On this week's episode of Unpacked by AFAR, we’re heading to Iceland—well, kinda. We’re actually exploring the Viking hearts of New Icelanders, from Gimli, Manitoba to Mountain, North Dakota. Two towns divided by a border, but forever linked by their surprisingly storied and deep Icelandic roots.
Liz Beatty, host of the North Americana podcast, will be our guide to foam swords, Icelandic folk songs no child should hear, and an epic Viking battle reenactment at Gimli’s annual Icelandic festival. We’ll also meet a real, live fjallkonan. Want to know what that means? Tune in to find out.
Bonus: This week, we’re hosting travel trivia at the end of the episode!
----
Read the transcript here: https://rebrand.ly/admh0g4
Discover more episodes of the podcast here: https://www.afar.com/podcasts/unpacked
----
CONNECT WITH AFAR
Afar.com is a digital and print magazine that publishes travel tips, guides, news, and stories: https://www.afar.com
Get updates on the latest articles, travel news, and more from AFAR by signing up for the AFAR newsletter: https://afar.com/newsletters
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Liz Beatty, host of the North Americana podcast, will be our guide to foam swords, Icelandic folk songs no child should hear, and an epic Viking battle reenactment at Gimli’s annual Icelandic festival. We’ll also meet a real, live fjallkonan. Want to know what that means? Tune in to find out.
Bonus: This week, we’re hosting travel trivia at the end of the episode!
----
Read the transcript here: https://rebrand.ly/admh0g4
Discover more episodes of the podcast here: https://www.afar.com/podcasts/unpacked
----
CONNECT WITH AFAR
Afar.com is a digital and print magazine that publishes travel tips, guides, news, and stories: https://www.afar.com
Get updates on the latest articles, travel news, and more from AFAR by signing up for the AFAR newsletter: https://afar.com/newsletters
Follow AFAR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfarMedia
Follow AFAR on Twitter: https://twitter.com/afarmedia
Follow AFAR on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afarmedia
Follow AFAR on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/afarmedia
Category
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TravelTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 We've all been here.
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00:41 Learn more and meet your advisor at afar.com/tac.
00:46 (upbeat music)
00:54 I'm Aislinn Green and this is Unpacked,
00:57 the podcast that unpacks one tricky topic
00:59 in travel every week.
01:01 And this week we're heading to Iceland.
01:04 Well, kinda.
01:05 We're actually heading to the Iceland of North America
01:09 where we'll unpack the ways that immigration can unfold.
01:12 Liz Beattie, host of the North Americana podcast
01:16 will be our guide.
01:17 And in this episode,
01:18 she'll explore the Viking hearts of new Icelanders
01:22 from Gimli, Manitoba to Mountain, North Dakota.
01:25 Two towns divided by a border,
01:27 but forever linked by their surprisingly storied
01:30 and deep Icelandic roots.
01:33 And bonus, we're going to experience
01:34 a Viking battle reenactment
01:36 at Gimli's annual Icelandic festival
01:39 with journalist Robert Reed.
01:41 It is quite the show.
01:43 Let's head north.
01:43 - About 140 years ago,
01:50 my family left Iceland
01:52 and moved to the interlake region of Manitoba.
01:55 And so it's really awesome for Nidalsk
01:58 to bring me back here for a warm welcome.
02:01 Thank you.
02:02 (audience cheering)
02:05 (gentle music)
02:08 ♪ You say you love her like a sister ♪
02:18 - In 1875, immigrants from Iceland
02:22 began settling in and around Gimli, Manitoba,
02:26 like the ancestors of this singer-songwriter,
02:29 Lindy von Vjart.
02:31 Known today as the interlake region,
02:35 this became the heart of new Iceland in North America.
02:40 Now at the time,
02:41 there was an exodus of up to a quarter
02:44 of Iceland's population.
02:46 They were escaping starvation from volcanoes,
02:49 destroying farms and other economic woes.
02:54 Many of these 15,000 or so Icelanders
02:57 would make their way across half this new nation of Canada
03:02 to the shores of Lake Winnipeg.
03:05 That's about 520 miles north
03:09 and slightly west of Minneapolis, Minnesota,
03:13 and about an hour's drive north of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
03:18 Life in Gimli in 1875 was not easy.
03:23 There were epic floods, smallpox,
03:27 but some say it was the bitter cold winters
03:31 that drove some new Icelanders south to North Dakota.
03:35 Yup, you heard me.
03:37 Off to Pembina County, North Dakota,
03:40 for some better weather.
