.png)
.jpg)
On our recent Idyllic Iceland Women's trip in September, storytelling was a theme throughout the trip. We consciously selected the Storytellers of Iceland as partners for two days on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. Being deeply immersed in two of the Icelandic Sagas, hearing the role of strong women in these stories, and understanding the importance of those sagas in Iceland today was a powerful and memorable experience for our women travellers.
We spent our first day with Anna Melsted, who literally walked us along the oldest ‘road’ in Iceland as she retold part of the Eyrbyggja Saga, the story of the two Berserks who built this trail through a rocky gnarly lava field. The tale is about love, corrupt power, and a broken promise that ends in tragedy and sorrow. Anna is keeping this saga alive by leading residents and visitors along the trail and sharing the story with them. We were then fortunate to be invited into a small barn on a nearby farm to hear how the women in the Eyrbyggja community are leading a project to recreate this saga through co-creating an enormous tapestry that will be stitched into 7 parts. These segments of the tapestry will be exhibited in 7 different places across Snæfellsnes, creating the Eyrbyggja tapestry trail, inviting more visitors and locals into these historic and contemporary stories. Regular gatherings to create this project include anyone who wants to read and talk about the saga, and contribute by stitching a piece of the story. The conversations and stories shared during these gatherings are strengthening the bonds within the community. The power of people working collectively for a shared purpose is a story in and of itself.
Our conversation in the barn that day about this project, and how it's serving as a catalyst for building community relationships, reflected our own desires to bring people together in our own communities. Many of us recognised that now more than ever, we need to find ways to come together in relationship with our neighbours. Projects that are grounded in revitalising the histories and culture of our places are powerful ways to nurture these relationships and find common ground.
The layers of connections we felt to this unique place, to this unique story, and to how we think about our own stories are still swirling around like the Berserks themselves.
We were unsure how our second day could live up to the day we had with Anna, but Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir was a completely different and equally powerful storyteller. She invited us into the story of a local woman, Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir, who was born on the southern side of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in 980, near Ragnhildur's home. We wandered the same land that Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir did, learning that she was the first Nordic women to sail to the Americas in the 11th century, about 500 years before Columbus. She gave birth to the first child of European descent in the Americas, outlived three husbands, crossed the North Atlantic Sea more than any other Viking, and subsequently travelled to Vatican City as part of her pilgrimage to become a nun. Wow! What a story.
But as is the case with many pioneering influential women around the world, Guðríður’s story as a courageous voyaging woman was often ignored in the retelling of the Vinland sagas that she is part of. Ragnihildur's belief in the importance of accurately reflecting the role of women in Iceland's history led her to challenge this omission, becoming part of Guðríður’s story herself.
On one occasion, when questioned for evidence of Guðríður’s story, Ragnhildur said she “did what any angry Icelandic woman does - I called a meeting!” And when the meeting was not enough, “we formed a committee!” And when the committee was not enough, “we wrote to the Pope.”
Time can travel slowly in Vatican City, but eleven years later, the committee and Ragnhildur herself was invited to Rome, to hear if the Vatican verified Guðríður’s pilgrimage to Rome. When she asked the Pope what evidence they had found in their eleven years of researching Guðríður, the response was, “we believe this to be true.”
Many of us will remember the story of Guðríður, and also of Ragnhildur, who inspired us to ponder, What stories do we value and fight for? What stories shape our histories that are important to uplift today? What makes a story true, or believable?
As guests on Snæfellsnes Peninsula, we were invited into these stories by Anna and Ragnhildur, and came away asking ourselves: What projects of shared purpose can we create in our own communities, and what stories can we share about these projects that will inspire others, as we were inspired by these stories, and these women?
As we experience the power of storytelling in tourism, we are always asking ourselves: What stories can we uniquely tell that need telling and uplifting?
We invite you to ask yourself the same question.