Leif Erikson Day (redirected from Lief Erickson Day)

Leif Erikson Day

October 9

The Viking explorer known as Leif the Lucky or Leif Erikson (because he was the son of Eric the Red) sailed westward from Greenland somewhere around the year 1000 and discovered a place he named Vinland after the wild grapes that grew there. No one really knows where Vinland was, but some historians believe that Erikson landed in North America 488 years before Columbus sailed into the New World. The only evidence that this may have happened are a few Viking relics found in Rhode Island, Minnesota, and Ontario. In 1960, the site of a Norse settlement was discovered at L'Anse aux Meadows, at the northern tip of Newfoundland. The site dates from about the year 1000, but it has not been definitively linked to Leif Erikson's explorations.
Because the date and place of Erikson's "discovery" of North America were uncertain, members of the Leif Erikson Association arbitrarily chose October 9 to commemorate this event—perhaps because the first organized group of Norwegian emigrants landed in America on October 9, 1825. But it wasn't until 1964 that President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed this as Leif Erikson Day.
States with large Norwegian-American populations—such as Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York—often hold observances on this day, as do members of the Sons of Norway, the Leif Erikson Society, and other Norwegian-American organizations. October 9 is a commemorative day in Iceland and Norway as well.

CONTACTS:
Icelandic Embassy
1156 15th St. N.W., Ste. 1200
Washington, D.C. 20005
202-265-6653; fax: 202-265-6656
www.iceland.org

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 698
AnnivHol-2000, p. 170
FolkAmerHol-1999, p. 417

Celebration day: Oct 9