Day 59. 26th August, Goðafoss, Iceland (Northeast).

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I spent some hours in the morning at Akureyri finally getting the tyre and rim repaired that I had destroyed in the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.  Then I proceeded to Goðafoss.

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Goðafoss, not far from Akureyri, means “Waterfall of the Gods”.

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This is how it got its name.  In the last years of the 10th century, King Óláfr Tryggvason sent the priest Þangbrandr to Iceland to convert the population to Christianity.  Þangbrandr destroyed some temples and idols and killed a few people but returned to Norway reporting that his efforts were unsuccessful.  King Óláfr was incensed at this and ready to set out with his army and convert by the sword but two men from Iceland, converted Christians, persuaded him to wait while they tried again.

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In the Althing of 999 or 1000, the burning issue was whether to retain the old gods or adopt Christianity.  There were two camps of armed men present and civil war was threatening.  It was decided that the Lawspeaker of the Althing, Þorgeir Þorkelsson (Thorgeir Thorkelsson), a pagan, would adjudicate.  After contemplating under his cloak for a day and a night,  he emerged and called a meeting at the Lögberg, or Law Rock.

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First he stated that all must live under the one law and under one set of customs and obtained the agreement of the meeting that all would abide by his decision.  Only then did he announce that all must convert to Christianity.  These events are related in the Íslendingabók.

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On returning home from the Althing, Þorgeir Þorkelsson threw his pagan idols into the waterfall, so that is how it gets its name: Goðafoss or Waterfall of the Gods.