Thingvellir

ICELAND CELEBRATES

On June 17, 1994 60 000 Icelanders and the heads of states of all the Nordic countries joined President Vigdis Finnbogadottir to celebrate the Republic of Iceland's fiftieth anniversary.

The setting was Thingvellir National Park, the site of the ancient Icelandic parliament. The Icelanders present represented roughly a quarter of the young republic's 264 000 inhabitants.

The Almannagja Canyon at Thingvellir is a truly historic place. It was here that the mostly Norwegian population that started moving to Europe's largest island in 870 established the "Allting" parliament at "Lögberg", the ancient Law Rock in 874.

In 1262 Iceland came under Norwegian rule and became part of a union with Denmark from 1380. By 1662 the island was under the direct rule of the King of Denmark.

When the Germans took Denmark in 1940, British troops occupied Iceland that had since 1918 been an independent state in a union with Denmark. US troops took over from the British in 1941 and remained on the island until 1947.

In 1944 Iceland left the union with Denmark and 25 000 Icelanders gathered at Thingvellir for the proclamation of the new republic.

The 50th anniversary this year started off with 63 members of the Allting convening to pass two resolutions. One of them was to set up a heritage fund to foster the Icelandic language.

At noon a thousand children in Icelandic sweaters sang traditional songs for the large audience that had to comply with rain at times. President Vigdis Finnbogadottir and Prime Minister David Oddson spoke to the crowd as did the Nordic heads of state who delivered congratulatory greetings from their people to people of Iceland.

Three weeks later there was another ceremony at Thingvellir when Jörmundur Ingi Hansen was sworn in as the new "allsherjagodi" or high priest of Iceland's pagan religion that still has many followers. After the ceremony followed a "blot" feast for followers of the ancient religion that has actually been on the rise in the last few years, demonstrating that in Iceland the past is still present.