"Respect the elves - or else"
March 25, 2015 11:44 AM Subscribe
Huddled together amid the jagged rocks of the Gálgahraun lava field, a group of nervous onlookers wait with bated breath. Suddenly, there's a loud crack and a tumble of stones as a 50-tonne boulder is wrenched from the ground, then slowly raised into the air and eased down nearby, so delicately you'd think it was a priceless sculpture. "I just hope they’re happy in their new home," says Ragnhildur Jónsdóttir. "The elves really don't like being uprooted like this."Huldufólk, or "hidden people," are beings from Icelandic folklore reported to dwell in rocks. People are very reluctant to disturb their homes. (Previously.)
Found footage of the Hidden People.
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:14 PM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:14 PM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Instead of repeating myself, here's an article I wrote last winter in English about Icelandic belief in elves.
tl;dr elves are Icelandic UFOs
posted by Kattullus at 12:42 PM on March 25, 2015 [16 favorites]
tl;dr elves are Icelandic UFOs
posted by Kattullus at 12:42 PM on March 25, 2015 [16 favorites]
Shouldn't be hard to find. Probably live a very sedimentary lifestyle.
posted by hal9k at 12:54 PM on March 25, 2015 [13 favorites]
posted by hal9k at 12:54 PM on March 25, 2015 [13 favorites]
Ooo! Excited for this post! My kid and I have been enjoying the hell out of Luke Pearson’s Hilda comics, which take place in a vaguely Icelandic world. The second one (Hilda & The Midnight Giant) deals with this very thing -- the practical problems of sharing space with tiny invisible elves.
Also, the first book in the series, published as Hilda and the Troll in the US, was called Hildafolk in the UK -- which I see now is a pun on huldufólk. Had no idea.
posted by miles per flower at 1:07 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Also, the first book in the series, published as Hilda and the Troll in the US, was called Hildafolk in the UK -- which I see now is a pun on huldufólk. Had no idea.
posted by miles per flower at 1:07 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
I suddenly had to hear Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song. Land of the Ice and Snow and all.
posted by C.A.S. at 1:14 PM on March 25, 2015
posted by C.A.S. at 1:14 PM on March 25, 2015
They're taking the elves for granite.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:17 PM on March 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:17 PM on March 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
Goddammit we just had our Foreign Minister attempt to end the EU accession process with a letter, prompting a protest of thousands in front of parliament, but what hits the international news? LOL OH THOSE CUTE AND QUIRKY ICELANDERS AND THEIR CUTE BACKWARDS SUPERSTITIONS (that only like 5 people but who cares right?)
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 1:28 PM on March 25, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 1:28 PM on March 25, 2015 [10 favorites]
To be fair, the FM was acting at the elves' behest.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:32 PM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:32 PM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┤ʘ ل͟ʘ├̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅
posted by Fizz at 1:32 PM on March 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 1:32 PM on March 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
Might add that Gálgahraun protests have nothing to do with elves. It's a legally protected lava field, and a favorite setting for one of our grand master painters. It's about development running roughshod over environmental concerns; not sodding elves.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 1:40 PM on March 25, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 1:40 PM on March 25, 2015 [10 favorites]
LOL OH THOSE CUTE AND QUIRKY ICELANDERS AND THEIR CUTE BACKWARDS SUPERSTITIONS (that only like 5 people but who cares right?)
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane
ಠ_ಠ
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:42 PM on March 25, 2015
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane
ಠ_ಠ
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:42 PM on March 25, 2015
It's about development running roughshod over environmental concerns; not sodding elves.
Says you. "Elf church which sits in the way of a new road will be move today" is a headline on Icelandmag.com, which has a tag forposts on the Gálgahraun lava field. That article ends with this paragraph:
posted by filthy light thief at 2:17 PM on March 25, 2015
Says you. "Elf church which sits in the way of a new road will be move today" is a headline on Icelandmag.com, which has a tag forposts on the Gálgahraun lava field. That article ends with this paragraph:
Elves are thought to be responsible for numerous heavy equipment breakdowns and other accidents over the decades, we can only hope that there will be no mishaps during today's move.But human protesters were battling human police and judges to prevent the environmental impacts, no mention of elves there.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:17 PM on March 25, 2015
From that photoessay it seems this was a problem exclusively in the 1970s, and that makes sense.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:47 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Meatbomb at 2:47 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
filthy light thief: Says you.
