Comments on: "Respect the elves - or else"

"Respect the elves - or else"

Metroid Baby — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 11:44:44 -0800

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.)

By: oceanjesse

oceanjesse — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 11:59:00 -0800

the Icelandic Embassy insists that these consults are performed by freelancers, not government contractors. I wonder if there have been any freelance elf finding scandals. Also, how are freelancers not contractors?

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:14:59 -0800

Found footage of the Hidden People.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:42:02 -0800

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

By: hal9k

hal9k — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:54:09 -0800

Shouldn't be hard to find. Probably live a very sedimentary lifestyle.

By: miles per flower

miles per flower — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:07:37 -0800

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.

By: C.A.S.

C.A.S. — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:14:33 -0800

I suddenly had to hear Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song. Land of the Ice and Snow and all.

By: Johnny Wallflower

Johnny Wallflower — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:17:28 -0800

They're taking the elves for granite.

By: Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane

Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:28:14 -0800

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?)

By: Johnny Wallflower

Johnny Wallflower — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:32:00 -0800

To be fair, the FM was acting at the elves' behest.

By: Fizz

Fizz — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:32:28 -0800

┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┤ʘ ل͟ʘ├̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅┬̲̲̅┴̲̲̅

By: Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane

Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:40:57 -0800

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.

By: Celsius1414

Celsius1414 — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:42:53 -0800

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

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 14:17:49 -0800

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:

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.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 14:47:13 -0800

From that photoessay it seems this was a problem exclusively in the 1970s, and that makes sense.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 15:09:27 -0800

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."

By: Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane

Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 15:43:06 -0800

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.

By: sammyo

sammyo — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 15:48:55 -0800

Perhaps they need some help from afar?

By: ovvl

ovvl — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 17:26:06 -0800

I suddenly had to hear Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song. A request for the Viking Kittens.

By: seawallrunner

seawallrunner — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 18:43:10 -0800

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."

By: jenfullmoon

jenfullmoon — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 20:18:15 -0800

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.

By: velvet winter

velvet winter — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 00:38:31 -0800

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.

By: seawallrunner

seawallrunner — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 13:03:32 -0800

Velvet winter - that film is beautiful ! thank you for recommending it.