As the Will Ferrell comedy film, Elf, continues to attract moviegoers this holiday season, for the country of Iceland, elves are no laughing matter. Over 10 percent of the population of 283,000 believes in them, including Icelandic rocker Bjork. Roads are designed around the homes of elves, and in some instances, building plans have been redesigned or abandoned to avoid disturbing rocks where elves live.
There's even a Reykjavik school that teaches Elf studies.
When prodded, Icelanders from all walks of life can recount vivid experiences with supernatural beings. About 10 percent of Icelanders believe in the existence of a "huldufolk" or a hidden world of elves, dwarfs and spirits with magic powers. Another 10 percent deny them, but the remaining 80 percent on the North Atlantic island nation either have no opinion or refuse to rule out their existence, a survey shows.
Elves may be getting their 15 minutes of fame in Hollywood, but they are nothing new to Icelanders who have told folk tales of little people since the time of the medieval sagas -- pithy, epic tales dating from the 12th century when a man never left his home without his sword.
Magnus H. Skarphedinsson, a historian and the headmaster of the Icelandic Elf School in Reykjavik, has devoted 23 years documenting eyewitness reports of contact with the hidden world. He has also helped 4,000 students -- mainly Germans, Scandinavians, Americans and Canadians -- successfully complete their diploma in Elf Studies.
With a curriculum, classrooms, textbooks, diplomas, and ongoing research, Skarphedinsson teaches about the five different types of elves, hidden people, and other invisible beings that inhabit Iceland. It concludes with an afternoon elf hunt around town, for which tuition is about $48 per person for groups of three or more.
For more information about Iceland, visit Iceland Naturally