The Nixie (Old English ‘Nicor’) was a water spirit in Germanic mythology and folk tales. The word originates from the Indo-European ‘neig’ = to wash. The Icelandic sagas have little content related to Nixie (Nykr) , but the Icelandic tradition has nevertheless been rich, as the high number of place names including ‘Nykr’ indicate. In Iceland, the Nixie was always a horse – with hooves pointing backwards!
The dramatic stories about the Nixie were splendid educational tools – to prevent children from going too close to the water and drown. The Nixie was connected to rivers and lakes. If anyone dared to ride the Nixie, they would drown. The sounds that occur in wintertime from the ice on lakes were explained as Nixie’s mournful cries.
In Fossardalur (the Waterfall Valley) northwest of Djúpivogur (the Deep Inlet) there are vast opportunities for bathing. It is said that you can find 30 waterfalls in the valley! We planned a bath in Nykurhylsfossen, which is the lowest one, but that was easier said than done. The waterfall wasn’t easily accessible.
Below Nykurhylsfossen, on the other hand, there is a large and beautiful pool where you can both bathe and swim. The depth is 9 meters. So why not just jump in instead of slowly wading out into it?
Unfortunately without a waterfall shower, and without the view of the waterfall.
According to tradition, a Nixie lived in this river. After being frightened and tormented by Nixie for a long time, the village people took action, and the pond under the waterfall was Christianized with holy water. The holy water made the pool uninhabitable for Nixie, and it ran screaming into the fjord and disappeared, never to return again. However, history says nothing about how the fjord Berufjörður turned out after this. Strange.