Today, we continue reminiscing about my trip to Thingvellir National Park in Iceland. As I said before, this place is pretty special for a lot of reasons. Last time we talked about its natural history, and today we'll talk about its culture!
Thingvellir is most famous for being the place where the Thing would meet every year. Waaaaay back in the day, "Thing" actually meant a government! Everyone from all over Iceland would travel on foot or on horseback to meet for a few weeks every summer. At the Thing, the Lawspeaker would recite the law and trials would be held. It was also a chance for people to see friends and family, arrange marriages, and that sort of thing.
This pool reminded me of Ariel's Grotto. There are tons of coins down there, from all over the world! It all started when the King of Denmark came to visit, back when Denmark had control over Iceland. The water is so clear that it's hard to judge its depth, so the king threw a coin in to see how deep it was. Hundreds of years later, people are still doing it! Every once in a while, a staff member will suit up and go down to collect the coins. He or she must be very brave, because that water is from glacial runoff, and is very, very cold!
This pool was kind of creepy and sad, because this is where convicted witches were drowned. Men who were convicted of witchcraft were hung nearby. Magic in Iceland wasn't nearly as big a deal as it was in Europe, and by time the witch burnings got to Iceland, it had pretty much petered out on the mainland anyway. Women have many magics they would perform, but it was considered un-manly if a man tried to do magic. And in Iceland, being called "argr" (ar-kur) is a pretty bad thing. Men have killed each other over this!
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