Iedereen weet wel dat ik in Stykkishólmur woon en dat dat zo'n klein vissersdorpje is met maar liefst 1200 inwoners, maar daar blijft het dan wel zo'n beetje bij. ik dacht dat het wel leuk zou zijn om wat meer te schrijven over het onstaan en de historie van Stykkishólmur.
ik heb een aantal Engelse teksten gevonden over Stykkishólmur:
The largest town on Snafellsnes, Stykkishólmur, is named for the islet Stykki that partially shelters its harbour. It sits at the end of the complicated Porsnes sub-peninsula wich juts into Breidfjordur. For the past four centuries, Stykkishólmur, with its well-sheltered harbour, has been an important fishing, trading and administrative centre. In its more distant past, however, the area has served as a religious centre for the both pagans and Christians.
History
From the time of Settlement, the area has been significant to Por worshippers. According to the Eyrbyggja Saga, the first settler Porolfur Mostrarskeggi transplanted a wooden temple from his former home in Norway and named the farm Hofstadir 'temple stead'. The bay west of his farm he named Hofstadavogur, temple bay.
East of his property was a mountain that Porofur regarded as holy and so called it helgafell (holy mountain). His son Porsteinn cod-Biter once reported seeing Helgafell open up in a vision of a fiery Valhala, where he witnesed the dead festing and enjoying themselves enormously. Thanks to an unfortunate fishing accident, Porsteinn joined the after-life party at an aerly age. Porolfur gathered his relatives and organised the first Icelandic ping, or assembly, on the plain near this farm. Lest the holy land around there be defiled during these meetings, Porolfur set up a loilet area on a small offshore islet,which he called Dritsker, or 'shitskerry'.
When later settlers refused to comply with Porolfur toilet regulations, a long and bloody battle ensued, defiling the ground with blood as well. At this point, Porolfur decided it was time to move the Phing, and thereafter it met on the flat promontory Phingvollur.
Chruch
The Christian church at helgafell was built in the late 10th century by Snorri godi, a Por worshipper who converted to Christianity. Iceland experienced a rash of church-buildings at this time because the priests promised those who built them as many places in heaven asthere were standing places in their churches.