I realize that we Icelanders are hardly the most oppressed people in the world, but it's still a pretty good rule of thumb that if someone tells you something about their community, it's poor form to reply with "says you."
posted by Kattullus at 3:09 PM on March 25, 2015 [9 favorites]
I realize that we Icelanders are hardly the most oppressed people in the world, but it's still a pretty good rule of thumb that if someone tells you something about their community, it's poor form to reply with "says you."
posted by Kattullus at 3:09 PM on March 25, 2015 [9 favorites]
Yeah, and I don't mean any hard feelings or nothing. I've just been covering this extensively for my own Icelandic media outlet, here in Iceland. We're aware of the stereotypes and what gets clicks, and some folks choose to uh inflate the stereotypes for clicks. The reality is Gálgahraun, here on the ground, is an environmental and to some extent cultural issue. The trivialization through elftalk is helping someone, but it isn't the lava field.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 3:43 PM on March 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 3:43 PM on March 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
I suddenly had to hear Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song.
A request for the Viking Kittens.
posted by ovvl at 5:26 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
A request for the Viking Kittens.
posted by ovvl at 5:26 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Noted author Alda Sigmundsdóttir has just published a wonderful book about the Hidden People. It is available (in English) on Amazon as an ebook or a paperback: The Little Book of the Hidden People.
This delightful book groups together twenty stories that are quite touching and provide a context for the elves / hidden people. Each story is presented and then followed by notes from Alda placing the story into a historical or sociological context. I greatly enjoyed the book.
From the editor's blurb: "Iceland’s elf folklore, at its core, reflects the plight of a nation living in abject poverty on the edge of the inhabitable world, and its people’s heroic efforts to survive, physically, emotionally and spiritually. That is what the stories of the elves, or hidden people, are really about. In a country that was, at times, virtually uninhabitable, where poverty was endemic and death and grief a part of daily life, the Icelanders nurtured a belief in a world that existed parallel to their own. This was the world of the hidden people, which more often than not was a projection of the most fervent dreams and desires of the human population."
posted by seawallrunner at 6:43 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
This delightful book groups together twenty stories that are quite touching and provide a context for the elves / hidden people. Each story is presented and then followed by notes from Alda placing the story into a historical or sociological context. I greatly enjoyed the book.
From the editor's blurb: "Iceland’s elf folklore, at its core, reflects the plight of a nation living in abject poverty on the edge of the inhabitable world, and its people’s heroic efforts to survive, physically, emotionally and spiritually. That is what the stories of the elves, or hidden people, are really about. In a country that was, at times, virtually uninhabitable, where poverty was endemic and death and grief a part of daily life, the Icelanders nurtured a belief in a world that existed parallel to their own. This was the world of the hidden people, which more often than not was a projection of the most fervent dreams and desires of the human population."
posted by seawallrunner at 6:43 PM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Oh, Kattullus: "So half of Iceland is in a relationship with God, but bangs an elf on the side?"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAH. I'm still boggling after a friend of mine visited in December and told me of the Yule Lads. I'm vaguely considering making an ugly holiday sweater featuring them, except damn if I know what I'd put on it.
This kind of reminds me of Hawaiian menehune.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:18 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
BWAHAHAHAHAHAH. I'm still boggling after a friend of mine visited in December and told me of the Yule Lads. I'm vaguely considering making an ugly holiday sweater featuring them, except damn if I know what I'd put on it.
This kind of reminds me of Hawaiian menehune.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:18 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I highly recommend Huldufólk 102, a documentary about the hidden people of Iceland by Nisha Inalsingh.
The film is gentle, even trancelike. It conveys profound respect for the Huldufólk and the land in a visually striking and thought-provoking way. It also features Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson of the Ásatrúarfélagið, Sigurður Atlason from the Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft, and beautiful music by Sigur Rós.
posted by velvet winter at 12:38 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
The film is gentle, even trancelike. It conveys profound respect for the Huldufólk and the land in a visually striking and thought-provoking way. It also features Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson of the Ásatrúarfélagið, Sigurður Atlason from the Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft, and beautiful music by Sigur Rós.
posted by velvet winter at 12:38 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Velvet winter - that film is beautiful ! thank you for recommending it.
posted by seawallrunner at 1:03 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by seawallrunner at 1:03 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
« Older "GooooooOOOOOO INTERNET!" | This is Swing Street! Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
I wonder if there have been any freelance elf finding scandals. Also, how are freelancers not contractors?
posted by oceanjesse at 11:59 AM on March 25, 2015