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...
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  • Cod liver oil in pills.
      Cod liver oil in pills.
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Most Viewed Local Customs in Iceland

51.

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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52.

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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53.

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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54.

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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55.

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

Grýla - the mother of the Yulelads.

by Regina1965

Here in Iceland we have 13 Yulelads, which are quite different from Santa Claus, but now we have all but adopted the American Santa Claus. There are records of names of 80 Yulelads, but somehow these 13 Yulelads have stayed with us until the modern times.Our original Yulelads were spranksters and all of them have their special name. 13 days before Christmas the first Yulelad comes to inhabited areas and then a new one arrives every day until the last one arrives on the 24th of December. We Icelanders celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th of December. It has been a tradition here in Iceland since 1950 for young kids to leave one shoe on the windowsill in their bedroom, the first one 13 days before Christmas. The Yulelad coming to "town" visits all the kids and leaves a small present for them in their shoe. But only if the kids have gone to sleep early and have not behaved badly....

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The Icelandic national costume.

by Regina1965

The historical data of the Icelandic national costume date back to the 16h century. There are 5 types of national costumes here for women; the bodice (upphlutur), "faldbúningur", "peysuföt", "skautbúningur" and kirtle (kyrtill). I think the "skautbúningur" is so beautiful, my mother got married to my father in such an a beautiful blue "skautbúningur".Women wear these costumes only on special occasions, like the 17th of June which is our national holiday. My grandmother wore her national costume, the bodice, to weddings and major events in the family. And the older generation wore the costume much more often than we do. I have only worn the bodice once. I went to a business college called Verslunarskólinn and there we have a traditional day called "Peysufatadagurinn" or the traditional costume day where all the women students wear the traditional costume for a whole day. We go down-town...

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Our relationship with the raven.

by Regina1965

We have a special relationship with the raven. We leave them alone and they leave us alone, until recently. One raven tried to attack people so they had to flee into their house. The raven stood on their porch and was ready to attack. The poor people had to call for help. Since then we are not quite sure what to think of the raven.The raven here in Iceland is called "hrafn" or "krummi" and is dear to us Icelanders, as they are one of only few birds which don't leave the country in the Autumn. The raven is the biggest passerine, so it doesn't prey on other animals, but if we give meat or fat to them, the raven will eat that.The raven has never been eaten here and the Vikings ate all poultry apart from birds of prey and the raven.There are many Icelandic songs and tales on the raven. One if them comes from the old Norse belief, the religion of the Vikings. The main god in the old Norse...

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The belief in the old Nordic gods.

by Regina1965

The Vikings who came to Iceland in ca 874 were mostly "ásatrúar", i.e. they were pantheists and believed in the gods Óðinn, Þór etc. In the year 1000 Christianity was adopted here in Iceland, and the belief in the old Nordic gods was forbidden by law. But even now there is an authorised religious organisation called Ásatrúarfélagið which practices the belief in the old Nordic gods. They have several rituals and can perform a marriage, which I have heard is quite popular. They have regular rituals which are called "blót" in Icelandic.We get information on the belief in the old Nordic gods from our Sagas, especially Edda saga, and Hávamál and Völuspá. There are so many gods and goddesses and characters in the old Nordic belief. We learn about them in school here in Iceland.I have made a tip on a very interesting gallery just outside of the town of Hafnarfjörður called The Viking Circle. It...

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How to get to know Icelanders.

by Regina1965

Seeing that we Icelanders live so far up north on a remote island we don't mix that easilly. There is an equal sign between the nordic nations not being so outward and the southern nations being outwardly warm and welcome. The cold weather has made us introvert and sarcastic I guess. But once you get to know us then you will see that we are totally different from what you might have thought at first glance, and Icelanders are renowned for their hospitality. So take it easy on us and know that all the apparently sulky faces are not for real. We are a warm-hearted nation when you get to know us. I remember when one VT-friend from Dallas came over for a visit. We went to a café and then to a restaurant. He was so friendly and greeting the people sitting at the table next to us. I could see that they were startled :D We just don't do that and while dining in a restaurant we act as we are...

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Sniffing is not considered rude here.

by Regina1965

Now, this is a story I heard of a business meeting between Icelanders and foreigners abroad. The meeting went very well but the foreigners were totally put off by the Icelanders´ sniffing. I had not thought about this before reading about this, but we do sniff - and that is not considered to be rude, so bear with us :) The winter lasts for a long time here, so it is cold and we are cold or have a cold for the most part of the year. And now the flu is much more common than before with us travelling more and more tourists visiting the country.

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The diet of the Vikings.

by Regina1965

There is a new research (winter of 2010) which shows that the diet of the Vikings seemed to have been both healthy and slimming. They apparently lived on fish, especially salmon and trout from the rivers and herring. They ate reindeer meat and wild-berries and they grew cabbage.Now this new research doesn´t seem to fit what the Vikings ate here in Iceland. Here there were no reindeers until they were imported in the 20th century. And in the Sagas there are tales about the farm-animals which the Vikings brought with them to Iceland. The Vikings brought with them sheep, so there have been free-roaming sheep here since the Settlement. And they brought goats with them as well and cattle and eating beef was very common back then. And they brought horses with them and horsemeat was eaten. And they brought with them wild boar as well. For sure they had salmon and trout, but living on an island...

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The Icelandic book of relationship by blood.

by Regina1965

From the beginning of settlement here in Iceland only ca 800.000 Icelanders have been born. All of their names and relationship by blood has been gathered in a data-file which every Icelander has access to. We Icelanders are crazy about genealogy and I remember how the older generation knew everything about how everybody was related. Now the younger generations only have to add their name and the name of another Icelander in this data-file and in a matter of seconds you get a list of how you are related. We always say that every Icelander is related at least in the sixth generation, that is we have the same great-great-great-great grandparents. That is not the case, but comes pretty close.Let's not forget about all the French and Spanish fishermen who were fishing here by the shore of Iceland. Many of their ships sank here by the shore and a lot of them were resqued by the natives here....

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Iceland's coat of arms.

by Regina1965

Our coat of arms is lovely - it is blue with a silver cross surrounding a red cross, like our flag, but the white cross on the flag is silver on our coat of arms. Carrying the shield are the supernatural beings which protect Iceland; the bull, the giant, the vulture and the dragon. The dragon protects Iceland by Vopnafjörður in East-Iceland, the vulture protects North-Iceland by Eyjafjörður, the bull protects West-Iceland by Breiðafjörður and the giant protects South-Iceland and lives in Lómagnúpur mountain (see my tip).The coat of arms was taken into use in 1912 and then there was a crown on top, representing the Danish king. That crown was removed in 1944 when Iceland became a republic.

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The Icelandic flag.

by Regina1965

Our flag is blue, white and red with a cross like the Scandinavian flags. The colours have a specific meaning, the white coulour represents the ice, the red coulour represents the fire in the earth and the blue colour represents the blueness of the mountains (I can tell you that I thought it represented the ocean surrounding Iceland, but it represents the mountains).The Icelandic nation first stated to use this flag on the 17th of June, 1944 - on our national day on the year Iceland became a republic. But before that time Iceland belonged to Denmark.

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Local traditions and culture in Iceland

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