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Happy anniversary, Icelandic! Posted by hulda on Nov 16, 2012
Today, on the 16th of November, Icelanders celebrate Dagur íslenskrar tungu, the Icelandic Language Day. Icelanders have celebrated their language since the year 1995. The date was chosen to coincide with the birthday of Jónas Hallgrímsson, an Icelandic poet often called “the most influential Icelandic poet of all times”. He was also a prominent figure…
A long time ago on an island far far away… Posted by hulda on Nov 14, 2012
Jóði hét maðr, sonr Gormóar. Jóði var maðr lítill, en svá sterkr, at eigi váru hans jafningjar. En er hann var á unga aldri, lá hann í víkingu ok herjaði. “The man’s name was Yoda, he was Gormo’s son. Yoda was a small man but so strong that no one was his match. When he…
Icelandic proverbs Posted by hulda on Nov 8, 2012
What taught the naked woman to spin thread? Or why does one become happy twice when one sits on a stone? Icelandic proverbs show how the people here think and view the world around them, and besides that they’re often very sharp and accurate to their point. Let’s look at some of my favourites! A…
Survive a storm in Iceland. Posted by hulda on Nov 4, 2012
Hello dear readers, I hope that everyone around the areas that Sandy hit are safe! Over here we had some stormy weather over the weekend as well, although it really couldn’t compare to Sandy. Storms are typical autumn weather for Iceland and with winds over 25m/s they can, however, still cause a lot of damage…
The winter is here. Posted by hulda on Oct 27, 2012
Happy New Year to all of you who use the old Nordic calendar! Today’s the first day of Gormánuður (= the month of half-digested hay) which is the first month of winter, and at the same time the first month of the year. This is when in times of old animals were slaughtered for the…
The heartbroken girl who became a legend. Posted by hulda on Oct 23, 2012
As far as obsessive love that goes on to death and beyond, the Djákninn á myrká isn’t actually even close to being the worst of his kind. The crown of Iceland’s most horrifying ghost goes instead to a young lady called Solveig, who used to live in a place called Míklabæ, giving the name to…
Don’t let them see you. Posted by hulda on Oct 18, 2012
By now you may have noticed that the October posts follow a certain… theme. Let’s now continue with more scary creatures fit for the season – Icelandic cat-fox monsters skuggabaldur (= shadowbaldur: the origin of the name seems to be a mystery) and skoffín. Of these the skoffín had a fox as its father and…