“Pride and Prejudice”: The Preservation of the IcelandicRímurTradition

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The Iðunn Society of Intoners and Versifiers (Kvæðamannafélagiðd Iðunn) was founded in Reykjavik in 1929. Iðunn set out to protect the practice ofrímur-'intoning and versification(kves&kapur)and immediately took very strong ownership of the means of preserving and disseminating the tradition. By nature, folk traditions are constantly fluctuating, but during the era of national romanticism it became important to preserve and “freeze” these traditions in order to serve the purposes of the formation of national identity. An example would be the Norwegian fiddle and vocal tradition which was systematically gathered from the most remote mountain areas in order to firstly save it from extinction and secondly to serve as a source for the composers of the new “national music.” The Dane Svend Grundtvig had a different agenda, wanting his collection to become a trustworthy and perfect museum of folksongs (Havåg 1997:23-33). In Finland, Elias Lönnrot gathered folksongs and compiled the Kalevala, which became the symbol of Finnish national identity (Pekkila 1994:406). Even though therímurtradition was not an element in the official identity-building taking place in Iceland around 1930, ideas of national romantic origins had a “freezing and policing” effect on it. In this paper I will demonstrate how the Iðunn Society exercised strong ownership of the oldrímurtradition. Specifically, I will show how Iðunn re-shaped and policed the form. The study also draws attention to contradictions in the way Iðunn's members took pride in their cultural roots and their childhood practice while simultaneously holding prejudices and beliefs that worked against a living tradition.