Hidden Folk
In 2013 Icelandic officials ceased construction on a planned roadway. The project was halted for environmental reasons but also because petitioners argued it would disturb the natural habitat of Iceland’s elves. In this episode, we examine three stories of the Yuletide habits of Iceland’s elves. Who's ready for an elf party?
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
Music
Purple Planet - Running with the Horses
Purple Planet - Seventh Curse
Purple Planet - Vision of the Future
Purple Planet - Melancholia
Purple Planet - Spiritual Moment
Purple Planet - Shadowlands
Sources
Primary
Associated Press. “Elf lobby blocks Iceland road project.” The Guardian. December 22, 2013.
“Gellivör.” In Icelandic Legends, edited by Jón Arnason and translated by George E. J. Powell and Eríkur Magnússon, 124-131. London: Richard Bentley, 1864.
Kirby, Emma Jane. “Why Icelanders are wary of elves living beneath the rocks.” BBC News. June 20, 2014.
“Túngustapi.” In Icelandic Legends, edited by Jón Arnason and translated by George E. J. Powell and Eríkur Magnússon, 35-41. London: Richard Bentley, 1864.
Wainwright, Oliver. “In Iceland, ‘respect the elves – or else.’” The Guardian. March 25, 2015.
“Valbjörg the Unelfed.” In Icelandic Legends, edited by Jón Arnason and translated by George E. J. Powell and Eríkur Magnússon, 72-80. London: Richard Bentley, 1864.
Secondary
Beveridge, Jan. Children into Swans: Fairy Tales and the Pagan Imagination. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014.
Bryan, Eric Shane. Icelandic Folklore and the Cultural Memory of Religious Change. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2021.
Gunnell, Terry. “The Álfar, the Clerics and the Enlightenment: Conceptions of the Supernatural in the Age of Reason in Iceland.” In Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits ‘Small Gods’ at the Margins of Christendom, edited by Michael Ostling, 191-212. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Gunnell, Terry. “The Coming of the Christmas Visitors… Folk Legends Concerning the Attacks on Icelandic Farmhouses Made by Spirits and Christmas.” Northern Studies 38 (2004): 51-75.
Gunnell, Terry. “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks. The Politics of Early Folktale Collection in Northern Europe.” Folklore 121, no. 1 (2010): 12–37.
Hafstein, Valdimar. “The Elves’ Point of View - Cultural Identity in Contemporary Icelandic Elf-Tradition.” Fabula 41, no. 1-2 (2000): 87-104.
Hall, Alaric T. P. “The Meanings of Elf and Elves in Medieval England.” Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Glasgow. 2004.
Jakobsson, Ármann. “Beware of the Elf! A Note on the Evolving Meaning of Álfar.” Folklore 126, no. 2: 215-223.
Jakobsson, Ármann. “The Extreme Emotional Life of Vǫlundr the Elf.” Scandinavian Studies 78, no. 3 (2006): 227-254.
Sveinsson, Einar Ólafur. The Folk-Stories of Iceland. Revised with preface by Einar G. Pétursson, translated by Benedikt Benedikz, and edited by Anthony Faulkes. Viking Society for Northern Research, Text Series 16. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, University College London, 2003.
