Chasing Waterfalls and Learning about the Norse Gods

Rebecca Hayman from Kelowna, BC
My family decided they wanted to educate me on the Norse mythology of some of the local sights, We passed by Goðafoss, and Sigrún told me the story of why it was called Goðafoss or.. God’s [water]fall.
The story is: "Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði Þorkelsson {say that 10 times fast} was born in 940 and worked as a lawspeaker in Iceland from 985 – 1001. In the year 999/1000, Iceland had beenintroduced to Christianity and was in the debate between following the Norse paganism they knew or converting to Christianity. þorgeir was a pagan priest and had favored after Christianity but decided that compromise must be made –allowing, for those who wish too continue, the practice of the pagan religion in private. Þorgeir converted to Christianity andtook the idols of the Norse gods from his farm and threw them over the water fall – now known as Goðafoss."
We drove into a canyon, the walls standing high into the sky and the rocks being in a similar formation as the rock walls we had just seen.
The canyon of Ásbyrgi had a story of its own, one the Sigrún and Ottó told me about as we drove further and further into the canyon. The canyon from above, was sort of like a horse shoe, with a U-shape formed by the walls and the inside formation completing the look of the U. This U-shape reminded people of a horse shoe, so legend has it that Óðinn had a horse with 8-legs and one day that horse took a step and the ground sunk, leaving the hoof imprint in the ground. Of course I asked “do they know how the canyon was actually formed?” and apparently as Ottó explained it was from the glaciers as they were there, the land formed around them until they melted, leaving the U-shaped canyon. There are other explanations as to why the canyon is shaped this way, but this is the one that made the most sense to me when I learned some of the other explanations.
The canyon is also apparently the home of the hidden people. These hidden people are also known as the “Huldufólk” and live among the cliffs. There was a little sign with a blurb about them there at the canyon.
After a little bit more driving and a few stops, we pulled into another parking lot and followed the path down the rock stairs and got closer and closer to the the loud rumbling sound I could only imagine was Dettifoss. I had looked up pictures of the water falls and they looked amazing but walking up to the falls with the rushing sound getting louder and stronger until you were literally right there, right beside this powerful waterfall.. it was something different. I had never been so close to something so powerful and so strong before – other than ‘The Mountain‘ of course.. 
The canyon went on and on it seemed and the amount of water coming through the river, down the fall and into that canyon – can  you image how much water that is per second – per minute – per day – per year!? Where does it all come from and how does it always have that power! It should be labelled as a wonder of the world. I imagine that Niagara Falls is just as impressive as it is bigger but.. this was nature, you could go right up and touch the water as it flowed by, you could feelthe mist coming up from the massive amounts of water falling below.

You could stand on the rocks just inches from the cliff the water was running over. No rails, no cement barriers to hold you back and  nothing taking away from the raw beauty and pure power that the famous Dettifoss was showing. I was in complete and utter ‘aww‘. I didn’t want to leave but it was COLD! We sped walked back to the car to where there was no wind and it was semi-warm!


To read Rebecca's blog please go to:
https://afreshsnorri.wordpress.com

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