Hello friends!
I hope you are having a wonderful holiday. Here in the Land of Ice we are in the in-between days (Christmas and New Year’s) where people use the opportunity to chill out, take long walks, visit with extended family (Christmas Eve is always reserved for immediate family) and enjoy being laid-back—something the Icelanders are not great at doing at other times of the year.
Today, Boxing Day, is the day we Icelanders call Annar í jólum, literally “Second in Christmas”. Yes, the Icelandic language is endearingly prosaic, we tend to say what we mean up here, with little embellishment. 😁
Snow is coming down heavy as I write this, making it delightful to cozy up indoors with scented candles and hot tea. I did take a walk earlier, though, to catch some daylight, and took a few snaps with my phone as I went.
So pretty and festive!
We have a lovely custom here in Iceland: placing candles and lights on the graves of loved ones over the Christmas holidays. The main days for this are Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve—on those days (which are very short, so lots of darkness) the cemeteries are all lit up and are exquisitely beautiful. Here are a few shots from my walk today, taken in the historic Hólavallagarður cemetery in downtown Reykjavík— the oldest cemetery in the capital area, and in my opinion the most beautiful.
That’s it for now—I will be back later this week with the second installment from my Little Book of Icelandic. ‘Till then!
My Little Book of the Icelanders at Christmas is all about our traditions and customs at this magical time of year. It is available in hard cover (ships from Iceland), paperback (via Amazon), ebook (from most online ebook retailers) and audiobook (from Audible) formats.
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