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Reykjavik: Iceland’s Glima Association, 1988. — 16 p.
<strong>«Глима: исландская борьба» [на английском языке (OCR-слой)].A brief history of the ancient forms of wrestling developed from the types of combat brought to Iceland by its settlers in the Viking age and practice by their descendants for 11 centuries.
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tEtic Jtelanbic T^rtótling AN ANCIENT FORM OF W R E S T L I N G DEVELOPED FROM T H E TYPES OF COMBAT BROUGHT TO ICELAND BY I T S S E T T L E R S IN T H E VIKING AGE AND PRACTISED BY T H E I R DESCENDANTS FOR 11 CENTURIES. A BRIEF HISTORY PRESENTED COMMITTEE ICELAND.
1.
TO BY
THE THE
INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC OLYMPIC COMMITTEE OF
Thingvellir.
AUTHOR: T H O R S T E I N N EINARSSON GLÌMUSAMBAND ISLANDS (ICELAND'S CLÌMA ASSOCIATION) REYKJAVIK 1984 REVISED BY T H E AUTHOR IN 1 9 8 7 NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION 1 9 8 8
In 1874 the I c e l a n d i c p e o p l e c e l e b r a t e d the 1000th a n n i v e r s a r y of the s e t t l e m e n t of their country. The m a i n festival w a s held at T h i n g v e l l i r , a plain on the shore of a lake surrounded by s h e e t s of lava s o m e 50 km n o r t h e a s t of Reykjavik, w h e r e the Icelandic nation had c o n v e n e d e a c h June to attend to their l e g i s l a t i v e and j u d i c i a l d u t i e s from 930 to 1798 A.D. One of the many and d i s t i n g u i s h e d foreign g u e s t s at the 1874 c e l e b r a t i o n was Christian IX, the King of Denmark. On the first day of the festival the king rose early and s t r o l l e d out to the fields w h e r e the I c e l a n d e r s had p i t c h e d their t e n t s for the night.
Most of t h e m w e r e a l r e a d y out of their t e n t s , p l a y i n g g a m e s to w a r m t h e m s e l v e s . One of the g a m e s that caught the k i n g ' s eye w a s a wrestling match. He showed such great i n t e r e s t in t h i s vigorous sport and the n i m b l e c o n t e s t a n t s that t w o men recognized a s the b e s t w r e s t l e r s of the t i m e w e r e brought before him to d e m o n s t r a t e the g a m e at its b e s t . The n a m e of t h i s noble g a m e w a s gli m a . the Icelandic word for a national form of wrestling.
2. F a r m e r s engaged in a c o n t e s t of g l i m a . A d r a w ing b a s e d on the oldest known photograph of g l i m a , from about 1874.
J
The Althingi, Iceland's Parliament, was founded in 930 A.D. The p l a c e s e l e c t e d for its m e e t i n g s w a s k n o w n a s Thingvellir (lit. "The A s s e m b l y p l a i n s " ) , a s i t e of stunning natural beauty. It is s i t u a t e d a short d i s t a n c e from Reykjavik, and there the Altingi held its m e e t i n g s in the open air until 1798.
3. S c h w i n g e n
(Switzerland).
Various a n c i e n t forms of w r e s t l i n g have been preserved by nations as diverse as Switzerland, Korea, Japan, India, Russia Turkey, e t c . Ancient w r e s t l i n g s t y l e s are a l s o found in v a r i o u s p a r t s of the British I s l e s , e.g. in Westmoreland/Cumberland, Scotland, Cornwall and Devon. The s a m e i s true of Bretagne in F r a n c e , the Canary I s l a n d s , a m o n g the n o m a d i c s h e p h e r d s of Mongolia, the Maoris in New Zealand, the i n d i a n s of the Amazon region e t c .
The modern s t y l e s of w r e s t l i n g s u c h a s the Graeco-Roman s t y l e s and freestyle have little in c o m m o n w i t h t h e s e folkloric s t y l e s . Nor h a s J u d o , w h i c h w a s m o d e r n i z e d a s a form of competition w r e s t l i n g in J a p a n in the last c e n t u r y , being' derived from a n c i e n t national s t y l e s formerly u s e d in w a r and s e l f - d e f e n c e . The s e t t l e r s of I