We have a response from our Ambassador and the Icelandic Government
As you may remember the topic of my last epilog was the “absence” of an active Icelandic Consul General for the Midwest. Well, we did get some response. Our ambassador, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson in Washington, DC, contacted the government back in Iceland who has agreed to point a new vice council general for the Chicago area. This is great news and we hope to find a good candidate who is devoted to the Icelandic community and its affairs. We will keep you posted.
Following a very good General Meeting we met at the Museum of Science and Industry to decorate our Christmas tree. It was a festive time and the best turnout we have had in years, around 20 people and lots of children. We can proudly say that our tree is beautiful and has a great location right in the center of the museum. The formal opening for the “Christmas Around the World” was held November 20 – A festive reception attended by five members from our organization. We have posted new pictures from these events at our website, www.simnet.is/chicago
Looking to the future, we are planning a Christmas party for the children, which should be a lot of fun and Santa will be there. Our annual Þorrablót will be held on the 16th of February at the Swedish American Museum on Clark Street in Chicago. As always, there will be dancing, Icelandic and American food, Raffle, and Brennivín (Black Death). The Þorrablót is definitely the highlight of the year with usual attendance of 70 to 80 people. This year we hope to see you all and, of course, we welcome new members and guests. Until then, enjoy the holiday season.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Einar Steinsson, President
Association Affairs
From the Editor
Since the tragic events on September 11, the poem September 1 1939 by W.H. Auden has been floating around on the internet. The poem refers to a war in another time but is a powerful message for the destruction and devastation of war in any time:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsesssing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.
A translation by the same poet, W.H. Auden, of Völuspá or the Song of the Sybil, the ancient Icelandic rhyme, could be a description of modern terrorism:
Surt with the bane of branches comes
From the south, on his sword the sun of the Valgods,
Crags topple, the crone falls headlong,
Men tread Hel's road, the Heavens split open.
Earth sinks in the sea, the sun turns black,
Cast down from Heaven are the hot stars,
Fumes reek, into flames burst,
The sky itself is scorched with fire.
In addition to being a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, this is the time of reflection, where we rejoice over peace and harmony and the brighter sides of life. Before Christianization, Icelanders had “jól”, a winter solstice feast, after which the days began to become longer again. To this day, “jólin” brings us the hope that better times are ahead where the sun will shine brighter.
This Christmas, our thoughts are with our families and friends as well as those who are going through hardship and do not share our feelings of hope and joy.
Merry Christmas everyone or gleðileg jól.
Annual Board Meeting
The Annual Board meeting was held on October 28th at La Bocca Della Verita, an italian restaurant in Chicago. We reflected on the past year and what we would like to accomplish this year. Here is a summary of the agenda:
1. Annual Finance Report was reviewed and approved (see below). we had a negative income margin of $381.63 last year.
2. Board elected:
President: Einar Steinsson
Vice Presidents:
Stella Solis
Jon Hofteig
Sigurþór Heimisson
Treasurer: Sonja Johnson
Editor: G. Steinar Guðmundsson
Secretary: Sóley Runólfsdóttir
Auditor: Miguel Solis
3. Unchanged membership fee
4. Þorrablót, web-site, Christmas ornaments for the Science Museum and the Scandinavian Day were discussed.
Our Christmas tree at the Museum of Science and Industry
Come and see our tree. It is in very good location this year, right in the middle of everything. The tree will be up until January 13 2002 when we will take it down at 1 pm.
Þorrablót
Þorrablót will be held at the Swedish Museum downtown Chicago on February 16th 2002. Preparations are in full swing. Mid-January we will mail a more detailed flier where you will be asked to répondez s´il vous plait.
Letters to the Association
The Iceland Minnesota Alliance
The Iceland Minnesota Alliance is priviledged to announce that we are the host organization for the 202 INL Convention to be held in Minneapolis - St. Paul on April 19-21, 2002.
We are extremely proud to announce that Vigdís Finnbogadóttir has accepted the invitation to speak at the Convention. This convention will be an exciting, fun and informative time. Please visit our website at www.frostbit.com/icelandmn for information about the Convention and an articel about Vigdis when she visited Minneapolis two year ago.
