Author kept newborn from wearing green because of family superstition

When his newborn son needed surgery, novelist Birgir Tjörvi Pétursson and his wife made sure the baby would not be dressed in green. The family’s superstition prompted the unusual request, mbl.is reported.

Birgir Tjörvi said his wife, Erla Kristín Árnadóttir, asked hospital staff what the boy would wear during the operation. Green, she knew, was the dominant colour in the operating room. The couple’s son, Árni Pétur Birgisson, was not dressed in it.

Erla Kristín belongs to the Reynistaðarættin, a family lineage associated with an old superstition that men must not be named Bjarni, wear green or sit on a pink horse. The beliefs are traced to brothers Bjarni and Einar Halldórsson, from Reynistaður in Skagafjörður, who died outdoors on Kjöl in the early winter of 1780.

Birgir Tjörvi said the hospital team understood once the couple explained the superstition. He had felt it take hold himself, he said, and did not want to tempt fate when their child was involved. Though many people regard stories of tragedy linked to the beliefs as coincidence, he said they had deeply affected members of the family.

He noted that the national poet Einar Benediktsson and the official and playwright Indriði Einarsson, both from the lineage, also respected the superstition. Indriði wrote about it in his memoirs; his grandmother was a sister of the Reynistaður brothers.

Birgir Tjörvi, a lawyer, published his first novel, Skuggar af Kili, this week. The story centres on the superstition: its main character, who belongs to the Reynistaðarættin, begins investigating it after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The author said the book allowed him to pursue his writing ambitions while carrying the family’s account of the superstition forward. He hopes readers will share their own stories and that the novel will prompt discussion. He said he does not consider himself an authority, but wants to learn more from people who can shed light on the tradition.