Archive for 'Icelandic history'
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…
Leifur’s Icelandic, thanks Obama. Posted by hulda on Nov 5, 2015
The president of the United States has recently insulted the whole nation of Iceland, at least if going by the public outcry. His offence? He recently referred to Leifur Eiríksson, also known as Leif Eriksson in the English-speaking world, as a Norwegian. Leifur was born to an Icelandic mother in Iceland and grew up here…
7 Icelandic monsters: survival guide. Posted by hulda on Oct 22, 2015
Halloween is almost here so let’s continue with the spooky theme! Today’s post will teach you something about the most famous Icelandic monsters and how to survive them, should you come across one. Trolls Description: size ranges from large human to very, very big but nowhere near as big as the Norwegian ones can get…
Run for your life! Posted by hulda on Oct 15, 2015
The autumn nights are growing colder and we’re heading for the long dark season, so let’s talk about spooky things! Icelanders of old thought that the only safe place in the world was within the walls of a house (and occasionally not even there, but more on that later on) and well, they were right…
Sleep, you pig – scary Icelandic lullabies. Posted by hulda on Sep 3, 2015
Sofðu nú svínið þitt svartur í augum Farðu í fúlan pytt fullan af draugum. (= Sleep now you black-eyed pig, fall in a deep pit of ghosts.) Lately this little lullaby has been popular on quite a few social media sites, gathering people’s attention simply by being a really horrible-sounding thing to sing to the…
Laugadalur – hot spring valley Posted by hulda on Aug 13, 2015
Near downtown Reykjavík is a historical site that’s almost hidden by all the other activities around it, though the whole area takes its name from this place: Laugadalur, the valley of hot springs, is now better known for the Botanical Garden, one of the best swimming pools of Reykjavík, an ice skating rink and a…
Icelandic kennings. Posted by hulda on Jul 16, 2015
What is “a wave’s horse”? If someone’s talking of “Ymir’s skull”, what are they talking about? What or who is being called Hringaná in the old song Hættu að gráta Hringaná? And who is “the possessor of the fallen slain and the owner of Sessrúmnir”? Kennings, or circumlocutions, form a large part of traditional Icelandic…