 It is thought that the tradition has continued unbroken since the settlement of Iceland.A notable example from 2006 happened when a farmer in Bíldudalur, claiming direct descent from Egill Skallagrímsson, raised a pole with a calf's head attached against another local man with a note attached to the effect that he would not rest until the man was either outlawed or dead.The reason the nithing pole was raised was that the man had run over the former's puppy.