03:42 So fast forward 144 years,
03:45 the bonds between these two new Iceland communities
03:49 remain stronger than ever.
03:51 And today we find out why.
03:54 Meeting the people and covering the flat rural expanses
03:58 that define these descendants of Vikings
04:01 on both sides of this remote prairie border.
04:05 But first, a piece by Robert Reed.
04:09 Robert's been the digital nomad
04:11 for national geographic travel media.
04:14 He's worked with Lonely Planet
04:15 and he's taking us right now
04:17 into the Viking heart of Gimli's Icelandic Festival.
04:21 Listen in.
04:22 - I'm exploring Manitoba on four wheels
04:31 and I've often wondered
04:33 why doesn't Canadian literature have an on the road,
04:36 basically an equivalent of Jack Kerouac's road trip novel?
04:39 Canada should have one.
04:42 You see that in Manitoba's back roads,
04:44 all of the rewards of Route 66 await.
04:47 Mom and pop diners,
04:49 little unexpected histories to track down,
04:51 goofy roadside attractions.
04:53 I mean, Gladstone has a happy rock
04:56 that waves at you as you go by.
04:58 Yeah, I learned a lot in Manitoba's back roads.
05:00 For one thing, it's not all farmland.
05:03 Riding Mountain National Park has mountains.
05:06 I took steep hikes through canyons
05:08 and even took a wild leap into a clear lake.
05:12 That was a bit chilly.
05:13 I learned a lot even before leaving Winnipeg.
05:18 A local music writer, John Inerson,
05:19 offers tours of the city's musical past.
05:23 We saw the house where the band The Guess Who
05:25 wrote the song These Eyes
05:27 and then tried Neil Young's favorite donut.
05:29 Spoiler alert, it's the chocolate on chocolate cake donut
05:33 at Salisbury House, just south of downtown.
05:36 And Neil, if you're listening, it's still delicious.
05:40 But my ultimate road trip destination lies ahead,
05:43 New Iceland.
05:44 You begin to see signs of it flicker by
05:47 as you leave the Trans-Canadian Highway,
05:49 crossing the woodlands of the Canadian Shield,
05:52 a gravel road that's named Reykjavik Street
05:54 after the Iceland capital,
05:56 or the unmistakable red, white, and blue cross
05:58 of the Iceland flag flapping in the wind.
06:01 But I'm not just covering miles
06:03 to experience New Iceland routes.
06:05 I'm about to embark on a journey back through time.
06:09 (dogs barking)
06:12 (men shouting)
06:17 (men cheering)
06:19 The Manitoba sun casts a weary eye over an unsettling scene.
06:33 At first glance, the wide sloping field
06:36 off the western shores of Lake Winnipeg
06:39 looks like a death metal convention
06:41 that's gone very, very wrong.
06:44 Look closer.
06:52 The raging men with thick dangling beards
06:54 and the few bare-faced women aren't here for any music.
06:59 They're clad in chain mail.
07:01 They wear steel conical helmets
07:03 and face off in two long, furious lines,
07:06 thumping their weapons against wood shields
07:08 and letting out blood-curdling war cries
07:11 as they charge forward to clash swords in the August heat.
07:15 (men shouting)
07:18 Do you learn how to do that?
07:21 (men laughing)
07:22 - Do it again. - Is it a class?
07:23 - Yeah, it takes practice
07:24 without your voice cracking.
07:26 (men laughing)
07:27 It really does.
07:29 - Groans follow as a handful of bodies
07:32 fall into a lifeless heat.
07:34 - Are the Vikings ready?
07:37 I can't hear you.
07:38 (men shouting)
07:40 Are the kids ready?
07:41 (children shouting)
07:43 Look, now a rush of children,
07:45 hoisting foam swords over their heads,
07:47 are charging the field to finish off any survivors.
07:50 The results are devastating.
07:54 There will be no mercy in Manitoba today.
07:58 This is a mock 11th century Viking battle.
08:04 And very possibly the most enjoyable
08:06 and fun battle reenactment in the world.
08:09 I'm watching it in comfort behind a rope barrier
08:12 with a couple hundred others,
08:13 mostly local families who laugh along and eat ice creams
08:17 as the Viking bloodbath unfolds.
08:19 Welcome to Gimli, Manitoba's Icelandic Festival,
08:24 which is celebrating its 130th anniversary next August.
08:27 This four-day festival has been held here
08:30 in the lakeside town of Gimli,
08:32 about an hour's drive north of Winnipeg.
