Huldufólk
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Well, You Asked: Huldufólk Hit Me Up
Do the Huldufólk watch TV? Do they use smartphones? Drive SUVs? Shop at Ikea and Costco? How about Elves and Trolls? –asking for a friend Dear friend, I know you’re asking for yourself, and that’s okay. Own your question. It’s good. The…
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VIDEO: Rest Of The World Still Fascinated By Icelandic Belief In Supernatural
While Icelandic belief in elves and other “huldufólk” is waning, the interest of other countries in these superstitions is growing. A new episode of BBC Ideas takes a special focus on Icelandic belief in elves. Interviews are taken with the usual suspects…
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Meet The Trows: Arnljótur Communes With Orkadian Fairies As Kraftgalli
Trows rockin’ and rollin’, joking and telling stories, oh my! Icelandic micro-label Smit Records released Kraftgalli’s adventurous three track EP ‘Trítill’ on vinyl last autumn. Trítlar, or trows, are mysterious, mischievous fairies or spirits from the folklore of the Orkney Islands. They’re…
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Negotiations With “Hidden People” Go Well
When the digging of a country water well ran into complications, one culprit was deemed responsible: invisible, magical “huldufólk”. RÚV reports that there had been numerous failed attempts to drill a cold water well in Hegranes, in north Iceland, prompting suspicions amongst…
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Hiding in Plain Sight
In early 2014, we at Reykjavík Grapevine were forwarded a hand-drawn image entitled “Huldufolk [sic] of Iceland Remote Viewed.” The simple line drawing surrounded by redacted text was rather unlike any images of huldufólk that we had ever seen, a not at…
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Readers’ Huldu-fólktales
Since our Hidden People issue came out on Friday, readers have been submitting their own elf-encounter tales left and right. Here are a couple of the submissions we’ve received so far; send us yours at grapevine@grapevine.is and we’ll add to the collection!…
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Hidden People: They’re Just Like Us (Kind Of)
When foreign media outlets report on Iceland and need to add a little local colour, they will invariably throw in a quick, ironical side note about the country’s pervasive belief in elves, or Hidden People. The tone is generally one of indulgence…
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Monsters And Mythical Beings X: The Hidden People
This tenth instalment in our illustrated series of Iceland’s monsters and mythical beings revolves around huldufólk, the Hidden People. Actually, the majority of Icelanders will refute claims that huldufólk are a mythical construct, calmly proclaiming belief in the species. Icelandic construction projects…