Iceland Local Customs

 
by Regina1965
 
  •   Local Customs
    by Regina1965
  •   Local Customs
    by Regina1965
  • A cat by the ocean in 107 Reykjavík
      A cat by the ocean in 107 Reykjavík
    by Regina1965
  • It was very friendly, jumping up on me and meowing
      It was very friendly, jumping up on me...
    by Regina1965
  • Cod liver oil in pills.
      Cod liver oil in pills.
    by Regina1965
 

Most Viewed Local Customs in Iceland

26.

Icelandic food   Reykjavík Region

Icelandic food, Reykjavík Region

 6 Reviews  Don't be fooled, the only time someone eats sheepheads and shark are at the "Thorrablot", annual festivals in january/february to celebrate the month of Thorri (according to the old calendar). Then... 

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27.

Language   Reykjavík Region

Language, Reykjavík Region

 6 Reviews  Icelandic is considered difficult and archaic - the least developped of the modern Germanic languages (to which, among others, belong the Scandinavian languages, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Frisian and... 

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28.

Festivals/ Holidays   Reykjavík Region

Festivals/ Holidays, Reykjavík Region

 4 Reviews  Reykjavík is probably not the first place people think about when looking for special places to ring in the New Year, but other major cities have nothing on the small capital of Iceland. Around 8:30... 

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29.

Fishing   Reykjavík Region

Fishing, Reykjavík Region

 2 Reviews  Fishing is Iceland's most important industry. There economy depends heavily on fishing yet only a small percentage of the population actually work in the fishing industry. Nonetheless, almost every... 

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30.

Icelandic horse   Reykjavík Region

Icelandic horse, Reykjavík Region

 2 Reviews  The ICELANDIC HORSE - A completely pure breed. Horses from other countries may not enter Iceland, nor may horses return once they leave the country. Horses are seen everywhere including the city and... 

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Icelandic weather.

by Regina1965

What is said about Icelanders is that they never get tired of talking about the weather. Which is no wonder seeing that we very often have a kind of a sample's weather. So one never knows how to dress - in one day you can get sunshine, wind, clouds and rain, then sunshine, clouds, heavy rain again etc. So on clear and sunny days we bring a coat just in case. And we hardly ever carry umbrellas here as when it is raining, most of the time it is too windy to carry an umbrella. We could always spot foreigners here as they were carrying umbrellas ;)There is an Icelandic word gluggavedur, meaning window-weather. This is when the sun shines and you cannot wait to go outside and then it is windy and freezing, so you flee inside again, feeling frustrated that this wonderful weather, you thought were outside, was only nice as seen from inside the house. Iceland would be almost uninhabitable if it...

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Religion in Iceland.

by Regina1965

The Icelandic nation is mainly Christian, we are not avid church-goers on the whole though. Apart from going to funerals, Christenings and weddings. But there are some more devout than others.Here is a list of how the nation is divided in their beliefs (2010 and 2011):The Established church: 183.697 (77,2% of the population in 2011)The Catholic church: 6.366 (in 2011)The Free Church in Reykjavík: 6.008The Free Church in Hafnarfjörður: 3.735The Independent parish in Reykjavík: 2.196The ones who belief in the old Nordic gods (Ásatrú): 1.168The Pentacost church Fíladelfía: 1.043The Buddhist society: 646Adventists: 619Jehova´s Witnesses: 545The Free Church Vegurinn: 537Krossinn (The Cross): 559 (in 2011)Bahái: 374 (in 2003)Muslims: 289 (in 2003)The Church of Jesus Christ, Mormons): 190 (in 2003)Zen: 40 (in 2003)Baptists: 10 (in 2003)Home church (Heimakirkja): 9 which is the smallest...

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The reason for the Beer ban...

by Odinnthor

I was asked to clarify the reason why there was alcohol in Iceland, but beer was banned until 1989. Here is my reply:The origins of the ban are somewhat murky. I know that when I was growing up in Reykjavik, the "Good Templars" were an organization whos main apparent issue was alcohol prohibition. They were adamant about the prohibition of beer. This was a political issue for years, and a lot of people with political powers were members of the "Templars". There was even a slang word back then, if someone did not drink, he was a "templari" - a word used to describe a non drinker. Over the years, as more people travelled and as the political power people became younger, the organization's power base waned, finally resulting in a reversal in 1989, and the beer boom was in full effect!rding had to do with allowing such brew only to contain less than 1% of alcohol. We actually had a pilsner...