08:35 This town swells by the thousands for the festival
08:38 when visitors come in to enjoy amusement park rides,
08:41 Icelandic food, fireworks, folk music shows, parades,
08:46 quirky games like pushing each other off long poles
08:49 into the lake water,
08:50 and of course, the star event, Viking battles.
08:54 Now these Vikings aren't here just because Vikings are great
08:57 and everyone loves Vikings,
08:59 which of course everyone does love Vikings.
09:01 But because Gimli is the heart of Canada's new Iceland,
09:05 home to the biggest Icelandic population
09:07 outside that Nordic island nation.
09:10 Why this is here is an interesting story.
09:12 About 150 years ago in the 1870s,
09:21 Iceland was a tough place to live.
09:23 Earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, measles outbreaks,
09:28 and famine eventually drove about one in five Icelanders
09:31 across the North Atlantic to seek a new life.
09:34 Many eventually settled in Manitoba
09:37 as part of Canada's controversial program
09:40 to promote agriculture
09:41 by encouraging resettlement in the prairies.
09:44 The new settlers received a grant
09:45 of 60 square kilometers west of Lake Winnipeg,
09:48 which became briefly known as the Icelandic Reserve.
09:51 It didn't go well though.
09:53 Winters were rough here too.
09:55 And the reserve soon returned to Canada's hands.
09:58 But not before Icelandic culture had taken root.
10:01 And today, Icelandic culture
10:03 makes up a notable part of Manitoba.
10:05 At least 26,000 Manitobans,
10:08 or about one in 50, have some Icelandic heritage.
10:12 In Winnipeg, you'll find a weekly newspaper
10:14 published in Icelandic,
10:16 and the University of Manitoba
10:18 offering degrees in Icelandic language and literature.
10:22 But I can't help but feel
10:23 it's in the historic lakeside communities
10:26 where New Iceland still thrives the most.
10:29 Arriving at Hekla Grindstone Provincial Park,
10:43 you could easily mistake New Iceland
10:45 as more maritime than prairie.
10:48 Old wood homes and boats
10:49 lined a windswept shore of Lake Winnipeg,
10:52 a body of water so large
10:54 it was long mistaken for a sea.
10:56 There's a lone shop here that sells gas to locals,
11:00 and fresh fillets of smoked gold-eye fish,
11:03 the perfect snack to take on hiking trails
11:05 along the limestone cliffs.
11:06 90 kilometers south is the big city of New Iceland, Gimli.
11:12 Its compact center is a fun place to walk around.
11:17 There's a gold sand beach
11:18 with a pier lined with local artworks.
11:21 Manitoba's oldest running shop,
11:23 H.P. Turgunson & Sons, is here too.
11:27 It's been open since 1898
11:29 and a great place to pick up Viking t-shirts
11:31 and Icelandic souvenirs.
11:33 The town's landmark nearby
11:35 is a statue of a stoic Viking facing the west.
11:38 Its neighbor is the New Iceland Heritage Museum,
11:41 which tells the tale of Icelandic settlers
11:43 moving to the area in the late 1800s.
11:46 And it's here you can learn the story
11:48 behind the name Gimli.
11:50 According to Norse mythology,
11:51 a series of natural disasters and wars
11:54 called Ragnarok led to mass deaths.
11:58 Even Thor couldn't survive them.
12:00 The few that did went to Gimli,
12:02 which means fire shelter,
12:04 and was considered the most beautiful place in the universe.
12:08 Even, as the story goes, more beautiful than the sun.
12:12 - We're down to four!
12:13 (crowd cheering)
12:16 We're fighting the hot Manitoba sun
12:18 with no shade, give it up, come on!
12:21 (crowd cheering)
12:23 One more attack, we will kill them all!
12:29 - The sun certainly shines on Gimli in every August
12:32 when the festival's buzzing around.
12:35 The Green at Harbor Park, where the Viking camp is set up.
12:39 This is where the 11th century lives.
12:41 Dozens of reenactors set up camp
12:43 as authentically as possible.
12:45 That means no horns on the Viking helmets.
12:48 They stir iron cast pots filled with stews
12:51 made of bacon, apples, and nuts.
12:53 And inside tents, they demonstrate
12:55 how to make arrows and axes the Viking way.
12:58 A few concessions are made to modern times, though.
13:02 They will pose for Instagram pics.
13:04 And they yell a lot.
13:06 And during battles, a few warriors
13:10 even wear TED Talk-like microphones
13:12 to parlay to the crowd as the pillaging begins.
13:16 I'm watching all this hilarity next to a middle-aged woman
13:20 who seemed particularly interested.
