UNA THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF WORLDWIDE FRIENDS ICELAND
CONTENT
01
MEET THE TEAM
02
Holidays & festivals
03
geology & landscape in iceland
04
VOlunteering at riff festival
TEAM
On the outskirts of Reykjavik, by a street called Skyggnisbraut, is a small farm for volunteers from all across the world, owned by Worlwide Friends Veraldarvinir. Connected to the city center by the bus line 18, the WF Farmhouse is a peaceful abode just a bus ride away from the hustle bustle of the Downtown, Reykjavik. Here, at the WF house, we encourage sustainable living by reducing, reusing and recylcing. Holding the camp for photography and journalism, the volunteers were allowed a lot of creative freedom and expression to write about a topic of their choosing. With access to nearby hiking trails and serene city spots, there are tons of opportunities for the volunteers to practice their photography skills. WF camps also provide a team-building experience for all of its volunteers through various fun, bonding sessions such as cultural nights, game nights and other inter-personal discussions. Presenting to you the newest members of the WF family at the farm in the Winter of 2019 and all their applaudable work!
Festivals & holidays We can learn each country’s history, customs and traditions by knowing about holidays and festivals in their land. We would like to introduce 3 holidays and festivals that are unique to Iceland. Also, we have asked our camp leaders and peer volunteers to tell us about their own country’s holidays or festival as well.
1. Thorrablot “Thorri” means January on the ancient calendar of Iceland.It is held on the first Friday since January 19th according to the current calendar. Therefore, there is no exact date. Icelandic people celebrate the day by eating traditional food of Vikings, drinking, dancing, singing and playing games. Now, traditional foods are enjoyed by people including the testicles of sheep, the heads of boiled sheep and fermented sharks. People have this food with Brennivín, a traditional liquor in Iceland. You can also enjoy comedy shows in the evening. They celebrate the happy Thorrablot, by drinking and enjoying comedy shows.
do it anymore. Children dress up in costumes and instead of saying “trick or treats”, they sing songs get candies. 2.Bolludagur(bun day),toSprengidagur(blow up day) and Öskudagur(Ash day) Taken place around late February. These holidays come three days in a row. Basically, it is three days all about 3.Beer day eating! Held on March 1 every year. It starts with Bolludagur whichhas is taken on in a Monday, 7 weeks Beer day happened since beer been place banned Iceland for a longbefore time! Easter. this day, children in Iceland getbanned up earlier their parents and Iceland is aOn special country where beer was bythan a national referendum. spank withfortheir sticks and that later they usually make themselves and yell Beer was them banned 74 years only beer with high strength of alcohol Bolla nameonly of the pastry in strength icelandic,beer to get the was“Bolla banned. SoBolla!”, icelandthe people made low and drank it. homemade buns. Iceland was also fighting for independence from Denmark. People decided to On Tuesday, Sprengidagur, which means “blow up”, is thisbecame day, stop drinking beer to show their patriotism. On March 1,held. 1989,On beer people eat all the leftovers of theenjoy food and that celebrate they kept over the by winter. Most legal. Nowadays, Icelandic people the day drinking of in the foods are salted fish with vegetables and potatoes. beerday!! beer bars, clubs, restaurants. They keep drinking…..Happy
Finally on Wednesday, Öskudagur will be held. This day is like an icelandic 4.Korea“jeongwall-daeborm” halloween. People used to hang ashes as a prank but these days, they don’t The 15th day of the New Year according to the lunar calendar. Currently, it is
taken place on the first full moon day of the year. In Korea, the moon is considered a woman and the sun is a man. The moon symbolizes rich, childbirth and the softness of the earth. So, the full moon was a very important symbolism in Korea. There is a unique event on the morning of jeongwall-daeborm where people bite hard nuts and pray for no boil on their bodies and believed that their teeth would become stronger. And it has a tradition to eat rice mixed with five grains and a little bit of cold alcohol. These days, it's not as big as holidays such as New Year's Day, but still, people eat nuts on this day to pray for luck through the whole year. Students celebrate the day by eating rice mixed with five grains or eating a little bit of nuts in school cafeterias. 5.Japan- “Fuku-otoko festival” This is taken place on the January 10th every year. “Fuku-otoko festival” is a sacred event held in a shrine in a city called Nishinomiya to choose the “Fuku-otoko”, meaning lucky-man, of the year. Today, as much as 5000 people gather to achieve the place of “fuku-otoko.” As soon as the gate opens at 6AM, people who gathered to be the lucky man
