Iceland is a country steeped in culture and history, it’s a place where travellers can experience the northern lights, or relax in one of the many natural hot springs. However, there is one thing that alwaysรย seems to be on every travellersรย mind, รขโฌลWhatรขโฌโขs the deal with the elves?รขโฌย.
Yes, the majority of Icelanders believe in elves, but why?
Rock piles, symbolising the location of elves in Iceland, byรย Jeroen.
Where It Started
Elves have been a part of Icelandic tradition sinceรย the beginning of the country. While there isn’t a generalรย consensus aboutรย the origins of elves, there are a few factors that are generally agreed upon to have contributed to the belief.
First is Iceland’s relativeรย isolation from the rest of the world, where the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th century,รย whenรย rational thinkingรย and intellectual forces found favour over more traditional beliefs, includingรย superstition, arrived muchรย later.
This led to a general disposition towards the supernatural in Iceland, and since winters were so long and cold, storytelling became ingrained in the culture. Furthermore, the scenery, with geysers, waterfalls, volcanoes and springs, seemed to be plucked out of a fairy tale itself.
The Background
The elves that Icelanders believe in, orรย huldufolkรย (hidden people), are different from elves portrayed in popular culture. Instead of helping Santa make Christmas gifts, the elves Icelanders believe in look and act very much like humans. They have an economy, farm, and raise livestock, just like humans do. They are even said to have sheriffs and churches!
As far as sizes go, they can range in height, from a few inches to ten feet. They generally mind their own business and they can be quite harmless, but if you disturb them, thatรขโฌโขs a whole different story.
How It Affects The People Today
Elves do not factor into most peopleรขโฌโขs day to day lives on Iceland, but there are a few instances where infrastructure and road building is halted or changed out of respect for elves.รย
Engineers have rerouted roads, at a steep cost, in order to build around a suspected elf habitat. The concerns of citizens over the government building through elven habitat has even lead the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration to create a five page รขโฌลstandard replyรขโฌย for press inquiries about elves.
The Icelandic belief in elves continues to affect the country to this day. Whether itรขโฌโขs true or not, Iceland is a country thatรย is proud of its past, and that is something that should be celebrated.