13:22 I asked why, and it turns out her son's
13:25 making his debut in the battle today.
13:27 He worked so hard to do this, she says,
13:30 with the kind of pride only a Viking mother could know.
13:33 I look up and see her son.
13:35 He's a little guy, still barefaced and quite thin.
13:38 And he's being carried lengthwise
13:40 by eight husky men in chain mail.
13:43 They're planning to use him to ram
13:44 into the wall of attacking children.
13:47 Of course, the plan fails, and soon they all join
13:50 the array of Viking corpses strewn across the field.
13:54 If this sounds silly, it is a little.
13:58 But in Gimli, talking with the reenactors
14:01 and Icelandic-Canadian locals,
14:03 you see this isn't just for games.
14:05 It's a true tribute, and the local history,
14:08 once experienced, becomes infectious.
14:11 Now, visiting Gimli may not make you Icelandic,
14:15 but be forewarned, you might leave a Viking.
14:19 'Cause next time, I'm packing chain mail.
14:22 - It was so, so crazy to remember, even.
14:37 The moment that we just stepped off that plane,
14:39 it was like I just awakened a whole new side of me,
14:42 the whole new other half of the world
14:43 that I had yet to discover was now in front of my eyes.
14:46 - That was Malik Jackson.
14:50 In 2022, Malik traveled to Ghana
14:53 with Son of a Saint and Learning Afar,
14:55 Afar's nonprofit arm, which sponsors travel programs
14:58 around the world for underserved students.
15:01 In partnership with Global Leadership Adventures,
15:04 Learning Afar has changed the lives of thousands
15:06 of students throughout the United States.
15:09 Since the program began in 2009,
15:11 students have traveled to China, Costa Rica,
15:14 Ghana, and the American Southwest.
15:16 And as a result of those trips, 96% of participants
15:20 now want to pursue a career that makes
15:22 a positive impact on the world.
15:25 Your help makes a difference in giving tomorrow's leaders
15:28 the support they need.
15:30 Donate now at afar.com/learningafarfund.
15:33 (upbeat music)
15:36 - So the Gimli Icelandic Festival or Islandur de Gadagirin,
15:52 and oh, I'm so sorry for murdering that pronunciation,
15:56 but I thought the effort was important.
15:59 This festival is one of the oldest continuous
16:04 running cultural festivals in North America,
16:07 followed closely by the Deuce of August,
16:11 celebrated by the Icelandic community
16:14 of Mountain, North Dakota.
16:16 That's about three hours due south
16:18 over the border from Winnipeg.
16:20 These two communities have supported each other
16:23 in these celebrations for a very long time.
16:27 All this made me wonder, what is it that defines
16:32 or entrenches this new Iceland identity
16:37 over centuries, over hundreds of miles,
16:40 even over national borders?
16:44 Well, at least half the answers to all this
16:46 were in Mountain, North Dakota.
16:48 A couple of hours now south of Winnipeg, Manitoba,
16:56 approaching the border, and this misty rural panorama
17:00 is completely unchanging.
17:02 The landscape could not be more flat.
17:04 The roads could not be more straight.
17:07 There is an aching rural beauty here,
17:09 but it could not be more different than Iceland,
17:12 a land I've often described as the love child
17:15 of the moon, the Arctic, and Western Ireland.
17:18 On the other hand, Icelanders are defined
17:21 by vast, unpeopled spaces.
17:24 So perhaps it does make sense that Icelandic immigrants
17:28 would feel at home here.
17:30 We're about an hour south of the border,
17:36 and fog has really socked in as we approach Mountain,
17:41 the result of temperatures rising suddenly
17:43 after a freak early October winter storm.
17:47 We almost missed the town, but you know,
17:50 that would not be hard to do.
17:52 There's less than 100 people who live here.
17:54 Finally, our destination, a simple but stunning
17:58 white clapboard church emerges out of the mist,
18:01 the oldest Icelandic church in North America.
18:05 There's a stained glass Icelandic flag
18:07 in the round window of its central spire.
18:10 Inside, Loretta Thornfinsen Bernhoff is playing the organ.
18:15 Víkr is her home church.
18:18 - I was baptized, confirmed married,
18:23 and expect to be buried here.
18:25 So it's very near and dear to my heart.
18:27 I'm a native of the Mountain area,
18:30 and I'm currently serving as an honorary council
18:33 of Iceland to North Dakota,
18:35 and vice president of our Icelandic Communities Association.
18:41 - Built in 1884, the church was the center of community,
18:46 and in fact, it still is.
