Archive for 'Icelandic culture'
Gleðileg jól! Posted by hulda on Dec 19, 2016
The nights are dark and full of trolls, there’s Björk singing about how horrifying the Christmas Cat is and grocery stores have an overpowering smell of smoked meat – that’s what the real Christmas spirit is made of, right? Be prepared for the parts of Icelandic Christmas that are not like what you’re used to!…
6 signs of Icelandic Christmas Posted by hulda on Dec 8, 2016
Icelandic Christmas traditions – I bet you’ve heard of the trolls by now! You might also have heard of the monster cat that devours everyone who doesn’t get at least one new item of clothing for the holidays, that Iceland has 13 “Santas” or more correctly put Yule Lads, mountain trolls that arrive to the…
Starter pack for living in Iceland. Posted by hulda on Nov 24, 2016
Remember the post that I made some months ago where I put together an Icelandic language starter pack? I thought it a fun idea to make another starter pack for those who dream of moving, or perhaps plan already to one day move to Iceland. What is Iceland? Iceland compass explores different areas of Iceland and…
Ready, steady, rhyme! Posted by hulda on Nov 10, 2016
This blog post won’t have anything political in it. Instead I’m going to fill it with poetry and cute animals, because every now and then everyone needs at least a few moments of something calming, harmless and good in their lives. Besides, I believe that looking at pictures of cute animals is good for the…
Women’s Day Off Posted by hulda on Oct 27, 2016
“Why are you still at work, you should be at the demonstration.” The above is a sentence one doesn’t hear from one’s own employer often, but I did hear just that on Monday this week. My workday lasts normally a few hours more, but Monday was a Kvennafrídagurinn (= women’s day off) and my employer wasn’t…
This is Hrekkjavaka Posted by hulda on Oct 13, 2016
It’s almost time, Halloween is here. Though it’s not a traditional celebration in Iceland it has made itself a steady foothold – with some original things excluded and some Icelandic things added on, of course. Time for a quick vocabulary lesson with a look on how Halloween is (and isn’t) celebrated in Iceland! Hrekkjavaka (=…
Life with volcanoes Posted by hulda on Sep 22, 2016
When people think of living with volcanoes they usually think only of a situation where one erupts, but life on this island is heavily marked by the presence of geothermal energy every day. Iceland is situated exactly between Europe and North America so that it actually sits on both continental plates at the same time…