I wish I were on the road to Jón’s house today. Driving through the Westfjords takes every bit of your courage — the roads demand it — but the reward is unlike anything else on earth. I am wishing you were with me.

June 17 is Iceland’s National Day — Þjóðhátiðardagurinn — it’s coming up soon, a day to raise a cup and remember the man whose birthday became the birthday of a republic. Let me tell you a little of his story.

The man behind the day

Jón Sigurðsson, 1811–1879

“A Call to Icelanders” — arguing that Iceland deserved the same rights as Denmark, and that its people had every right to govern themselves.

— Jón Sigurðsson, 1848

On Saturday, June 17, 1811, Jón was born at Hrafnseyri on the northern shores of Arnarfjörður — Eagle Fjord — in the Westfjords. Named after the Norse settler Örn (Eagle) of Rogaland, Norway, who was among the first to farm that fjord when Iceland was settled around 900 AD, Arnarfjörður carries ancient roots in its very name.

Jón was born into difficult times. Just thirty years earlier, in 1783, the Lakagígar volcanic eruption — the Skaftá Fires — had killed one-fifth of Iceland’s population. Toxic ash blocked the sun, 70% of farm animals died, and roughly 10,000 people perished in the Haze Famine. Another famine struck in 1812–14, caused by the Napoleonic Wars and the consequences of Danish rule. Yet the Westfjords, with their strong farming and fishing, felt the worst of it less than other regions — and it was here that Jón grew up.

By the 1840s, Jón had become deeply engaged in the idea that every nation has a right to self-determination. He championed liberalism, free trade, and independence for Iceland under Danish rule. In 1843, when King Christian VIII decreed the re-establishment of the Alþingi, Jón qualified for election because he owned part of his grandfather’s estate in Arnarfjörður. He won the seat for Ísafjörður and held it for the rest of his life.

Iceland gained sovereign status in 1918, though still under the Danish king. On June 17, 1944 — one thousand years after Iceland’s first constitution, and on Jón’s birthday — the modern Republic of Iceland was founded. His birthday has been celebrated as Iceland’s National Day ever since. A statue of him stands facing Parliament in Reykjavík; a copy stands at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg, placed there by the Icelandic community of Manitoba.

A cup that carries all of this

Since 1875, Icelanders of North America have kept the old traditions alive — through family rituals, cherished recipes, and the simple act of sitting together over a perfect cup and freshly baked deliciousness. We call it kaffitími. Coffee time. It is one of the most Icelandic things there is.

That spirit is what I wanted to package — literally — when I created Valkyrie Kaffi to pair perfectly with our Vínarterta. A small-batch coffee roasted here in Grey County, Ontario, made in collaboration with friends at Kimber Valley Farms and Believer Coffee Company, and offered with an eBook that brings the stories of Vikings, Valkyries, and kaffitími right to your kitchen table.