Archive for 'Icelandic history'
Icelandic horses for courses and… courses. Posted by hulda on Jul 17, 2014
Question and answer time! During the last month you’ve asked the Icelandic blog, via both the e-mail and the comments section, a couple of interesting questions that I’ll try to answer today. First a question was about horses: what are all the different words that mean horse in Icelandic? The most obvious one is hestur of…
Hiding in plain sight: Hvalfjörður. Posted by hulda on Jun 16, 2014
When you hear of Hvalfjörður from the locals it’s often spoken of as how to avoid it. This time you should not listen to the advice: there’s clear logic behind wanting to avoid going there but it’s definitely not because the place wasn’t worth a visit! No, what Icelanders usually think of when Hvalfjörður is…
Come all you sailors (and others as well)! Posted by hulda on Jun 6, 2014
It gives life, it takes life, the Icelandic attitude towards the sea is divided in two. On one hand the local artists will adore it in their works and declare it the height of all things mysterious and wonderful, on another are the people who put their lives at risk on it. The difference is…
Nightless nights, dayless days. Posted by hulda on May 26, 2014
Like A hundred names for snow might show, Icelandic has quite a rich vocabulary when it comes to nature and the seasons. An obvious example besides snow is light and darkness and the change from one to other, because the time during which day and night are about the same length is very, extremely short. Due…
Hiding in plain sight 2: more than a church. Posted by hulda on May 12, 2014
Continuing my little series of things that may interest a traveler yet are free and within your reach even in the capital city: the area between Hallgrímskirkja and Tjörnin, the ornamental pond downtown. But why see this area in particular? The statue park of Einar Jónsson Continuing your sightseeing route, the museum that hosts art…
Apples in the oak tree. Posted by hulda on Apr 24, 2014
Happy Sumardagurinn fyrsti, First of Summer, everyone! Easter is almost over now, the lamb’s eaten, Easter beer gone, the chocolate eggs opened and now the only thing left to do is to try to understand the proverbs that the eggs gave you. One of you, dear readers, asked me about a particularly difficult proverb which prompted me…
Staving off a disaster; magical tattoos. Posted by hulda on Apr 16, 2014
I’ve noticed a growing trend of people having Icelandic magical staves tattooed on them lately. Some of the choices, alas, range from weird to unintentionally funny and inappropriate. On its own having such a stave tattooed is not a bad thing at all. Icelanders themselves often get them as tattoos and it’s not considered insulting…