3.Beer day Held on March 1 every year. Beer day happened since beer has been banned in Iceland for a long time! Iceland is a special country where beer was banned by a national referendum. Beer was banned for 74 years and later only beer with high strength of alcohol was banned. So iceland people only made low strength beer and drank it. Iceland was also fighting for independence from Denmark. People decided to stop drinking beer to show their patriotism. On March 1, 1989, beer became legal. Nowadays, Icelandic people enjoy and celebrate the day by drinking beer in bars, clubs, restaurants. They keep drinking…..Happy beerday!! 4.Korea- “jeongwall-daeborm” The 15th day of the New Year according to the lunar calendar. Currently, it is taken place on the first full moon day of the year. In Korea, the moon is considered a woman and the sun is a man. The moon symbolizes rich, childbirth and the softness of the earth. So, the full moon was a very important symbolism in Korea. There is a unique event on the morning of jeongwall-daeborm where people bite hard nuts and pray for no boil on their bodies and believed that their teeth would become stronger. And it has a tradition to eat rice mixed with five grains and a little bit of cold alcohol. These days, it's not as big as holidays such as New Year's Day, but still, people eat nuts on this day to pray for luck through the whole year. Students celebrate the day by eating rice mixed with five grains or eating a little bit of nuts in school cafeterias. 5.Japan- “Fuku-otoko festival” This is taken place on the January 10th every year. “Fuku-otoko festival” is a sacred event held in a shrine in a city called Nishinomiya to choose the “Fuku-otoko”, meaning lucky-man, of the year. Today, as much as 5000 people gather to achieve the place of “fuku-otoko.” As soon as the gate opens at 6AM, people who gathered to be the lucky man
starts to run all at once for the main hall, which is the goal. The first one to reach the goal will be the “fuku-otoko”, achieving the certificate and get some prizes such as sake, beer and rice. It is a great honor to be a “fuku-otoko.” Of course, woman can also join this event. However, since it is very dangerous, only few will join it. This is now broadcasted on TV every year, being a familiar event on the New Year’s season. 6.Estonia- “Estonian Song festival” Held every 5 years in July. Our Estonian camp leader says, “It is organised every 5 years and for estonians it is one of the most important events, cause we are singing songs in our native language that have an important message and everyone at the festival time can feel the strength and support from each other. This festival has been organised since 1869 and this year we celebrated 150 years of this festival, which was the biggest festival we have had so far (Counting the singers and people who went to see the festival as well.” The Estonian Song Festival is one of the largest amateur choral events in the world, a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. 7.Russia- “Maslenitsa Festival” (Pancake week) Held for a week in February to early March. Our Russian peer volunteer told us, “In Russia every year we celebrate the holiday "Maslenitsa". This ancient Slavic holiday lasts for a week and welcomes the arrival of spring. People bake delicious pancakes, walk in parks, go to a friends and relatives house, go sledding and arrange fairs. On Sunday, the last day of Maslenitsa, we celebrate "forgiven Sunday". On this day, close relatives ask for forgiveness from each other for the offenses caused, go to the cemetery to remember the dead relatives and burn an effigy of Maslenitsa to say goodbye to winter.” They eat pancakes called “blini” during this week. Hot, round, and golden, pancakes, as people believed, embody a little of the sun’s grace and might, helping to warm up the frozen earth.
8.Mexico- “feria nacional de san marco The date of the fair varies every year but is set around April 25, the Feast Day of San Marcos. This is one of the biggest festival held in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes every year for three (or sometimes four) weeks. People could enjoy music, plays, circus, cockfights and bullfights and more. Initially the fair was tied to the harvesting of grapes since wine production used to be an important activity in Aguascalientes. Our Mexican peer volunteer’s favorite part of the festival is the concerts that are held every day. The concert is free and there are some that you can pay for. Two or three Mexican artists play everyday. You need to see this when you visit Mexico! -Minami, eunjeong Kim(미나미, 김은정),(みなみ、うんじょんきむ)
by Kim Eun Jeong & Minami Kato
GEOLOGY & LANDSCAPES IN iceland
Iceland is the country with unique nature and extraordinary landscapes. Volcanoes and geysers coexist with glaciers and lakes, mountains with broad valleys and lava fields. Diversity of natural landscapes of Iceland is associated with its geological structure. Geologically, Iceland is a very young island. It appeared over the ocean for the first time about only 18 million years ago. This island has a volcanic origin. The oldest rocks on the island are of Neogene age and located in the east and west of the island. From a geological perspective, the West Fjords is the oldest Icelandic region left over from the volcanic plateau of Thule. The island is composed of thick strata of basalt and other lavas. The width of lava layers reaches 7 km. The formation of the surface of Iceland is not yet completed, therefore geological processes strongly contribute to the life in the country. For example, as a result of a volcanic eruption in 1963, a small island of Surtsey appeared southwest of the island.
