Elves in Iceland
11 March 2009 by Stardust
I have two pen pals in Iceland who live near Reykjavik and never once have they mentioned any belief in elves. So I emailed them and am waiting for their response to my questions. Since Iceland is not a very devoutly religious country as a whole, it would seem that elf-believers are replacing god belief with elf fantasies. This would be yet another illustration of how humans use their imagination to make their boring lives more interesting.
From Slate:
LINK: Elf Detection 101
How to find the Hidden Folk of Iceland
An article on Iceland’s de facto bankruptcy in the April issue of Vanity Fair notes that a “large number of Icelanders” believe in elves or “hidden people.” This widespread folklore occasionally disrupts business in the sparsely populated North Atlantic country. Before the aluminum company Alcoa could erect a smelting factory, “it had to defer to a government expert to scour the enclosed plant site and certify that no elves were on or under it.” How do you find an elf?
With psychic powers. According to a poll conducted in 2007, 54 percent of Icelanders don’t deny the existence of elves and 8 percent believe in them outright, although only 3 percent claim to have encountered one personally. The ability to see the huldufólk, or hidden folk, can’t be learned; you’re just born with it. To find elves, seers don’t really need to do anything—they’ll just sense an elfin presence. The Vanity Fair article says that elf detection can take six months, but it’s usually a quick process that can last under an hour. And although the magazine claims that a “government expert” had to certify the nonexistence of elves, the Icelandic Embassy insists that these consults are performed by freelancers, not government contractors.
Love this part
The huldufólk are thought to live in another dimension, invisible to most.
Just like where the gods live, in other dimensions that are invisible to us! When will all of these believers in fantasies see the correlation between the vast variety of beliefs. What it comes down to is invisible, supernatural beings who live in other dimensions whether it’s fairies, elves, ogres, dragons, gods, goddesses, ghosts and whatnot. While we know that these things are only imagination, the article is quite interesting and fun to fantasize about.
Here is a link to the story about the hidden people and a photo below of of the tiny wooden álfhól (elf houses) people build in their gardens for elves/hidden people to live in.
UPDATE: I heard back from one of my pals in Iceland and she assures me that she believes in no such thing as elves, though she said some older people do, and even her grandmother believed she actually has seen elves. But she says where she lives near Reykjavik, no one she knows of believes in elves.
11 March 2009, on 9:25 pm
See, I would MUCH rather live in a place where the craziest thing they believed in was elves. Elves are awesome. They make cookies and cereal! God just sends natural disasters that allow loopholes in insurance agreements and will only work miracles that real medicine and science can do instead of healing limbless children. Lame!
12 March 2009, on 7:35 am
File this along with the story about the Japanese buying sheep thinking they were poodles. It’s one of those “aren’t people in other countries wierd?” stories that have, at best, a very limited factual basis. Sure, there is a traditional folk belief in Elves, and it may have occasionally been invoked in opposition to particular developments, but I very much doubt that anybody beyond a tiny minority actually takes it seriously. It’s like here in Scotland – nobody actually believes in the Loch Ness Monster, but we don’t say that to tourists. No, we regale them with tales of haggis hunting (not that anybody believes that a haggis is an animal either).
12 March 2009, on 8:57 am
I agree with Amber. Having a bunch of elf believers would be much more entertaining (and benign).
I also agree with her that elves are awesome… the little ones from fairy tales and stuff, not “Lord of the Rings” elves. They’re too big and get all weepy and depressing when they have to head off into the Grey Havens.
12 March 2009, on 9:07 am
Where do you think Tolkein got it?
12 March 2009, on 9:17 am
only 3 percent claim to have encountered one personally.
That seems a lot more healthy than the percentage of xians who claim to know Jesus personally.
12 March 2009, on 10:46 am
My ex-sister-in-law believes garden gnomes exist and leave marbles in her back yard for her to find. She firmly believes this. And apparently there are others in the US who believe the same thing.
Garden gnome sightings
I don’t know what the percentage of people who believes in gnomes is, but my bet is that it is even higher than those who believe in elves.
Here from Swedish news is a video of a supposed gnome running through the streets of Argentina. Some people think it’s real footage. Too funny!
12 March 2009, on 11:11 am
Iceland is actually a country that mass converted to xtianity in the year 1000, in order to avoid political and religious fractions.
I imagine there’s a great deal not to do, so people cook up these legends, adding a little spice to their otherwise boring lives.
Well, I deny the existence of psychic powers, so there. ‘Don’t deny the existence of — [insert foolishness here]‘ is the negative proof fallacy. My question is – who are these 3 percent? How many people is that? Do all of them wear jackets that hug themselves?
12 March 2009, on 11:14 am
who are these 3 percent?
My friend in Iceland says they mostly live in the rural north-country where education is low and superstition is high. They even build little houses in the rocks for them to live in. My friend’s grandmother believed firmly in elves and claimed to have seen them with her own eyes. And she says many of the older people do. The younger people are wising up, and they are more educated.
12 March 2009, on 11:34 am
My aunt was waitressing as a teen many years ago and swore she served a leprechaun (an Irish elf) at the restaurant once. He was short with a tall hat and spoke with an Irish accent and seemed to disappear mysteriously after his meal. That was back in the 60s. Lots of good explanations for it then.
12 March 2009, on 4:15 pm
Star:
So the chances of us getting an elfie fundie is pretty slim?
13 March 2009, on 10:05 am
Oh…
I thought this Post was…
“ELVIS in Iceland”!
NEVERMIND!