First Week of Lent in Reykjavik

In addition to International Women's Day, last week was also the first week of Lent, and so we enjoyed learning about Icelandic traditions, and joining in where possible.  Thanks to our landlady, Jytte, we were able to read the section of Saga Daganna by Árni Björnsson in English that discusses the history of many celebrations in Iceland.

So Monday was bolludagur, or "bun day".  Björnsson says that documents from the 13th century indicate that people in Iceland began their observation of Lent by refraining from eating meat for the two days prior to Ash Wednesday.  But bolludagur dates from the 19th century (Björnsson suggest it may have been promoted by Norwegian and Danish bakers) and involves in particular a bun with whipped cream in the middle and chocolate glaze on top.

Our version was not necessarily the most beautiful but it helped us participate in the day.  Bakeries turn out thousands of these for the bolludagur; the grocery stores also sell prepackaged buns, so that all one needs to do is add the whipped cream and the chocolate glaze. This was our method, though we did whip the cream ourselves.

The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is called "sprengidagur" and the traditional meal, dating from the late nineteenth century but with earlier roots, is of saltkört og baunir. That is, salt mutton and split pea soup.  The name for the day probably derives from Catholic practices of sprinkling with holy water on days of repentance (per our source noted above) although in popular interpretation it is about eating until you burst.  And (after attending our International Women's Day events) we were treated to a wonderful traditional meal by Jytte.

Ash Wednesday is öskudagur (ash day) and the name dates to at least the 14th century (same source).  The tradition that is unique in Iceland is the pinning of ash bags on people though now this is only practiced by children.  It is a school holiday, and children dress in costumes and go around their town or city singing and asking for treats.  Jim and the little one attended an event held for leikskoli (pre-school) children at the Gerðuberg cultural center, where there was a magic show and the children were all dressed in costumes.  We also saw a number of children in costumes in downtown Reykjavik.  None of us, however, came home with an ash bag.

We also had a few more fun activities during the week; we went together to the Gerðuberg cultural center to see the exhibit on the Miðgarð serpent (or worm); you can see slides of the whole exhibit here but here is one photo:

We ended the week on Saturday with an organ concert at Hallgrimskirkja which began with a reading in Icelandic and then in English for the fourth day of Lent (thus in keeping with the theme of the week).  The concert was of French music from the 17th and 18th centuries (e.g. Francois Couperin) and it was lovely; it showed off the reeds of the instrument beautifully.  Here is the organ, including aview of the pipes from the church, and a view of the steps up to the console from the back of the instrument.

It was a beautiful clear day, and the light now stays long enough for an early evening walk. The sky was fantastic.  It was so quiet and the sea was so calm that you could hear the birds calling to each other on the water.  As I walked back to the house, I could see the northern lights--just the light green ones--dancing over the peninsula.