Boundary of Eurasian plate and North American plate One of the best geographical wonders in Iceland is Gjá [ge-yeah-oo]. It is called rift zone in English as well. This is the border between Eurasian Plate and North American Plate. That means Eurasian Plate and North American Plate are born here. Each year, the distance between the plates increases by about 2 cm. Usually plates are born at Mid-ocean Ridge so they aren’t visible. However, a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge appears above the sea level at Iceland as Gjá. That makes Iceland very special and a popular place for geologists to visit and do their researches. Gjá runs from the north east to the south west of Iceland, but the most touristic place to see it is Þingvellir in the Golden Circle. We visited here in this workcamp and saw Gjá with our own eyes!
Comparison of Iceland and Japan My home country, Japan is located the other side of Eurasian plate and North American plate and they dies at Japan Trench. Although it looks completely different because the plates are born in Iceland and die in Japan, these two countries have many geographical features in common. Earthquakes often happen in both countries and they have a lot of volcanos because they are on boundaries of plates. Sometimes they cause natural disasters. In fact, Eyjafjallajรถkull in Iceland erupted on 2010 and it caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Also, there was a big earthquake in Japan on 2011. 15,894 people died at that time and 2,562 people are still missing. I was in Tokyo then and it was far from the center of the earthquake, but I felt strong shaking. These facts sound really scary and dangerous. However, because of these natural features, we can enjoy wonderful and unique landscapes. As an example, I want to introduce geysers here. We saw the geyser called Strokkur in the Golden Circle tour. It erupts every five to ten minutes blasting water to heights of around fifteen to twenty meters. It was dynamic and I found it very beautiful that the hall shines in blue just before the geyser erupts. It is really difficult to be captured as a photo, so if you really enjoy the wonders of a geyser, come to Iceland and see it with your own eyes! I had this information about nature in Iceland before I came here, but when I actually saw them, it was more amazing than I expected. Talking about Gjรก, it was bigger than I imagined, so I could feel magnificence of the earth. At the same time, I felt that it is a small world after all because Iceland and Japan are on the same plates although they are 8,615 kilometers away!
The hills north of our camp born in 0.8 – 3.3 million years ago
Landscapes around the volunteer camp. Our camp is located at a valley near the capital of the country. The landscapes of the surroundings are also quite diverse. The geological map shows the location of the camp. The age of the rocks is the Upper Pleistocene, it is less than 0.8 million years, that is, from a geological point of view, the rocks are very young. There are basic and intermediate extrusive rocks with intercalated sediments. To the north of the camp there are hills where locals and tourists like to go walking. The age of these mountains reaches 3.3 million years. They are represented by basic and intermediate extrusive rocks of Upper Pliocene and lower Pleistocene. The lake east of our camp. Age of the bedrock is younger than 0.8 million years.
Geographical map of our camp
Iceland's geological features and beautiful landscapes are all over. Picturesque mountains and clear water of rivers, geothermal springs and a huge number of waterfalls. Everybody should see all of them in order to understand the uniqueness of Iceland!
by Saprina Olga & Trao Yui
ELVES & BELIEFS
From Norse mythology, elves represent fertility, the cult of ancestors and the spirits of nature. The last one makes me reflect on why more than 60% of Icelanders still believe in them. In a country where nature is the protagonist of all the stories there is nothing left but to venerate its majesty. Throughout this little investigation I have heard stories mainly about the rocks of the elves, which as something sacred should be kept where they are and nobody wants to interfere with them and I believe that beyond the belief of the bad luck that may have to move a rock, or hitting it, is respect for nature and what belonged in that place long before us what really matters. You can read hundreds of stories of elves that happen throughout Iceland, and my conclusion is that they are the guardians of the natural in the constant change that cities have in this country, the respect for the order created by the nature. All this makes us question the growth of the human race and the urbanization that it brings, how much do we take into account the terrain and nature that surrounds us to continue our way of life? In my current city in Mexico, I have seen how urbanization and accelerated growth of the economy has brought excessive tree felling with several decades of life in order to meet our needs to get to a place faster, to waste less time and less life in moving to our work or back to our house, and that couple of minutes that we are winning we lose it in another way, because aren´t we depending 100% on nature, our body that is the largest producer of carbon dioxide adds a load to our environment with each breath and we pay with more construction of "concrete jungles" and less green around us. The most repeated story about the elves has to do with a stone that was somewhere and that when “progress� arrives, they decide to move it as we do with anything that goes our way, but what happens in Iceland that doesn't happen elsewhere, the belief that elves inhabit these rocks does not allow them to destroy or detonate them as we would any other natural resource. Instead the rocks are relocated after reaching an agreement with their inhabitants or simply remain as part of the landscape giving people a little more work by having to surround them with their cars as they pass
by them. And this is the greatest teaching that I think the elves want to give us, there is nothing that cannot be kept in place, and that despite this everything can work around it, it is much easier to cohabit with the nature of what They have told us. I return to my life in Aguascalientes, Mexico, where hundreds of times I have heard, "we needed to remove those trees in order to build," "we needed to destroy a small habitat in search of a better quality of life within the city."