18:48 But for Loretta and others,
18:50 Icelandic roots here reach far beyond
18:52 the boundaries of Mountain.
18:54 - Definitely.
18:55 We actually have planned our annual Icelandic celebration
18:59 to be coordinated with the Gimli celebration
19:02 so that visitors from near and far, Iceland included,
19:06 have the opportunity to spend maybe Friday, Saturday here,
19:11 and then travel up to Gimli to experience
19:14 that Icelandic celebration as well.
19:17 - Very, very, very closely related in that aspect.
19:21 Many of us have relatives up in Canada.
19:24 - So genealogically, you're still very much interconnected.
19:28 - Oh, absolutely.
19:29 We all share the love of our Icelandic heritage
19:33 and enjoy celebrating that, once a year at least.
19:36 - Loretta makes it clear, too,
19:39 what their ancestors went through
19:41 still defines them today.
19:43 - Well, when the Icelanders came over,
19:46 they first immigrated up to Canada
19:48 and they had some very difficult winters up there.
19:52 And so they opted to travel further south, hoping that-
19:56 - Like others we'll talk to,
19:57 Loretta immediately wants to share
19:59 just the unimaginable hardships
20:03 endured by these Icelandic immigrants
20:06 on both sides of the border,
20:08 arriving without the right clothes for prairie winters,
20:11 lacking the skills to survive in a climate like this,
20:15 and then disease.
20:16 And through all this, they endured and eventually thrived.
20:20 At least one of her points,
20:22 North American Icelanders come from very tough stock.
20:26 - You know, we've been accused
20:27 of being obnoxiously proud of our Icelandic heritage.
20:31 My grandparents all came over from Iceland.
20:33 So I heard stories about their travels
20:36 attempting to, not wanting to leave,
20:38 but having to leave
20:40 because of the harsh conditions at that time.
20:43 And so it just made us all that more determined
20:48 to succeed and proud of who we are and where we came from.
20:52 You know, in the last eight years,
20:56 we built a $1.75 million community center
21:00 in Kafei over here.
21:01 And so often we're asked the question,
21:03 how in the world did you think a little community
21:06 of less than a hundred people could do that?
21:08 And one of our gentlemen on the board said,
21:12 well, nobody told us we couldn't.
21:15 So the attitude is that we can and will prevail.
21:18 Our ancestors did it.
21:20 And so we will as well.
21:23 - As my colleague Kate and I have bacon and egg sandwiches
21:27 with Loretta at the Kafei at the community center,
21:30 Loretta shares that as a little girl growing up in Mountain,
21:34 she dreamed of being an interior designer
21:36 and leaving Mountain for the big city.
21:38 She said, I only wanted three things.
21:41 I don't wanna live in Mountain.
21:42 I don't wanna marry a farmer
21:44 and I don't wanna be a teacher.
21:45 Of course, all three happened and happily so for Loretta.
21:50 She's now a mother and grandmother
21:52 and in her role as a community leader here,
21:55 she has hosted Icelandic pride ministers
21:58 and other dignitaries.
21:59 She's traveled far and wide
22:00 representing the Icelandic community here.
22:03 This is definitely a woman with no regrets.
22:05 - Whether it be the celebration in Gimli
22:08 or the celebration in Mountain,
22:10 it just, there aren't many communities
22:12 that celebrate their heritage to that extent.
22:16 And maybe that's why we've been called
22:17 obnoxiously proud of our Icelandic heritage.
22:20 That's fine with me, that works.
22:22 - Loretta is awesome.
22:27 And by all accounts, so are all the residents
22:30 of this little Northeastern North Dakota town.
22:33 But it's time to head North to Gimli,
22:36 the big smoke of New Iceland
22:38 at about a little over 6,000 residents.
22:41 We're off to get a few more answers
22:42 about the DNA of these new Icelanders.
22:45 Gimli in late October seems, I guess,
22:51 an unlikely destination.
22:54 On the other hand, locals do have ample time
22:56 for unrushed conversations in which little gems
23:00 of local life and culture emerge.
23:03 For example, my visit to HP
23:05 is where the Turkessons and Sons general store.
23:08 Love that old-timey general store doorbell sound.
23:12 (bells jingling)
23:14 August is a zoo here, but in October,
23:17 I'm the only one in the store
23:18 and there's plenty of time to shoot the breeze.
23:20 With the fourth generation of Turkesson
23:22 to run this store, Stefan,
23:24 his mother Lorna is involved too.
23:26 - This is a beaut.
23:27 This is the 1910 cash register.
