A successful day

Yesterday was Icelandic Sheepdog Day, and the national dog was celebrated widely across the country as well as abroad. Social media was filled with pictures and festive greetings.

At noon the National Broadcasting Service RÚV featured a segment and an interview with Þórarinn Eldjárn, author and poet, about a picture he posted on his Facebook page in honor of the day. The picture, shown above (with Þórarinn's permission for publication), depicts Mark Watson, his British travel companion, Þórarinn Eldjárn (then 9 years old), and Hjörtur Benediktsson from Marbæli, the curator at Glaumbær. The photo was taken by Þórarinn's father, Kristján Eldjárn, author and scholar, who was the President of Iceland from 1968 to 1980.

Þórarinn recounts that on July 7, 1958, he was on a trip with his father, who was then the national museum curator, and they were heading to Glaumbær in Skagafjörður. Father and son were trying to get there before Mark Watson arrived to ensure that he would not have to pay the admission fee for the museum, which he himself had funded. When they arrived at Glaumbær, Mark Watson had already arrived and paid the admission fee. See also here.

I greatly enjoyed this segment and the photo, which I had never seen before. When I arrived in Glaumbær around 4 PM, we dog owners who had gathered to celebrate the day met right by the same house corner where the photo was taken 66 years ago.

To our great delight, RÚV also attended the event and captured the wonderful atmosphere in Glaumbær that forms every year on this festive day. The event was covered in the evening news on RÚV.

It is fantastic to see that Icelandic Sheepdog Day is gaining more and more attention. Here you can see pictures from the event in Glaumbær and here from the event at Árbæjarsafn in Reykjavík.