But why not cohabit, seek the use of natural resources within our way of construction as the Icelanders have done over the last centuries since the arrival of these beliefs with their first inhabitants. I think that beyond studying the mysticism that these magical beings have and asking ourselves how they are here we should ask ourselves why, what is the reason why beings that have been compared even with semi-gods are interested in continuing to live near us. Within Reykjavik you can find several elf stones surrounded by small natural spaces. So without a doubt this is the challenge that I think the elves pose in the day to day and it is a teaching for anyone in the world, humans are not the owners of nature even if they have made us believe it, but it is not the opposite because nature does not possess us, it has given us the freedom to grow in thought, to develop and change our lifestyle constantly, therefore we should give back with the same freedom of growth. In my few days of knowledge of the elves I have been able to learn several things and see them with an external look at the belief that the Icelanders have about them, my main conclusion is that they seek to teach us to cohabit, having them nearby becomes a challenge for those in charge of growth of cities around the world in which we must learn to incorporate nature into our way of life, and perhaps the learning that builders have had over the years needs a look into the past to unlearn and create new ways in which we can coexist in a more harmonious and less harmful way. Perhaps the elves have remained during all these years as some writings of those who study them mention in this dimension in order to help us live in a better way. It is likely that they chose the rocks to live to show that our planet is much stronger than we think and that the machines or dynamite we use will never be enough to destroy everything completely if it doesn´t want to. I would like to think that they are trying to tell us that everything can work if we consider each other and learn to respect instead of destroying ourselves, so I hope that these elves want to return with each of us, now that we return to our countries some of them decide to get into our bags and help us understand that we must achieve this everywhere to find a right balance between the modern and the natural. Firmly believe that nature is the best teacher of truth. by Valeria Vega
Exploring Filmmaking World Through Volunteering
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ Walking around in Reykjavik you can always see lot of puffin pictures, but �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� early September you can start seeing more and more pictures of puffins, ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� which to local people is a sign of famous Reykjavik International Film ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Festival – RIFF. This festival has been organised since 2004 and is popular ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� among Icelandic people, but people also come from across the world to ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� enjoy new and progressive quality films. Past few years they have �����������������������������������������������������
screened about 100 films from around 40 countries, which also has given a choice to film fanatics in different categories. The goal of the festival for the founders was to present new movies, to support innovation in filmmaking and to have a platform for the professionals from different parts of the world to network. As a bonus this festival over the years has become an opportunity for people to come to Iceland and volunteer at the event to explore the filmmaking world. 2019 is the year, when I discovered the perks of volunteering at the film festival and I am going to explain shortly why it is worth to take that time to help out at the festival at least once in your life, but I am pretty sure, if you do it once, you are most likely do it again!
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One of the main reasons why I liked volunteering at RIFF is that there were people helping to make the festival run smoothly from all over the world, which means you have the possibility to widen your social circle. It is a perfect chance to even meet local people and make friends, when you have recently moved to a new country and know no-one. Since a lot of festivals offer some free passes to the movies for the volunteering work, it is an opportunity for you to grab some other volunteers and see a film and why not even have a discussion afterwards, this is one of the ways to see if you have good connection with the people and if you would even want to do different activities outside the festival. With some people you connect good and make friends for life and with some people you don’t – it is okay, you just need to give it a shot!
I have always been interested in the world of filmmaking, but have never found a good way to actually learn more about it, until I was volunteering at the film festival. During 11 days of the event you are assigned with different jobs, from ticket sales to brochure distribution and even screening, which means you need to know all the information about the ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� festival itself and movies to do your job and help the visitors of festival. ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Volunteering at the festival gives you also a chance to meet professionals ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� and experts in the filmmaking world, since a lot of times the directors come ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� to explain their work to people, who came to see their movie, which gives ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� you an opportunity to learn and ask questions directly from the author. �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Throughout the event you are assigned to various jobs and by the end of the event you have a good overview of the filmmaking world and what is going on behind the curtains to make everything perfect for the visitors of the festival. Overall, I had an amazing experience working at the festival, which gave me a chance of meeting a lot of new people from different cultures, I learned so much about filmmaking through helping out at the festival and hearing details from the directors of the movies and of course I saw quite a bit of movies about different topics. So if you ever have a chance to volunteer at Reykjavik International Film Festival or at another festival, give it a try, I am already planning at which festival I could help out next, cause I know it is more than worth it! by Kelly Solovjov