged , lost. road remained routed around hill, not through planned. in late 1980s, road raised , paved. construction went planned until came time demolish part of Álfhóll. rock drill used, broke. drill fetched, 1 broke, well. after both drills broke pieces, workers refused go near hill tools. Álfhóll protected city cultural heritage, , remains after last ice age. kópavogur has remained 1 of prominent sites of stories elves disrupting road-building, , subject of 2010 film sumarlandið, depicts kópavogur stone grásteinn elf-home.

in 2013, proposed road construction Álftanes peninsula reykjavík suburb of garðabær, undertaken icelandic road , coastal commission, stopped because elf supporters , environmental groups protested, stating road destroy habitat of elves , local cultural beliefs.

one of foremost public commentators on building projects in relation elves self-proclaimed seer , expert erla stefánsdóttir.

other incidents

in 1982, 150 icelanders went nato base in keflavík elves might endangered american phantom jets , awacs reconnaissance planes. in 2004, alcoa had have government expert certify chosen building site free of archaeological sites, including ones related huldufólk folklore, before build aluminium smelter in iceland. in 2011, elves/huldufólk believed responsible incident in bolungarvík rocks rained down on residential streets.

changing beliefs

insofar icelanders believe in huldufólk, clear beliefs changing current in nineteenth century; indeed, change evidence that, @ least among people, folklore huldufólk meaningful part of contemporary culture. unnur jökulsdóttir found that:

Í byrjun ferðar var ég dálítið ringluð á öllum þessum tegundum hulduvera sem fólk sagði mér frá og uppgötvaði innra með mér að ég var að leita að hreinræktuðu huldufólki , svona eins og því er lýst í þjóðsögunum og eins og talað var um það í minni sveit. en smám saman sætti ég mig við að í huldufólkstrúnni eru nýbúar, nýjar sortir af álfum sem sjáendur tala um og lýsa. eitthvað sem ekki er til í eldri sögum og sannar að þessi trú er á hreyfingu. og það koma nýjar verur inn í sagnaheiminn, enda er munnleg sagnahefð alltaf sambland af ytri áhrifum og gömlum arfi.






at beginning of journey confused different kinds of hidden beings people told me about, , realised looking pure huldufólk of sort described in folk tales , talked out in own district. gradually got used idea in huldufólk-beliefs there immigrants, new kinds of elves clairvoyants talk , describe. not exist in older stories , demonstrates belief alive. , new beings come world of stories, oral story-tradition mixture of influences outside , ancient heritage.






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