Modern Art

by caslu

We visited a lot of museums while in Iceland and it became apparent that the Icelanders have a great love of modern art. It was all quite nice but some of it left me scratching my head - especially the Erro collection (whoa!!!). Anyway, the Reykjavik Museum of Art has many sites, each displaying different art forms so I'd recommend that and also the Culture House which gives some great insight into Icelandic history and culture.

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The Icelandic horse

by Bjorgvin

The Icelandic horse is unique and much admired. It is descended from the horses the Norwegian viking settlers brought with them to Iceland in the 9th century. There are many good websites on the Net containing information on the Icelandic horse. Here is a small list: Horse colours, Icelandic horse magazine Online (Eiðfaxi), iceryder.net, Eldhestar - riding tours in Iceland, Icelandic Horse Connection, Database on Icelandic horse breeding.

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The Icelandic resque team.

by Regina1965

During the Festival of the Sea The Icelandic search and resque organizations display jeeps and other resque equipment. On Fishermen's day the coast guard’s helicopter demonstrates rescue operations from the sea with the search and resque organization. Their resque achievements both at sea and on land are beyond words and we are VERY grateful for their work. If you ever find yourself in need of help, be it lost at land or sea, or need the police (Lögreglan) or the fire-brigade (Slökkviliðið) call 112 which is our emergency number (Neyðarlínan). The Icelandic search and reque organizations are men and women from all walks of life who rush to help when ever they get a call that somebody is in danger or has gone missing. This is voluntary work made by unselfish people, so let us not take advantage of them. Always let other people know of your plans when travelling and always check the...

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We hunt and eat shark.

by Regina1965

There is a tradition here in Iceland to eat shark. It is hunted or gets entangled in the nets of fishermen. The shark-meat is poisonous, so it has to be processed. The meat is buried in a pile in crates and allowed to ferment for 6-8 weeks. Then it is hanged up for 4 months. It is fermented during the winter time, when it is cold outside and hanged up during the summer time. After the processing the shark is frozen. I wonder about who was willing to try the meat after it had been processed - sombody must have died after trying to eat the fresh meat.The taste is very strong and can make your eyes water so it is often eaten together with dried fish.The Icelandic name for shark is "hákarl" and for rotten shark is "kæstur hákarl".There is a Shark museum in Snæfellsnes in West Iceland (see my tip).

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Planting of the Alaska-lupina.

by Regina1965

Seeing that the Icelandic sheep has all but destroyed our vegetation here in Iceland we needed to do something about this, so that the land would not be blown out to sea. So the solution to this sand and barren ground all over the place was to plant a lot of Alaska-lupina. This proved to be a good idea, seeing that the lupina spreads like crazy. So instead of sand and barren ground we have beautiful violet spreads of lupina. And this has proven to be a fantastic idea in revegetation of protruding erosion remnants of the landscape.Now some Icelanders are worried about the lupina spreading too much and want to limit its growth. That is because the lupina smothers the shorter vegetation and it can spread to farmland. So it seems like we cannot have it all.

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Þorramatur - The old Icelandic food.

by Regina1965

The period we call "Þorrinn" starts in the 4th month/thirteenth week of winter. Then it is a tradition to eat the food our ancestors, who didn't have a refrigerator, had prepared for the winter. "Þorramatur", the food, consists of singed sheep-heads, sheep-head-jelly, smoked lamb, blood-pudding and liver-pudding (like haggis), various soured meat, made sour in whey, like ram-testicles, breast-of-lamb, and seal-flippers. Then we have dried-fish, rotten shark, and beaked whale, cooked rye bread and rye pancakes.The younger generation usually only eats dried-fish, rye pancakes, rye bread and smoked lamb out of the whole selection of Þorramatur, but there are exceptions to that (when I was a little girl I loved rotten shark). "Þorramatur" is an aquired taste, so if ever you are visiting Iceland at this time of year, end of January-beginning of February, and somebody asks you to "Þorrablót",...

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Iceland has no army.

by Regina1965

Iceland has no army of its own. We are a nation of only 330.000 people, so it is impossible for us to have an army I think.Iceland used to be defended by NATO until October 30th 2006, when the Americans decided to evacuate their base in Keflavík, after having stayed here for 55 years. Iceland was occupied by the Brits during WW2 and after the war the Americans made a contract with the Icelandic nation and were in control of the old International airport, so every time we went abroad we had to pass through their base.Iceland was a significant spot during the Cold War as we are in the middle of America and the former Soviet Union. After ther Cold War was over the American interest in Iceland wore off and eventually the left us to defend for ourselves.Now NATO nations take turns in defending Iceland - after England hit us with the terrorist law in 2008 (our Landsbanki, National bank) we...

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