23:29 I actually have the original one before this.
23:31 This cash register goes to $99.99.
23:35 It has the beautiful ring on it every day.
23:37 (bells jingling)
23:38 This is why I teach children.
23:39 That's why they call it ringing in a sale.
23:41 (laughing)
23:43 Cash registers don't ring anymore.
23:44 They beep, buzz, or talk to you.
23:46 - Established in 1899,
23:47 it's the oldest operating general store in Manitoba.
23:52 Stefan likes to joke that the outlasted,
23:54 the Canadian department store icons, Edens,
23:57 run by another family with Icelandic roots.
23:59 For sure, this store is a living history of Gimli.
24:04 And Stefan brings it to life
24:06 from the carbon stains on the side of the cash register
24:10 where he says back in the day,
24:12 locals would strike a match to light a smoke
24:15 and talk politics,
24:16 or the bits and bobs of old wares
24:18 like Vogue cigarette papers or Red Rock Cola,
24:21 stuff that sits on display behind the counter,
24:24 not for sale.
24:25 But after a while, the conversation just moves
24:27 to what it was like to grow up
24:29 with these strong Icelandic roots.
24:32 - We were for a short time.
24:33 I mean, we initially were the Republic of New Iceland.
24:36 We were a country of our own for two years there.
24:40 - Stefan is referring to those early years
24:43 when the government of Canada had set up
24:45 almost an Icelandic reserve of sorts.
24:48 And while that arrangement didn't last,
24:50 the sense of self-determination absolutely stuck.
24:55 Stefan echoes the stories of hardship and perseverance
24:59 shared by virtually all new Icelanders.
25:03 But he adds too,
25:04 that this is a culture propelled by literacy and knowledge.
25:08 - The Icelanders have always had a strong need
25:12 for news amongst themselves.
25:13 They had a newspaper up and running,
25:15 I think before they had a town hall built.
25:17 Like within no time, that's how important that was.
25:21 Most of the Icelandic families brought over
25:23 amongst all the stuff they had to bring to survive,
25:25 they also brought a trunk of books.
25:27 It was like information was important
25:28 and knowledge and education.
25:30 And so we got really lucky growing up
25:33 in that, you know, as I say,
25:34 as you grow up, you take it for granted
25:35 that you have a house full of books and stuff.
25:37 - And along with a love of literacy,
25:38 they brought over Icelander's belief in fairies and sprites,
25:43 many with quite a delinquent streak.
25:45 - Oh, the Huldufok, well, the Huldufok
25:47 are little spirit people from Iceland.
25:49 And some of them came over with the original settlers
25:52 and they originally settled in,
25:55 they were in the store here.
25:56 There was always stories of the trouble.
25:58 They were, you know, people coming in
25:59 and finding stuff in the morning,
26:00 messed up and things like that.
26:01 They were always playing with the Huldufok.
26:02 - I learned this in Iceland and I relearned this in Gimli.
26:06 Do not assume that this is a quaint bit
26:09 of tongue in cheek folklore.
26:11 Though they don't discuss it openly,
26:14 to many Icelanders and new Icelanders,
26:16 the Huldufok are real.
26:18 So it occurs to me that maybe this capacity
26:21 for suspended disbelief,
26:23 along with Viking toughness and an insane work ethic,
26:29 well, all this combined makes for a culture
26:33 capable of quite extraordinary visionary thinking.
26:37 Here's Juliana who heads up the new Iceland Heritage Museum.
26:42 - Iceland is a very female strong society.
26:46 You know, of course, the Icelandic women
26:48 don't take the man's name when they marry.
26:51 The, and the, they keep their own, did you know that?
26:54 - No. (laughs)
26:55 - So, and many of us know this about Iceland.
26:58 You might've heard in the news about Icelanders
27:01 entrenching legally equal pay for men and women.
27:05 Of course, they've had female prime ministers,
27:08 but new Icelanders have taken this to another level.
27:11 Meet Maxine Engels of Hekla, about an hour north of Gimli.
27:16 Maxine, like Lorna Turgison, is of a certain age
27:21 and both have been honored in new Iceland as the Fjallkona.
27:26 - The Fjallkona is called the maid of the mountain.
27:30 In Canada, the Fjallkona is a woman who is,
27:35 usually an older woman, who has contributed to,
27:40 or the encouragement of the Icelandic culture and heritage.
27:45 - There are very cool robes and headgear
27:48 that go along with this,
27:49 highest of community honors in new Iceland.
