The infamous Katla Volcano in South Iceland is named after a Sorceress

In my last travel-blog I told you about the infamous Katla volcano in Kötlujökull glacier and the ice caves that form in the glacier.

Some of our volcanoes have female names - maybe because they are dangerous when they erupt ;) We fear the volcano Katla the most, its eruptions are cataclysmic.

But, do you know how it got its name? Icelandic folklore tells us about the cook, murderer, and sorceress Katla. 

Top photo: Kötlujökull glacier

Mýrdalsjökull glacier

This infamous volcano Katla, which we Icelanders fear so much, is lurking beneath the 590 sq.km ice cap of Kötlujökull, one of Mýrdalsjökul's glacier tongues.

Katla last erupted in 1918 and Kötlutangi spit, the southernmost part of Iceland was created in a massive glacial flood that follow such subglacial volcanic eruptions. 

An overview of Mýrdalsjökull - as shown on the website of Landmælingar Íslands.

I have through the years told you about various characters and supernatural beings in Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason, which is a compilation of folklore in five volumes.

I found Katla's story in volume 1, pages 175-176, and translated it into English.

How the volcano Katla got its name according to Icelandic folklore:

"It happened once upon a time that at Þykkvabæjarklaustur monastery an abbot living at the monastery had a cook called Katla.

The information sign in Katla Geopark tells us about Katla 

She was a bad-tempered woman - she owned trousers, which were of the nature that anybody who put them on could run forever without feeling tired.  

Katla used these trousers when needed.

People were afraid of her witchcraft and her temperament and even the abbot feared Katla. At the monastery, there was a shepherd by the name of Barði.

Icelandic sheep

Katla would often scold him severely if any of the sheep he was herding went missing.

One autumn the abbot went to a feast and Katla joined him. 

Barði, the shepherd, was ordered to round up all of the sheep before their return. But he wasn't able to track down all of the sheep.

He then decided to put on Katla's trousers and with the trousers, he was able to run and find all of the sheep.

An ice cave in Kötlujökull glacier

When Katla returned home she noticed that Barði had taken her trousers!  

She then secretly took Barði, drowned him in a barrel of whey acid, and left him there.

Nobody knew where Barði had disappeared to, but later on, that same winter the whey acid in the barrel had little by little ran out, and people heard Katla utter these words: "Senn bryddir á Barða" meaning "Soon Barði will appear".  

The photo on the information sign shows Katla running in the trousers

Katla realized that her evilness would be uncovered and that she would be punished.  

She then grabbed her trousers, ran out of the monastery, and headed northwest towards the glacier and plunged into it and was never to be seen again.

But shortly after this happened a flood burst from the glacier and headed in the direction of the monastery and Álftaver.  

Exploring Kötlujökull glacier

From then on people started believing that Katla was using her witchcraft and causing the floods.

The rift was from then on named Kötlugjá or the Rift of Katla, and the area, which this flood had destroyed, was called Kötlusandur or the Sandplains of Katla".

(Translated into English from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Collection of Folklore of Jón Árnason)

You can read more about the glacier bursts and about the people who lived to see them in my travel blog about the notorious Katla volcano.

Exploring Kötlujökull glacier

There are several accounts in our folklore and Sagas about influential or temperamental people disappearing into glaciers and mountains.

One of them is the Saga of Bárður Snæfellsás, who, after killing his 2 nephews in rage and breaking his brother's leg, disappeared into Snæfellsjökull glacier and has since been the Protector of the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

See my travel-blog: Bárður Snæfellsás, the mythical protector of the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

Bárður Snæfellsás in West Iceland

And, the settler of the Þórsnes area on the northern part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, Þórólfur mostrarskegg, and later his son, Þorsteinn þorskabítur, disappeared into the holy Mt. Helgafell after their death.

See my travel-blog: The holy Mt. Helgafell on the Snæfellsnes peninsula and the 3 wishes.

The holy Mt. Helgafell on the Snæfellsnes peninsula

More people, like the sorcerer Svanur in Bjarnarfjörður fjord at Strandir in the Westfjords, disappeared into a mountain, so this was a common belief back then.

Svanur lived at Svanshóll and you can read about him in the Jewel of the Crown of the old Icelandic Sagas; the Story of Burnt Njál.

"Svanur ended his life on the boat and fishermen in Kaldbaksvík cove said he had disappeared into Svansgjá gorge in Mt. Kaldbakshorn after his death, where he is said to have been greeted warmly."

Kötlujökull glacier

Katla didn't become a protector of this area like Bárður Snæfellsás, nor was greeted into a holy mountain like Mt. Helgafell when she died, but was blamed for the massive glacial floods and terrible volcanic eruptions, so she is feared and not revered.

We are still waiting for the Katla volcano to erupt, but in the meantime, you can visit the ice caves in Kötlujökull glacier.

The information signs also tell us about the cataclysmic Katla eruptions

I have written another travel-blog about my visits to the Katla ice cave: The spectacular Katla Ice Cave in South Iceland.

Have a lovely time in Iceland :)

Ref.:

Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - Katla eða Kötlugjá