{"id":3800,"date":"2014-12-04T14:14:44","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T14:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=3800"},"modified":"2014-12-04T14:14:44","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T14:14:44","slug":"jolin-ad-koma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2014\/12\/04\/jolin-ad-koma\/","title":{"rendered":"J\u00f3lin a\u00f0 koma!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gle\u00f0ileg j\u00f3lin by El\u00edn Gu\u00f0mundsd\u00f3ttir on Flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

Christmas is on its way! Without further ado, let’s get into the spirit of Icelandic Christmas 2014 – but first some sad news.<\/p>\n

The present that was blown away<\/strong><\/p>\n

“G\u00f3\u00f0ur hluti af efri hluta tr\u00e9sins brotna\u00f0i af og stjarnan h\u00e9kk \u00ed mi\u00f0ju tr\u00e9nu.” (= A large part of the lower part of the tree was\u00a0broken\u00a0off and the star hung at the middle of the tree.)<\/em><\/p>\n

We began the month\u00a0with a bang… or should I say a storm. It was the strongest one in 15 years they say, and while there were no casualties the damage is still being repaired. Alas, some things\u00a0cannot be fixed by any means\u00a0like the Oslo Christmas tree that was torn to shreds.<\/p>\n

Oslo Christmas tree? Due to the fact that Iceland is somewhat lacking in trees the big brother rushes in to help every year<\/a>.* The tree’s arrival is a much awaited part of Christmas preparations and people gather around to watch its lights being lit on the 1st Advent every year. This year the whole show had to be postponed because of the storm and afterwards… well, there was very little of the tree left. See for yourself here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thankfully a local tree was eventually found to replace the Oslo tree, so although it was sad\u00a0to lose the Norwegian gift Christmas is not ruined!<\/p>\n

*Even though this is not even the first time the tree is destroyed; during the Kitchenware revolution protesters actually burned it…<\/em><\/p>\n

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Christmas is not Christmas if…<\/strong><\/p>\n

…your hairstyle stays the same, say the Icelandic ladies. Hairdressers are soon booked full and will put extra hours to their days to cater to as many customers as are in desperate need of a new hairstyle. The Christmas dinner is a family gathering after all and one must look her ultimate best, which means a new dress and a whole new look. I’m not even kidding here, it’s the busiest time of the year for the local hairdressers and indeed I seem to see many people entirely changed come New Year.<\/p>\n

As a funny detail a friend of mine wanted to have her hair cut earlier this week and the hairdresser tried to talk her out of it. “Christmas is a whole month away! It’s going to grow out and that’ll be a catastrophe because no one will have time to fix it for the big day!” It was only after she assured her she was going to fly back home for the holidays anyway that the hairdresser relented.<\/p>\n

The merriest Christmas lights<\/strong><\/p>\n

Icelanders take Christmas lights seriously… with a small exception to the ones lining Snorrabraut, likely Akureyri (link<\/a>). I’m trying to hold myself back here with\u00a0all the stupid jokes that are popping into my mind and I’m almost losing the fight! That said, we should at least get matching ones for the Snorrabraut in Reykjav\u00edk – the Phallological Museum that’s located just around the corner to our Snorrabraut would probably appreciate them greatly. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

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Laufabrau\u00f0 by Brian Suda on Flickr.com. I love your design, Brian!<\/p><\/div>\n

Time to bake<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the time when you’re most likely to come across all kinds of typical Icelandic bakery products.\u00a0My own favourite would have to be laufabrau\u00f0<\/em>, leaf bread: thin, crispy, delicate spheres like so many edible doilies. Er. That may not have sounded very delicious but please give them a chance if you ever come across them.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps you’d like to make some yourself? You can find a recipe and instructions here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the way, did you know that one reason why certain Icelandic recipes have survived to this day is because of Canadians? More specifically speaking West-Icelanders, as they’re called here in Iceland, the people whose forebears emigrated from Iceland. Honouring\u00a0their previous home\u00a0they hung onto every bit of its culture that\u00a0they had, recipes for example. Have a look at one such Christmas cake – the Randal\u00edn<\/em> (= stripy one) here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hulda recommends\"hulda078\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Christmas needs Christmas music, and as a choir singer I’ve got my own favourites clear:<\/p>\n

\u00dea\u00f0 \u00e1 a\u00f0 gefa barnum brau\u00f0<\/em><\/strong> (= Children must be given bread) performed here by the Hamrahl\u00ed\u00f0 choir (link<\/a>). Listen for the words “N\u00fa er h\u00fan gamla Gr\u00fdla dau\u00f0<\/em>” – “Now the old Gr\u00fdla is dead”. If you know who she is you know this is the best news you could have all Christmas. Lyrics here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

H\u00e1t\u00ed\u00f0 fer a\u00f0 h\u00f6ndum ein<\/em><\/strong> (= a holiday is coming) performed beautifully by Graduale Nobili (link<\/a>). Lyrics here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Heyr himna smi\u00f0ur<\/em><\/strong> (= Hear heavenly creator) – you’ve not forgotten this<\/a> one, have you? Thought so! The lyrics for this truly beautiful song are here included underneath.<\/p>\n

J\u00f3lak\u00f6tturinn<\/em><\/strong> (= the Christmas cat), not a choir piece, performed here<\/a> by Ragnhei\u00f0ur Gr\u00f6ndal. Lyrics here<\/a> with Bj\u00f6rk’s version of the song included – now the question is which one sung it creepiest?<\/p>\n

\u00cd heitri \u00fe\u00f6kk<\/em><\/strong> (= with warm thanks\/in warm thankfulness) performed by the University Choir (link<\/a>). My own personal favourite for several reasons!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Christmas is on its way! Without further ado, let’s get into the spirit of Icelandic Christmas 2014 – but first some sad news. The present that was blown away “G\u00f3\u00f0ur hluti af efri hluta tr\u00e9sins brotna\u00f0i af og stjarnan h\u00e9kk \u00ed mi\u00f0ju tr\u00e9nu.” (= A large part of the lower part of the tree was\u00a0broken\u00a0off…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":3810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[90791,91379],"tags":[3,1065,70,7,91392,91396],"class_list":["post-3800","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-icelandic-culture","category-icelandic-customs","tag-culture","tag-festival","tag-food","tag-holidays","tag-post-full-of-links","tag-so-icelandic"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3800"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3814,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800\/revisions\/3814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}