27:52 And it's a tradition that Iceland has now copied
27:56 from new Iceland in Canada.
27:57 But bottom line, I'm sort of struggling to think,
28:01 is there any other culture that, nevermind notices,
28:04 but actually reveres older women?
28:07 Wow, that's big.
28:09 Mountain, Gimli, Hekla.
28:16 None of these are big places,
28:18 but they swell by thousands in the summer months.
28:22 Definitely during festival time.
28:23 In a strange way, I'm kind of grateful
28:27 for the glitch in production scheduling
28:29 that had me here, not in late August, but late October,
28:33 with the shores of Lake Winnipeg all to myself.
28:36 It's chilly, the waters are a bit angry,
28:39 and the sky a bit volatile.
28:41 But that's why it's so much easier to imagine
28:44 the ungilded version of new Icelandic roots here.
28:49 (footsteps)
28:52 And that's just the way good trips go sometimes.
28:55 You can plan all you like, set up all the events,
28:58 but you'll never really know
28:59 when that moment of gestalt comes.
29:02 That instant when you get a place
29:05 in a way that you just didn't before you left.
29:09 Weirdly for this trip, that moment came
29:14 right after I got back to Ontario,
29:16 in this conversation with singer-songwriter,
29:19 Lindy von Fjord.
29:20 Lindy is tall, slim, fair, 40-something,
29:24 with a distinctly Stillwaters-run-deep vibe.
29:27 He starts off by singing a commonly dark
29:30 Icelandic children's folk song.
29:32 - This is a song about a man riding on a horse
29:38 as fast as he can towards the sunset,
29:40 'cause when the sun sets in Iceland,
29:41 the hulda folk come out, and the outlaws come out,
29:46 and they will get you.
29:47 - Then I asked, what was it like to grow up
29:53 in Manitoba's New Iceland?
29:55 - Yeah, so I grew up in the Icelandic community
29:59 in Winnipeg and in Gimli,
30:02 and just totally steeped in the beauty of that,
30:07 and the songs, and singing with my parents
30:11 in a folk singing group.
30:13 And we were called the Hekla Singers.
30:14 We played all the Icelandic folk festivals.
30:16 The first time that I got up on stage
30:20 when I was just a little kid
30:23 was at the Island of Gadagurinn,
30:25 and toured in a little yellow school bus as a child.
30:30 - Lindy returned a couple of years ago
30:31 to the Icelandic festival in Gimli,
30:34 but this time as parade marshal.
30:36 - Which was an extraordinary experience,
30:41 because I got to be the person leading the parade
30:44 in the car, or waving to everyone
30:46 with my name on the side of the car,
30:48 and 60,000 people turned up,
30:51 and finally I got to be the guy
30:54 that everybody was wondering, who the heck is that guy?
30:57 And so I got to be the who the heck is that guy guy.
31:00 And for like a couple of days,
31:03 I couldn't move my arms 'cause I'd waved so much,
31:06 and my face was hurting for days from smiling.
31:10 - Lindy's grandfather ran a fishing camp in Gimli,
31:14 so Lindy grew up on these waters,
31:17 winter or summer, frozen or not.
31:19 I asked him how this landscape,
31:22 its harshness and its beauty, shaped him.
31:25 - It's just very dangerous.
31:26 I remember my brother and I, we were really into sailing,
31:30 and we would wait 'til there was a small craft warning
31:34 to go take the boats out so that we could get airtime
31:37 when we were teenagers, and it was pretty dangerous stuff.
31:40 And one time, one of the sailboats got turned upside down,
31:45 and the mast got stuck in the bottom of the lake,
31:48 and we kept swimming to the other side of the boat,
31:53 and each one kept missing each other,
31:56 and then I just went into the middle
31:57 where it was calm underneath, and just waited there,
32:00 and eventually he found me there, but that was pretty scary.
32:04 And he had to swim down to the bottom,
32:06 he's an amazing swimmer, and pull the mast
32:09 out of the bottom of the lake.
32:12 (laughs)
32:13 And then we made it back.
32:15 Yeah, I think there's a real sense of rugged individualism,
32:20 or a sense of exploration and determination
32:25 to carry on that.
32:28 - Like so many others we've met,
32:30 the lore of his roots is on the tip of his tongue.
32:33 Their impact is palpable.
32:36 - All these stories of where, from whence we came,
32:39 and what it took to get there,
32:42 it really empowered me, I think, as a young songwriter,
32:46 as a young person who wanted to go and explore and tour,
32:51 and play these shows, and do it all on my own.
32:54 Just that spirit of adventure.
