Returning to the Present: Icelandic Identity and the Festival

In this paper I wish to express some general thoughts about our always uneasy relationship to the past, and the role that public festivals play in our attempts to reflect upon and represent and understanding of ourselves. The annual Islendingadagurinn provides a most interesting occasion for such a discussion, since it contains within its three days of fun and celebration an image of the West Icelandic community and its relationship to Canadian society