As everyone knows, the planning of an event like this is dependent on the anticipated number that will be attending. To aid in the planning, the Iceland Minnesota Alliance is asking all who receive this to e-mail us back as soon as possible if you or your Chapter - Association are interested in attending the Convention. This interest in attending is not binding but rather is a very important tool for us in planning the Convention. A brochure and formal registration form will be sent in the future.
We are trying hard to notify everyone interested about the Convention. Please fell free to forward this message to others or let us know of anyone who may be interested. If you have a membership list, we would love to have it in our database.
If you have a website, we would like to link to it and ask you to put a link to our website. Watch our website for a major update the first week in November. We will be putting on the website detailed information about the Convention and links to local sponsors.
We would like to hear from you. Contact us regarding this letter at:
Steingrimur Steinolfsson 2901 West 112th St., Bloomington, N, 55431,
phone 952-881-3326, fax 952-888-3392, e-mail: icelander@frostbit.com
“Hvað er svo glatt sem góðra vina fundur” “ There is nothing as good as a get together with good friends”
Letter from Sólarfilma (Sunfilm)
We have just now finished the updating of our Web Store, which we opened/started last winter. Sólarfilma offers more Icelandic souvenirs and postcards than any other company in Iceland. No one else offers color slides with pictures from Iceland, including some spectacular volcanic shots. All our goods are now on the web.
The most exciting articles we offer you NOW are our brand new special Icelandic Yule lads (Jólasveinar) -especially designed for Sólarfilma by Brian Pilkington. Eight of them are ready for delivery. The remaining + Grýla og Leppalúði will become available next year. Text is provided with each of the Yule lads.
For further details (for instance our X-mas mug) please see our site at
News You Can Use
Icelandic Cinema
In the last issue of Farsælda Frón we mentioned that an Icelandic film “Ikingut” would be featured at the 18th Annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. The film received two awards on the festival. There are two panels of judges, children´s panel and panel only with adults. The former panel placed Ikingut as the second best foreign film and the adult panel chose the film to be second in the Best film category. This year 270 films from over 40 countries were shown. Ikingut has been featured on many international film festivals and won awards such as the best film on the International Chilcren´s Film Festival in Montreal, Canada.
Icelandic Guest Services in USA
Gúnni og Sóla have a Guesthouse in Colombia Maryland for traveler´s in the Baltimore - Washington D.C area. Transportation to and from the airport is included (12 miles from BWI), as well as evening snack and breakfast. Sightseeing tours are also available.
For details contact: Gúnni og Sóla, Heimilisgisting og AKSTUR, e-mail: solhlid@gisting.com or see more information on the world wide web at: www.gisting.com
Icelandic National League in North America
According to a newspaper article in Morgunblaðið, the 82. annual conference of the Icelandic National League in Vancouver last april was an important milestone in further strengthening the collaboration of all the Icelandic leagues in North-America. Next year the conference will be held for the first time in the United States, in Minneapolis. The conference in Vancouver was attended by 80 representatives from 16 Icelandic leagues from Canada, United States and Iceland. It is expected that more that 200 representatives will attend next year´s meeting in Minnespolis. In the article, Ray Johnson, president of INL disscuses the future of INL where he stresses the importance of introducing the league to all the Icelandic leagues in NA, since many do not even know of its existence. It is the role of the league to find a common ground for all the Icelandic organizations and communities in NA. There are currently approximately 2,000 members in various organizations within the INL and for the past 3 years there increased collaboration between the many organizations has been the main theme of the INL. Ideas such as exchange of students, teachers, and houses as well visits by artists and other members to different sanctions of the INL have been successful and will hopefully continue.
The annual meeting of the National League in Iceland was held in Reykjavík recently where Ray Johnson was the guest of honor. He is born in Manitoba but is of Icelandic descedent which he is proud of. He met with Halldór Ásgrímsson, secretary of state and Björn Bjarnason minister of education during his stay. He invitied Ásgrímsson to the conference in Minneapolis next year. Johnson has been an active member of the INL for the past 7 years, 3 as vice-president and 2 as president. Preparation for the conference in Minneapolis have been ongoing which he sees as a stepping stone to the future for the very much so important organization.
Remember, Annual Membership Fees are due January 6th.
Annual membership fees are due January 6, 2002. Please, send in the enclosed pre-stamped envelope a check made payable to Icelandic Association of Chicago. Annual membership fees are $25 for families and $15 for individuals/students.
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