{"id":5347,"date":"2017-02-08T21:10:05","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T21:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=5347"},"modified":"2017-02-09T09:28:59","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T09:28:59","slug":"escaping-the-mid-winter-doldrums-with-the-winter-lights-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2017\/02\/08\/escaping-the-mid-winter-doldrums-with-the-winter-lights-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Escaping the Mid-Winter Doldrums with the Winter Lights Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, here in Reykjavik, we just blew through the Winter Lights Festival (simply, Winter Festival vetrarh\u00e1ti\u00f0<\/em>). Unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather and wasn\u2019t able to make it to many events, and, apart from large-scale displays in the city itself and a tour of the arboretum\/botanical gardens, I don\u2019t have much to share. So I\u2019d like to talk a bit about the skammdegi<\/em> and the importance \u2013 or my take on it \u2013 of the festival itself at this point in the year.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Changes in the light in Iceland. Red line marks the spot \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m particularly enamored of the old Icelandic calendar in this regard because it\u2019s divided into two \u201cseasons\u201d: the short days<\/em> (skammdegi) and the nightless days<\/em> (nattleysi). I like looking at the revolution of the earth in this way when I\u2019m in Iceland; the seasons do tend to run together, differentiated for the most part by the amount of sunlight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the moment, we\u2019re still in the throes of the skammdegi, which started in mid-October and will continue until the end of einmanu<\/em>\u00f0ur<\/em> (the lone\/singular month). Einmanu\u00f0ur ends in mid-April, when Harpa<\/em> (Harp) welcomes the return of the sun.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Harpa, as an aside, always reminds me of the word vindharpa, or Aeolian harp, an instrument played by the wind. Which then leads me down the rabbit hole to the word andbl\u00e6r (\u201cbreath-gust\u201d literally; it means the \u2018spirit\u2019 of something. In the context of literature, it\u2019s the \u2018spirit\u2019 or \u2018feeling\u2019 of a written work).<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, the Winter Lights Festival is an interruption to the long, dark days of winter \u2013 which are largely gray and windy. It wears on you. Luckily, many Icelanders are acclimated to lightlessness, but for those of us who grapple with a lack of energy and productivity during these months, a SAD lamp comes in handy. Icelanders recommend taking l<\/em>\u00fdsi<\/em>, or fish oil tables, during this time to battle\u00a0 the negative mental and physical health effects.<\/p>\n

SAD, in my experience, can make you feel pretty removed, unmotivated to reach out to others or to keep a routine. So, in 2001, the Winter Lights Festival was founded. And it really does help (when you\u2019re not sick!) to draw you out of your nook into the world. The attractions range from an app that interfaces with Harpa Concert Hall <\/a>that allows passersby to \u201cpaint\u201d in the colorful lights that adorn its geometric glass panels to free museum nights and laser shows, nature walks and old Icelandic handicraft workshops. And, of course, this year there was a stunning art\/light instillation on<\/em><\/strong> the famed Hallgrimskirkja<\/a>.\u00a0The wide and varied events of this four-day fest don’t all revolve around the light (free swimming pool night, e.g.), but the emphasis\u00a0falls on light sort of making an incursion into the dark days.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Reminds me of Light Bright back in the 90s – the lights mimicked the behavior of paint, as well. So the colors dripped down after you’d painted.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, to wrap this week\u2019s blog up without much ado, here are a few words to arm yourself with during the skammdegi:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–A\u00f0 stytta – to shorten (\u00e9g stytti, \u00fe\u00fa styttir, hann\/h<\/em>\u00fan\/<\/em>\u00fea\u00f0 styttir…<\/em>).<\/p>\n

–Skamm- which simply means \u2018short\u2019 in compound words. <\/em><\/p>\n

–A\u00f0 l\u00e6kka \u2013 to lower, to go down (s<\/em>\u00f3lin l\u00e6kkar \u00e1 lofti)<\/em><\/p>\n

–A\u00f0 h\u00e6kka \u2013 to raise, to go higher (s<\/em>\u00f3lin h\u00e6kkar \u00e1 lofti)<\/em><\/p>\n

–Gluggave\u00f0ur \u2013 window weather (when it\u2019s better to look outside than to go outside\u2026)<\/p>\n

–Ofsave\u00f0ur \u2013 violent storm weather (more than a storm \u2013 rok<\/em> \u2013 and less than a hurricane \u2013 fellibylur<\/em><\/p>\n

–\u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0 (pl: \u00e1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir): Season\/time of year!<\/p>\n

Till next time!<\/p>\n

Meg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

So, here in Reykjavik, we just blew through the Winter Lights Festival (simply, Winter Festival vetrarh\u00e1ti\u00f0). Unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather and wasn\u2019t able to make it to many events, and, apart from large-scale displays in the city itself and a tour of the arboretum\/botanical gardens, I don\u2019t have much to share…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":5350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5347","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5347","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\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5347"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5357,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5347\/revisions\/5357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}