GODAFOSS WATERFALL
The waterfall Godafoss (Icelandic: waterfall of the gods) is one of the
most spectacular waterfalls in Iceland. It is located right
off
the Ring Road, about 50 km (31 miles) east of Akureyri and 53km (33
miles) south/west of Husavik. Godafoss is not very tall or
powerful; but admirers point to the separate cascades forming an
elegant semicircular arc, the swirling patterns in the blue-green (or
sometimes brown) water, and the strange bubbliness of the surrounding
lava.
Godafoss is closely connected with one of the most important event in
Icelandic history, the conversion to Christianity from heathendom or
"the old custom" in the year 1000.
In the year 1000, Thorgeir Thorkelsson, the law Speaker of the
Icelandic Parliament lived on the farm Ljosavatn only 2 km from the
waterfall. This year (1.000) Iceland's
legislative
assembly was debating which religion they should practice:
"Norse
paganism" or "Christianity".
Thorgeirr, himself a pagan priest and chieftain, decided in favor of
Christianity after a day and a night of silent meditation under a fur
blanket. Pagans could still practice their old religion in
private.
After his decision, Thorgeirr himself became a Christian and when he
returned back home to Ljosavatn from this historic Althingi, he
dispensed of his heathen gods by throwing them into the falls in a
symbolic act of the conversion. As a result of the event, the waterfall
was named Godafoss (Waterfall of the Gods). In the year 2000
a
church was built on the farm Ljosavatn commemorating the 1000 year
anniversary of Christianity in Iceland and named after chieftain
Thorgeir. The church is open to visitors during the summer. |
