Reflecting on My Iceland Heritage & My Snorri Experience
- Icelandic Roots
- 18 hours ago
- 4 min read
by Inga Gudmundsson McGuire, Snorri Participant 2024
Over Christmas, a family friend laid a candle and wreath in remembrance of my grandfather, Ivar Guðmundsson, (IR# I219840) in Hólavallagarður Cemetery. This kind act and loving Icelandic tradition reminded me of the connections we Western Icelanders have with family, history, and place. It left me feeling compelled to reflect on my Icelandic heritage and Snorri experience.
Each time I try to write about my connection to Iceland, I always start with my
grandfather. While I feel like a broken record, his life and legacy are truly the key to unlocking and understanding what Iceland and my Icelandic ancestry means to me. My grandfather, a life-long lover of Iceland, remained devoted to his country even while living abroad. Like a ripple effect, his love of Iceland slowly trickled down the generations. He passed his passion and love of Iceland down to my father, who in turn, shared family lore, family history, and his own memories of Iceland with me and my sisters (his brothers sharing the same with their children).
Many of us, my grandfather's descendants, who now live in the United States, Canada, and Denmark, were given Icelandic names, read Icelandic children’s books, and all have been fortunate to visit Iceland numerous times. While our true connection to Iceland passed away almost three decades ago, my grandfather's devotion ignited a spark that has flamed a reverence and curiosity into his descendants that has lasted long after his death. It is this spark, with the help of Icelandic Roots and other generous donors, that brought me back to Iceland this past summer to participate in the Snorri program.
The Snorri program and Icelandic Roots allowed me to explore my Icelandic identity, understand more about Icelandic culture, and really get to know close family members. This might not have happened had I not applied to Snorri in December of 2023 or become a member of Icelandic Roots in 2021. I used the information I found on the
Icelandic Roots database to learn about and contact distant cousins while in Iceland.
Meeting family along with weeks of language classes, sightseeing, and walking tours allowed me to develop my own reasons to love Iceland. I can truly say I am a different person post-Snorri and have many people to thank, including the members of Icelandic Roots, for such a unique opportunity.
As I reflect on 2024 and what lies ahead for me in 2025, I more than ever before have
realized that my Icelandic ancestry, Icelandic name, and the Icelandic stories and traditions passed down to me are not just a part of someone else’s story, those of my father or grandfather, but that of my own. I no longer rely on others' memories to bring to life events, locations, and family secrets that have unraveled over time. Rather, I build on top of them, adding to the legacies of my ancestors.
This past summer I made my own memories in Iceland. I tracked down my own leads
that have in turn helped me understand the intricacies of my Icelandic identity.
I met for the first time cousins who, with just as many questions about my own family as I had for theirs, I talked with for hours upon hours, working towards repairing the past choices of family members who came before us.
After I finished the Snorri program, I departed from Iceland and landed back in the
United States a different person - just like my family members and other Western Icelanders have experienced in their own pilgrimages back to Iceland. It is the initial spark that sets us on the journey to Iceland - the memories of others' lives, events, and migrations that have all formed together to urge us to go and live, explore, and experience for ourselves. I know I am not alone in saying that the past, present, and future all come together to shape us Western Icelanders, just as it shaped those before us and will shape those who come after us.
Following my Snorri experience, I know now what sparks my own love of Iceland, reasons all unique to me, but that originated from that initial spark left by my grandfather years ago.
With the first great-grand-child born to my cousin the week I left for Iceland in June 2024, my hope for the future is that my grandfather's descendants will listen and learn about their Icelandic ancestry and heritage. And when the time is right, just like I did through the Snorri program, explore and understand what that identity, as a Western Icelander, means to them.
Two Views of the 2024 Snorri Program
Inga Gudmundsson McGuire made a video about tracing her grandfather's life in Iceland and North America as part of her Snorri experience. Click on the image to view her video.
Alysia Johnson made this video that captures the adventures she experienced on the 2024 Snorri Program. Click on the image to view her video.