It’s relative. To you or me, the one below would be cold, but to a troll, well …
Vestdalsá
… nice! You could just, you know, stay in forever!
Hot or Cold Showers in Iceland? Which is Best?
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: troll
A Cold Day, and a Warm One at Buðir
December 21 is a cold day in Buðir, with not much light. It’s a day when a little human light works wonders.
And look what it achieves! By June 21, everything is light.
It works the other way. If you don’t honour the midsummer troll, you don’t honour the midwinter dark, or light up the night to make way for the sun. It’s just the way it is.
Watching the Sea
It’s hard not to look out to sea in Iceland, waiting for mysterious voyagers. Even the land does it.
Arnarstapi
It’s a lonely thing, but doing it together with an island eases that and teaches patience.
Baby Troll
Another example of how everything comes alive at Midsummer. Note as well, the Old Norse tradition of lifting up the Earth’s skin, making an oath, and setting the skin down to seal it, as told so well in Gunnar’s Sworn Brothers.
From the German Book Club Edition of 1933. Note the Arch.
You can read a detailed post about the book here: https://afarminiceland.com/tag/the-sworn-brothers/
The Two Ways of the Icelandic Thrush
First, you sit on a troll’s head at Midsummer, when even the stones come alive. If that sounds fantastical, you should really go to Iceland at Midsummer. You’ll see. In this way of the thrush, you get to hang out with a troll. Nice.
The other way of the thrush is to be the living thought of the troll, not in words or ideas, but in thrush. Nice, too!
Remember, trolls aren’t animate beings from fairytale, but places where rocks are made into home and mind through attachment. It could be you. It could be the thrush. It could be the thrush leading you into the Earth, where you find yourself.
Midsummer Night’s Troll
Just watching the show at the Buðahraun.
Or directing it? In that haunted place, one never knows!
In Iceland, Things are Rarely What They Seem
Siðu-Hollar settled the farm Þvolté on the East Coast around the year 1000. He was unpopular, as he was a Christian. Check out his farm:
Trolls and ogres everywhere! What a flock!
The Village of Waterfalls on the Vestdalsá
Not only is there a canyon of gentle waterfalls in a musical pattern, but they are inhabited, which is always a bonus.
After close to 20,000 kilometres in Iceland, this is one of the most compelling of all places, and what an inspiration.
The Best Waterfall in Iceland
It used to be possible to walk up to these falls near Kirkjubærjarklaustur, but it has been closed off due to disrespect, especially illegal camping. You can still spot its trolls from a distance, though, if you have a good eye. Do pay your respects with a nod, at least, and for Troll’s sakes, respect those farms and their stock. The place should be a UNESCO site.
Imagine going up to this troll, through all these stone bones and heads, and collecting water for the farmhouse at its foot. It was here that I learned that trolls keep humans because humans keep sheep and trolls really like sheep. A humbling and always slightly uncertain relationship.
What to Wear When Hunting Trolls and Ogres
If you’re hunting for ogres and trolls, pick your rock carefully, seek around waterfalls, and come in winter, when the world approaches their state. They’re shy. They won’t come all at once. Bring warm gloves and boots. Those are the first parts of your body to leave you for their world.
A rich narrative of non human life forms at Sheep’s Falls. December 24, 2019.
A Farm in Iceland 