DAY 2: THE NARWHALE TUSK
TRAVEL LOG ENTRY 2: HANS EGEDE’S STATUE
Back to reality: the team landed in Nuuk, which is the Greenlandic word for peninsular. New buildings are being erected all over the place, apparently to meet the demands of an ever-increasing population. And while the city prospers, small villages are suffering, as Innuit sons and daughters – armed with good qualifications - turn their backs on the hunter-farmer-fishermen way of life.
We got temporarily installed in a brand-new wooden terrace house with a view of Greenland’s famous ice flows. The sun was out, so we made an early start on mission number 1: filming the statue of Hans Egede and the area around it. This Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary was the founder of Greenland's capital Godthåb, now known as Nuuk.
The team at the statue in the old harbour
Should we, shouldn’t we?
Actually finding Egede’s statue was trickier than we thought. We were hoping that Google Maps would help out, but rather startlingly it was telling us to walk up a pretty rocky slope! Luckily we met a group of joggers who confirmed that we could take that path, but it would be safer to stay on the one we were on.
We also chatted with a couple of Danes working at Queen Ingrid’s Hospital in Nuuk, and when we told them who we were going to film, they told us he wasn’t a popular figure locally as he reminds people of Greenland's history, when the island was colonized by the Danes.
The man with the plan
The statue shows Hans dressed in a priest’s robe, carrying a staff. Whatever was at the top of it has been removed – I don't know why. History students will tell you that Hans Egede was a man with a plan: he travelled to Greenland on the orders of Danish King Frederik IV to look for ‘The Lost Norsemen’. He piqued the Kings interest by saying there was no telling what had happened to the settlers: they might have clung on to their faith, or discarded it completely. Or they might have reverted to paganism.
When Hans Egede discovered the Norsemen truly had disappeared, he made it his mission to convert the Innuits to the Christian faith. And he established the first of many Danish trading stations in Greenland.
Meeting Arnakkuluk Jo Kleist at the Katuaq-Greenland Cultural Centre in Nuuk
The next day we met with Arnakkuluk Jo Kleist (dedicated Director of the beautiful Katuaq-Greenland Cultural Centre in Nuuk), to introduce our team and the concept of the exhibition. Meeting over, we had to wait for the rain to stop before getting on with filming the statue, views of the fjords, and the old colony harbour in town.
Lost in translation
Our local comrade in arms - Lotte - invited us to dinner at her nephew’s house and sent us the address. Her house was supposed to be about 400 metres away but we couldn’t find it because everyone we asked for directions sent us on a different path. We couldn't understand the signs as the Danish names were changed back into Greenlandic in accordance with the Home Rule & Self-government Acts (quite rightly so).
Look-around names
Interestingly, whereas the Danes have named places after the people that founded them, such as Jacobshavn (Jacob’s Harbour) or Godthåb (‘The good ship Hope’), the Innuits have looked to their environment for inspiration. When naming places, they would find a natural feature and add a description.
For example, the ice sheet is called Sermersuaq, meaning 'The large glacier'. And Greenland itself is called Kallaallit Nunaat / Inuit Nunaat, which means 'The land of Greenlanders' / The lands of people'. And the region we’d be heading to tomorrow is called Kujalleq, which means ‘South’.
If Lotte's family house had been given a Greenlandic name - and we could have translated it into 'Lotte's house by the water' - things would have been much easier, as it turned out to be perfectly visible from our borrowed terrace house!
Now that’s a room with a view!
Treats and tusks
As we settled down to eat, our troubles melted away. We were about to be treated to an exquisite dinner starring Musk Ox, accompanied by a gorgeous, velvety red wine. In one corner, I noticed an amazing Narwhale tusk. It must have been three metres long! The Norse traders sold these tusks to buyers in southern Europe, conning them into thinking they were unicorn horns. They also sold walrus tusks as elephant tusks, to keep their businesses alive.
At the end of the evening, it was business as usual: back to the house to prepare for tomorrow’s flight to Narsassuaq: We were looking forward to meeting Captain Storch Lund, the owner of the Polar-tut Boat Charter company.