33:00 - Throughout this trip, we've heard about
33:02 the broader New Iceland community that, like Lindy,
33:06 has ventured off to far-flung places
33:09 away from Manitoba and North Dakota.
33:13 And yet their connections to these communities
33:16 remain powerful.
33:17 Do you miss the incredibly tight sense of community there?
33:22 (knocking)
33:23 - Yeah, yeah I do.
33:25 I often wonder what it would be like to be back there,
33:29 or to never have left.
33:30 - This is a song that Lindy credits to his brother.
33:35 He says it captures best the essence of what it was
33:39 to grow up on the shores of Lake Winnipeg.
33:42 (upbeat music)
33:45 ♪ I was only three years old ♪
33:48 ♪ When they threw me from the window ♪
33:50 ♪ Of the house where my parents felt the place ♪
33:55 ♪ Raised in a family ♪
33:57 ♪ Where they did the best they could for me ♪
33:59 ♪ At the age 13, it was on the lake ♪
34:04 ♪ They call me Jumbo ♪
34:05 ♪ 'Cause I swam from ice to ice floor ♪
34:09 ♪ On the Lake Winnipeg ♪
34:13 ♪ I hauled the fish into the white fish boats ♪
34:17 ♪ On the Lake Winnipeg ♪
34:21 - You know, clearly I don't learn from experience
34:27 because I had to ask Lindy too.
34:29 So what about these sprites, these Hildefog?
34:33 He said, "What do you mean, what about them?"
34:36 I said, "Do you believe in them?"
34:37 He said, "I think it would be very unwise not to."
34:41 But really, who could argue that there wasn't
34:45 some otherworldliness at play
34:48 in the place that created the artist that created this track?
34:53 Soon to be released, this is a song Lindy wrote
34:56 for his young daughter.
34:57 ♪ I'll help you learn to ride a bike ♪
35:03 ♪ Run alongside you ♪
35:06 ♪ Holding onto the handlebars so tight ♪
35:11 ♪ Teach you how to move your feet ♪
35:16 ♪ And watch out for the cars ♪
35:21 ♪ Even though I know you're gonna skin your knee ♪
35:31 ♪ On the dusty gravel out on the road ♪
35:36 ♪ I'll hold on as long as I can ♪
35:41 ♪ Until I have to let you go ♪
35:45 ♪ Until I have to let you go ♪
36:00 (upbeat music)
36:02 - Who needs to go to Iceland
36:05 when we have mountain and Gimli?
36:07 Just kidding, Iceland, we still love you.
36:10 And thank you to Liz.
36:12 Liz is busy working on her new podcast season,
36:14 which I can't share too much about right now
36:16 other than to say it will drop soon.
36:19 In the meantime, you can listen to North Americana
36:21 wherever you get your podcasts,
36:23 and you can find out more about Liz
36:25 and her upcoming projects,
36:26 as well as photos from this week's episode
36:28 at Northamericanapodcast.com.
36:31 And trivia heads, I have your answer
36:34 to last week's question and a new one for you.
36:37 Okay, so just a reminder that last week's question was,
36:40 which country has the most islands?
36:42 Canada, Indonesia, Sweden, or the Philippines?
36:46 The answer is, drum roll please.
36:48 (drum roll)
36:50 Sweden.
36:51 The country has more than 250,000 islands
36:54 of which 24,000 are open to the public
36:57 and fewer than 1,000 are inhabited.
37:00 And now onto this week's question.
37:03 Where does the word map come from?
37:06 Is it Sanskrit for road or path?
37:10 Is it Arabic for view or horizon?
37:13 Is it Greek for disc or plate?
37:16 Or is it Latin for napkin or towel?
37:19 We'll reveal the answer next week.
37:21 Ready for more unpacking?
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37:28 on Instagram and Twitter.
37:30 The magazine is @afarmedia.
37:32 If you enjoyed today's exploration,
37:35 I hope you'll come back for more great stories.
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37:48 It helps other travelers find it.
37:50 This season, we also want to hear from you.
37:54 Is there a travel dilemma, trend,
37:56 or topic you'd like us to explore?
37:58 Drop us a line at afar.com/feedback
38:01 or email us at unpacked@afar.com.
38:04 This has been Unpacked, a production of Afar Media.
38:08 The podcast is produced by Aislinn Green
38:10 and Nikki Galteland.
38:11 Music composition by Chris Collin.
38:13 And remember, the world is complicated.
38:16 We're here to help you unpack it.
38:18 (upbeat music)
38:21 (silence)
38:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]