{"id":3668,"date":"2014-09-18T15:15:02","date_gmt":"2014-09-18T15:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=3668"},"modified":"2014-09-18T15:18:01","modified_gmt":"2014-09-18T15:18:01","slug":"reykjavik-ravens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2014\/09\/18\/reykjavik-ravens\/","title":{"rendered":"Reykjav\u00edk ravens."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"korp002\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Autumn, nothing makes its arrival clearer than seeing a familiar shape fly over Reykjav\u00edk, perch on lamp posts and sing – er, cronk – from the rooftops. Ravens are back in town after spending the long summer in the\u00a0countryside, during which time their place in the city is claimed by seagulls. Now its their turn to make way and so the season changes from white wings to black ones almost overnight.<\/p>\n

Known as hrafn<\/em> or by a playful nickname krummi<\/em>, ravens are\u00a0considered a very lucky, handsome and clever bird by the Icelanders. Yet at the same time the old Pagan view of them as \u00d3\u00f0inn’s pets lives on, making some interesting contrasts; these well-loved birds are also found in old poetic words such as hrafnf\u00e6\u00f0ir<\/em>, which means soldier\/warrior but translates as “raven’s food”. Similarly hrafnv\u00edn (=\u00a0<\/em>raven’s wine) actually means blood. Their seasonal nature has also lent itself into Icelandic vocabulary such as in the words hrafnagusa<\/em> and hrafnahret<\/em> which both mean a sudden cold period during the summer.<\/p>\n

\"baby074\"<\/a>Late autumn and a young\u00a0raven. Getting this close to it was a big mistake though, the adults didn’t like it… next time I’ll just use the zoom.<\/em><\/p>\n

Naturally such an important animal will also be found in sayings. Sjalds\u00e9\u00f0ir hv\u00edtir hrafnar<\/em> (= rarely seen are white ravens) is said to\u00a0someone that the speaker hasn’t seen for a long time. A\u00f0 vera eins og \u00fafinn hrafnsungi<\/em> (= to be like a tousled raven chick) is used to describe someone whose hair is a mess. Gu\u00f0 borgar fyrir hrafninn<\/em> (= God pays the raven’s dues) means that giving food to ravens brings good luck. A\u00f0 vekja hrafnana<\/em> (= to wake up the ravens) comes from the fact that ravens are usually the first birds to sing in the morning, therefore someone who actually wakes them<\/em> up has risen from bed quite early!<\/p>\n

Where we live we tend to see the same raven couple every year, or at least so I assume. One of them is huge and fat even for a raven which makes him rather obvious, but this is really all I base my assumptions on. On occasion\u00a0there may be a small raven that comes along with them in the autumn, which I’ve taken to be their chicks. The smaller one usually disappears at some point but before it does the adults are quite protective about it! Once I managed to sneak near enough to take a photo but I wasn’t allowed many – one huge WHOOOMP of wings from right above my head sent me running. Even a small raven is still a huge bird and I’m taking no chances with one as bold and large as we’re talking here.<\/p>\n

\"korp010\"<\/a>Our resident ravens having couple time. Get a room!<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ve met before that, in fact. During my first year here I once made the mistake of leaving a garbage bag outside, unattended for \u00a0two minutes, and when I came back the big one had already dragged it across the front yard with what I can only describe as a hopeful gleam in his beady eyes. He\u00a0didn’t even have to do that – the neighbourhood feeds him anyway, as Icelanders often\u00a0do.<\/p>\n