After that we went out for a really good lunch at a fish restaurant in the old harbor of Reykjavik. I really got the chance to mingle in with the other participants from all the other countries and get to know each other better.

Then the highlight of the day: The Sagamuseum. We learned about the origins of Iceland and its people. It was very nice to learn that the people of Iceland still have very strong beliefs in the Sagas because for them it is almost a religion. They like to believe the supernatural helps them in a way of dealing with Iceland and her harsh climate and weather. In that way they respect the nature because they need the nature to be kind for them as well, in a way.

After the visit, dressing up like Vikings and some overthinking , lead by our inspiring course leader Rita, we said goodbye for the day. 

The visit to The Saga Museum in Reykjavik made clear a number of factors that are important when looking at cultural heritage in a present optic. 

1. Historical events have an impact on present culture. We are a product of our history. And even decisions made by one or few persons at one point in time can help shape a community many years onwards. E.g. the official conversion to Christianity on Iceland and how þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði singlehandedly made the decision for Iceland to officially be Christian, but at the same time allow the Heathen belief system to exist unofficially. 

2. A close connection between nature and humans promote respect and understanding of all the natural elements vital to mankind. This is especially interesting in the optic of climate change seen all over the world at present time. 

3. The importance of developing human~skills in schools, instead of only focusing on skills that can be measured and analyzed with numbers. An investment should be made into developing the students´ creativity and 21st century skills. Together with Bildung and the ability to use one´s imagination, solutions to the challenges the world and mankind will face in the near future may be found by the young generations of today.

In general it was great to start the course with a definition of the sub-terms of Cultural Heritage: Tangible, intangible and natural. The inportance of intangible cultural heritage where knowledge is passed down through generations is especially fragile, since it is vastly dependent on people making an effort to keep the knowledge alive. The intangible cultural heritage is especially important because it is closely connected to a community’s identity, which inevitably will change over time. 

At the end of the day the one thing that stood out the most to me, was the comparison between Iceland and my homecountry (Denmark). It seems that on Iceland there is a greater respect and the population has achieved in keeping a closer connection to nature and the environment than what is the case in Denmark. I cannot help but think that this somehow plays a factor in the willingness to actively try to make a possitive change in one´s daily life for the good of the environment and ultimately oneself. 

Introduction to cultural heritage

Visit to the Saga museum

As we ventured into the exhibition, dark and gloomy. A guided tour into the cultural background and origins of mankind first arriving on Iceland, we immediately came across the legend of the first settlers, either guided to shore by dark ravens or pure solitary cold cravings. I could identify with the first man to name the land and then leave the island as soon as he had the chance due to its weather conditions and extreme solitude. 

But we ventured further into the dark history. Its beauty and fascination lies in its simplicity. Hard to imagine the hardship of starting a new life on the cold and barren rock of a place, deserted from friends and family: but the other side is its wide open space, its pure beauty in landscape and shores. This magical land has something special, extremes must be accepted as a part of daily life. Those who did stay and settled on this land must have been enchanted by this magical place. 

This land is unforgiving, but filled with unseen magic. The way life has set foot on land here has always been in allegiance with respect for natures forces, its beauty and extremes. 

Seemingly this land has driven people to madness and also great powers and wise decisions. 

This land is the last gateway to the other worlds beyond the grasp of our eyes, this is the land of hidden spaces and great voyages.

The first meeting with all participants was warm and comfortable. People with same ideas and same worries about nature and ecological protections.

After few clear lines about tangible, intangible and nature heritages we were talking about myth and legends of Iceland.

The lunch was very nice in cosy family restaurant with a smiley owner. During the launch to speak each other and getting know better.

The Saga museum was our final destination. There, the whole history of Iceland nation was being explained to us and we understood why myth and legends are so important and a part of heritage to the country.

People always want to believe that is a supernatural help for all their obstacles.

After that we tried to get dressed like Vikings. Sorry Thorn, Odin and Loki. It was a mistake. 

 

Thanks to a tolerance allowing a mixture between the ancestral pagan traditions coming from the Viking era (IXthcentury) and Christianity (which pre-existed since since the High Middle Ages, is noted the presence on this land of the North of Irish monks called papar ), the culture of Iceland seems to me particularly connected with the “invisible”, whichis, what no science can explain, but that is necessary for the human community. Believe in the presence of invisible elves, it is also celebrate the beyond the tangible, the factual, accounting for this all human need to "believe, transmit and receive". As the name of the museum indicates, humanity builds on a story made of sagas, or what is told about it. Always a fiction (since the evocation is never the truth), but a necessary fiction.

In conclusion, there is the fragility of the intangible cultural heritage but also its necessity as a factor of sharing in a dialogue, encouraging respect for the lifestyles of others, or from abroad.

This first meal (a social and cultural ritual introducing a form of continuity between peoples), has therefore committed me corporally to human diversity, participating in unification and cohesion of our group.

 

I also enjoyed immersing in History of this “land of fire and ice”, through the historical reconstruction of the Saga Museum, which allowed me to glimpse the foundation of the "parliament" of this society, organized around a desire for equity, in break with the surrounding kingdoms.

In addition, I have better understood how the preservation of pre-Christian cultures could have been possible, despite religious clashes. This testifies to a deep sense of the invisible, of what escapes, which inevitably refers to nature that is, of this land, harsh, beautiful and dangerous.