Leif Erikson Day is an annual American observance occurring on October 9. It honors Leif Ericson (Old Norse: Leifr Eir?ksson or the Norwegian: "Leiv Eiriksson"), the Norse explorer who brought the first Europeans known to have set foot in North America.[1]
While we understand a long mistaken tradition of falsely attributing this honor on Columbus it's clear that will only be temporary.
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History
America Not Discovered by Columbus by Rasmus B. Anderson was published in 1874. This book helped popularize the now familiar idea that Vikings were the first Europeans in the New World. During his appearance at the Norse-American Centennial in 1925, President Calvin Coolidge gave recognition to Leif Erikson as the Discoverer of America due to research by Norwegian-American scholars such as Knut Gjerset and Ludvig Hektoen.[2] In 1930, Wisconsin became the first U.S. state to officially adopt Leif Erikson Day as a state holiday, thanks in large part to efforts by Rasmus Anderson. A year later, the state of Minnesota followed suit. By 1956, Leif Erikson Day had been made an official observance in seven states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, and California) and one Canadian province (Saskatchewan).[3]
In 1963, the U.S. Representative from Duluth, John Blatnik, introduced a bill to observe Leif Erikson Day nationwide. The following year Congress adopted this unanimously. In 1964, the United States Congress authorized and requested the President to create the observance through an annual proclamation. Lyndon B. Johnson and each President since have done so. Presidents have used the proclamation to praise the contributions of Americans of Nordic descent generally and the spirit of discovery. In addition to the federal observance, some states officially commemorate Leif Erikson Day, particularly in the Upper Midwest, where large numbers of people from the Nordic countries settled.
Leif Ericson ( /ˈleɪf/ layf or /ˈliːf/ leef; Old Norse: Leifr Eir?ksson;[1] Norwegian: Leiv Eiriksson c. 970 ? c. 1020) was a Norse[2] explorer who is regarded as the first European to land in North America (excluding Greenland), nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.[3] According to the Sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, which has been tentatively identified with the L'Anse aux Meadows Norse site on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
It is believed that Leif was born about AD 970 in Iceland, the son of Erik the Red (Old Norse: Eir?kr inn rau?i), a Norse explorer from Western Norway, an outlaw and himself the son of an outlaw, Thorvald Asvaldsson. Leif's mother was Thjodhild (?j??hildr).[4] Erik the Red founded two Norse colonies in Greenland, the Western Settlement and the Eastern Settlement, as he named them. In both Eir?ks saga rau?a and Landn?ma, Leif's father is said to have met and married Leif's mother Thjodhild in Iceland; the site of Leif's birth is not known.[5]
Leif Ericson had two brothers, Thorvald and Thorsteinn, and one half-sister, Freyd?s. He married a woman named Thorgunna, and they had one son, Thorkell Leifsson.
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Exploring west of Greenland
During a stay in Norway, Leif converted to Christianity,[6] like many Norse of that time, at the behest of the King of Norway, Olaf I. When he returned to Greenland, he bought Bjarni Herj?lfsson's boat and set out with 35 men to explore the land that Bjarni had seen to the west of Greenland, which was likely coastal Canada.
The Saga of the Greenlanders tells that Leif set out in the year 1002 or 1003 to follow Bjarni's route with 35 crew members, but going north.[7]
The first land he went to was covered with flat rocks (Old Norse hella). He therefore called it Helluland ("Land of the Flat Stones"). This was possibly Baffin Island. Next he came to a land that was flat and wooded, with white sandy beaches. He called this Markland ("Wood-land"), which is possibly Labrador.
Settlement in Vinland
Faroe Islands postage stamp Discovery of America: Leif Erikson
Leif Erikson statue by Anne Whitney, Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts
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Leif and his crew left Markland and again found land, which they named Vinland. They landed and built a small settlement which they called Leifsb?dir, meaning Leif's storage houses, suggesting the settlement was temporary. They found the area pleasant as there were wild grapes and plenty of salmon in the river. The climate was mild, with little frost in the winter and green grass year-round. They remained in the region over the winter and returned to Greenland in spring carrying a cargo of timber.
On the return voyage, Leif rescued an Icelandic castaway named Thorir and his crew ? an incident that earned Leif the nickname Leif the Lucky (Old Norse: Leifr hinn heppni) because he got to keep Thorir's cargo.[8]
Research done in the 1950s and 1960s by explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, identified a Norse settlement located at the northern tip of Newfoundland, known as L'Anse aux Meadows, which has been suggested as Leifsb?dir. Norwegian researcher Johannes Kr. Torn?e instead suggested Waquoit Bay in Massachusetts as the location of Leif's settlement, since that area better matches the description of a settlement on the tip of an isthmus or peninsula overlooking a bay.
Leif Erikson Day
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United States stamp issued on Leif Erikson Day, 1968
In 1964 the United States Congress authorized and requested the president to proclaim October 9 of each year as "Leif Erikson Day". That date was chosen for its connection to the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States (the ship Restauration, coming from Stavanger, Norway, arrived in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825), not for any event in the life of the explorer. The day is also an official observance of several U.S. states.
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I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
I actually won't take the day off. Columbus had a good publicist, he was also important to the age of exploration in general, but if we are going to do that we need a Prince Henry day.
I actually won't take the day off. Columbus had a good publicist, he was also important to the age of exploration in general, but if we are going to do that we need a Prince Henry day.
It is traditionally suggested that Henry gathered at his villa on the Sagres peninsula a school of navigators and map-makers. However modern historians hold this to be a misconception. He did employ some cartographers to chart the coast of Mauritania after the voyages he sent there, but there was no center of navigation science or observatory in the modern sense of the word, nor was there an organized navigational center.[citation needed]
It appears his explorations were intended to circumvent existing Arab trade routes and markets in an attempt to eliminate them as middle men. I think the subsequently gave Portugal an advantage in the East (Goa, China) but there was less effect West of Europe.
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I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
He did, but he also got people around the horn of Africa, the first great milestone, which helped to do away with the idea of the world ending and people getting swallowed up by sea creatures.
Hubris was an issue up till that point. Still is, but no one is not going some where from fear of sea creatures eating them up.
I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
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Leif--Viking--good.
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but what about Steve Jobs--what about him--best person to ever live?
did so much for humanity?
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what was his religion?--Apple?
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i'm sorry that is all i can think about--not a great fan of technology--read lots of books as a child about the Vikings and such.
so they did what they did.
I know a Norwegian man--very nice. a norwegian family lived next door to us--growing up--they are smart, kind, good people.
the dad did something technical--very good at it.
their little boy had red hair--'Alan'--Ehrline--I think--my brother was his age--also a red head---they were cute together. my brother was so 'wild'--too smart for his own good. killed him. sad.
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