Archive for 'Icelandic culture'
Who were the berserks? Posted by hulda on Jan 14, 2016
Few parts of the Nordic past are as well known as the vikings and among them a very specific group: the berserks, warriors that worked themselves into a battle rage that blinded them to anything but the fight. Today they bear a much romanticized look and are often considered as the ultimate soldier, the unstoppable one…
How to spend New Year in Iceland Posted by hulda on Dec 31, 2015
New Year is almost here! Stuck in Reykjavík and lacking ideas what to do? Worry no more, this post will be one big Hulda Recommends -post about things that are going on today. New Year’s Eve, called Gamlaárskvöld (= old year’s evening) in Icelandic, is serious business. Stores will be open even on the 31st…
8 Icelandic Christmas facts. Posted by hulda on Dec 24, 2015
Greetings from snowy Reykjavík! It’s almost time for Christmas here, so let’s have a look at some really Icelandic Christmas -related traditions. Work hard It’s not unusual at all that an Icelander would work on the 24th. Over here a Christmas break from work is almost unheard-of, unlike my previous home country Finland that enjoys…
Top ten Icelandic posts! Posted by hulda on Dec 17, 2015
The year is drawing to an end and Christmas is nearing, so now is the best time to look back a bit and see which posts of this blog have proved most popular! 1) Staving off a Disaster – Magical Tattoos Remember when it was really popular to have tattoos done in kanji with very…
The great Reykjavík snowcalypse. Posted by hulda on Dec 3, 2015
Snow isn’t a stranger to Reykjavík, much less Iceland in general, but sometimes there’s just way too much of it. I’ve been reminded of this ever since Tuesday when it all began with a massive, day-long snowstorm, and when Iceland has a snowstorm we’re not talking about 10cm with the whole country closed. No, we’re…
New words for Icelandic Posted by hulda on Nov 19, 2015
On the 4th August this year Samtökin ’78 declared a competition to find new words for the Icelandic language called Hýryrði, Gay Words. By this they meant it was time to find Icelandic equivalents for words that were only used as loanwords from English because – well, as many of you readers probably know already…
Iceland emoticons? Posted by hulda on Nov 12, 2015
In the recent news the foreign ministry of Finland is releasing Finland-specific emoticons as a Christmas calendar. These include scenes and things so Finnish that the current emoticon lists don’t have anything even remotely similar on them such as a Nokia phone and people having sauna. Naturally it struck me that it’s unfair to let…