By Kristine Leander, July 28, 2013, at the unveiling
of the Leif Erikson statue in L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland
Distinguished guests, it gives me great pleasure to be here today. This
day is the culmination of a 17-year saga for our group. In 1994, a visiting
scholar from Trondheim, Norway—Rolf Grankvist—and I were having dinner
at a restaurant near Seattle’s statue of Leif Erikson. He casually suggested
that since the sagas say that Leif Erikson wintered over in Trondheim,
and since Seattle is one of eight cities in America with statues of
Leif Erikson, we in Seattle ought to give Trondheim a statue of Leif
Erikson.
I said “Sure, we’ll do that,” and then woke up in the middle of the
night wondering how we’d do that. I formed a committee and we hit on
the idea of giving a replica of Seattle’s 1962 statue and asking people
to donate in someone’s name, which would be displayed on plaques near
the statue.
Three years later, in 1997, we did give Trondheim that statue, but the
concrete of the base wasn’t even dry before the same professor began
nagging us about Greenland, where Erik the Red and his family, including
his son Leif Erikson, homesteaded. So, in 2000, we unveiled a statue
overlooking the bay from which Leif set sail on his historic journey
to North America.
Of course, with the Trondheim and Greenland statues under our belts,
we had to see to it that L’Anse aux Meadows got a statue too. Several
trips later for us, and many meetings later for you (and perhaps some
handwringing too), here we are in 2013, unveiling a statue.
So now I’ve told you how we did it, but not why we did it.
Since the Vikings obviously never made it to the West Coast of North
America, why does Seattle have a statue of Leif Erikson? Ah yes, the
Vikings never made it, but the Norwegians, the Icelanders, the Swedes
came in great numbers. And Scandinavian immigrants have a deep love
for Leif Erikson. Every culture has a story, sometimes true, sometimes
mythical, about the first person of their clan. And what Adam and Eve
are to the Biblical story of creation, and what Abraham is to the Jewish
people, is what Leif Erikson is to Scandinavian immigrants and their
descendants.
He’s not only an epic hero for the ages, but he is also our symbolic
ancestor. He was first, and we imbue him with traits of courage, willingness
to take risks, a taste for hardship, and the ability to change course
to take advantage of a good wind or a new opportunity, along with a
constant yearning to find a better place, a better way.
All of these traits are important to immigrants, and as the children
and grandchildren of immigrants, they’re in our DNA. We honor Leif as
the symbolic ancestor of our own immigration stories. Who he was, or
who we think he was, echoes who we want to be.
We used several slogans in our promotion with these three statues. One
was “Their sails were filled with hope and courage.” Another one we
came up with in time for this particular statue here in Vinland, perhaps
at the very place where the Vikings first stepped ashore, was “Their
footprints, our path.” That’s what Leif Erikson and the Vikings who
visited here mean to us. “Their footprints, our path.”
And now before I conclude, I want to mention the plaques, which do not
fit on this beautiful piece of basalt we obtained from Iceland just
for this setting. In keeping with one of the Viking-like traits I mentioned
earlier, “the ability to change course when a new wind comes up,” we
are using this problem to our advantage. We are planning to get a larger
piece of Icelandic basalt, or maybe two pieces, and we’ll be back here,
we hope in a year, to install a new stone or two and more plaques with
names of donors. There are brochures around telling you how to get your
name included.
And now in closing, on behalf of all of the donors who gave generously,
and the board members who worked so hard, the Leif Erikson International
Foundation gives this statue to Norstead and the people of L’Anse aux
Meadows, and we dedicate it to all Nordic immigrants to North America.
Kristine Leander is the President of the Leif Erikson International
Foundation, based in Seattle. Our founding mission is to promote Leif
Erikson’s rightful place in history, support Scandinavian cultural activities
in our local community, and build bridges between Scandinavian communities
and the people of the Pacific Northwest. Other board members are Barbara
Grande Dougherty, Mary DeVuono Englund, Rolf Lystad, Dustin Matsen,
Irene Mobraaten Patten, David Skar, Sharon Storbo, and honorary member
Rolf Grankvist.