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Nordic Spirit Symposium

Vikings in America and First Contact

Nordic Spirit Symposium

The Icelandic sagas tell of Norse voyages to Vinland around 1000 CE. A site at the northern tip of Newfoundland was confirmed in the 1960s by archaeologist Anne Stine and her explorer husband Helge Ingstad as a Norse site occupied around that year. Birgitta Wallace later collaborated in and extended the research. This symposium discusses the Newfoundland site, the location of Vinland, the Norse in Greenland, the prehistory/history of eastern Canada from 7000 BCE and the natives the Norse likely encountered.

Reception: Friday, Feb. 9, 5:30 p.m.   |   Scandinavian Center, 26 Faculty St.
Reservations requested. Admission is $10.

Lectures: Friday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.   |   Samuelson Chapel
Admission is $20. Free for students and Cal Lutheran faculty and staff.

The Memory of Vinland in the Icelandic Sagas
Gisli Sigurdsson, Ph.D., Research Professor, Folklore, Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavik

Norse Greenlanders
Jette Arneborg, Ph.D., Research Archaeologist, National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen

Lectures: Saturday, Feb. 10, 9 a.m.    |    Samuelson Chapel
Admission is $40 (morning and afternoon lectures). Free for students and Cal Lutheran faculty and staff.

L’Anse aux Meadows: The Gateway to Vinland and its People
Birgitta Wallace, M.A., retired archaeologist, Atlantic Region, Parks Canada

A Short Prehistory of the Norse’s New World
Donald H. Holly, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois

Lectures: Saturday, Feb. 10, 1:30 p.m.   |   Samuelson Chapel

Mi’kmaq Culture, Folklore and Legends
Bern Francis, Ph.D., Mi’kmaq author and linguist

The Saga of Gudridur, a dramatic performance
Thorunn Clausen, Danish-Icelandic actress trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London and Complete Vocal Institute, Copenhagen

Panel Discussion

Dinner: Saturday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m.   |   Lundring Events Center
Reservations required. Admission is $35.

The Nordic Spirit Symposium is sponsored by the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation and California Lutheran University and is made possible by generous grants from the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and the Norway House Foundation in San Francisco. For information and early registration fees, contact Howard Rockstad.

Image: Vinland

Sponsored By
Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation and California Lutheran University

Contact

Howard Rockstad
hrockstad@gmail.com
805-497-3717

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