Overview of traditional festivals and customs in Iceland

Iceland is the youngest country, but it is one of the centers of Nordic classical culture and world avant-garde art. There are countless cultural and historical festivals, large and small, here every year, which shows the vitality and vitality of Icelandic culture. January 1st every year is the New Year in Iceland. In addition, the Thursday before Easter every year and the Friday before Easter every year are also popular locally, mainly to commemorate Jesus.

From March to April, there is Easter, the fifth Thursday after Easter, the seventh Sunday and the eighth Monday, the Ascension Day belonging to Jesus, and the Day of the Holy Spirit. June 17 every year is the local National Day. In August, the first Monday is a holiday for employees in local shops and offices.

In addition, Iceland likes some festivals like Christmas, Christmas Eve, and these festivals. In the local area, these festivals are the same. However, every festival will have various different performances for Iceland. If tourists like it, you can come to Iceland to experience it well and experience the different Icelandic customs. January 1 New Year (New Year's Day) January 20 is Viking Food Month for Pirates (Viking "Viking Food Month") If you want to experience the unique food and their dining customs of the "Viking" period, you might as well come to Iceland every year from January 20 to February 21. At that time, restaurants around the country will prepare such things as boiled sheep's head meat, seal fins, sheep blood sausage, rotten shark meat, pickled ram testicles, etc. Iceland will also eat like the "Vikings", giving you an unusual experience.

Mid-January Stinking Festival In mid-January, many Icelanders celebrate orrablót. orri is a month in the Icelandic Old Calendar, which runs roughly from mid-January to mid-February. However, the festival's specialty diet may be daunting. Many people think it is the darkest dark dish in the world: sour sheep testicles, sheep face, fermented smelly) shark meat...

February 14 Valentine's Day February 16 Iceland Food and Entertainment Festival During the week from February 16 to February 20, restaurants and bars will serve food with typical Icelandic characteristics, such as caviar, shrimp and mutton. At this time, tourists can taste the original Icelandic cuisine.

On the Reykjavik Food Festival in early March, celebrity chefs from all over the world come to Reykjavik to show their talents: cooking food! And all the materials come from Iceland. Chefs work with the best restaurants in the city to launch week-long specialty menus.

March 29 Maundy Thursday March 30 Good Friday March 31 Easter Eve/Easter Saturday April 1 Easter Day During Easter (early April every year), Icelanders make a chocolate egg unique to Iceland, with various candies and proverbs written on it. On Easter Sunday, families come to the church dressed up and enjoy the traditional Icelandic Easter food of roasted mutton with yellow stem juice and roasted sweet potatoes.

On April 1st, the Aldrei fór ég suður Rock Music Festival "Never South" is called "Aldrei fór ég suður" in Icelandic, which refers to the rock music festival held every Easter in Issafieze Çsafjörður. All the performers come just to have fun and perform for free. Initially, musician Mugison wanted to hold a special music festival for local musicians in his hometown. Since then, the festival has continued to grow and become more and more popular among people.

April 2 Easter Monday April 19 First Day of Summer Iceland is the only country in the world to celebrate the arrival of summer. On this day, various recreational activities such as parades, entertainment events, and sports events will be held across Iceland to welcome the warmth and sunshine after a long winter.

May 1st is International Labor Day Yaîm Al-Âmal, عم م م م ال ا ل ال) May 10th Ascension Day is between Easter and Pentecost. Thursday 40 days after Easter is Ascension Day, and the 50th day is Pentecost, also known as "Pentecost". The three days before the Ascension Day (Thursday), namely Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, are called Prayer Week, or Prayer Days. It is also translated as praying for a good harvest day.

May 13, Mother's Day is mid-May Reykjavik Arts Festival. The Reykjavik Arts Festival is held every May. During the festival, various art activities are staged throughout Reykjavik, and people enjoy the music, visual art, dance, literature, design and other art works brought by artists from all over the world. This is one of the oldest and most respected art festivals in Europe, dating back to 1970.

May 20, Pentecost/Whit Sunday Whit Monday, also known as Pentecost, is a Christian festival held to commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit after Jesus 'resurrection. According to the Bible, Jesus sent the "Holy Spirit" on the 50th day after his resurrection; the disciples received the Holy Spirit and began to preach. Based on this, the church stipulates that the 50th day after Easter every year is the "Pentecost Day."

May 21 Pentecost/Whit Sunday June 17 Iceland Independence Day In memory of national movement leader Jon Sigurdsson, the Icelandic people designated his birthday (June 17) as Iceland's Independence Day. At this time, many parades and performances will be held on the streets of Iceland, making it one of the largest festivals in Iceland.

July LungA Art Festival LungA is a small art festival held every year in Seyðisfjörður, eastern Iceland. Since it was first held in 2000, the scale has gradually expanded. At first, only 300 people attended the concert at the end of the festival, but now it has increased to 4000. The art festival is held every year in July and lasts for a week. There will be art seminars, temporary fashion markets, art shows, fashion shows, music shows, and the Westman Island Camping Festival, the last weekend in July. Westman Island has a population of just over 4000, but it jumps to 16000 during the camping festival. The event usually starts on Thursday and ends on Monday. There will be bands performing during the festival, but this is not an authentic music festival. Friends from all over the world get together to enjoy food, wine, music, dancing, and even encounter a romantic relationship here.

At the Bræðslan Music Festival at the end of July, if you prefer self-driving to the scenery of Reykjörður Eystri, a small village home to the world's most famous bands, and their performance venue turned out to be an old herring shed. Although the festival is not big, it is exciting. Since 2005, many artists and bands have performed passionately. The indie pop band Belle and Sebastian, the famous Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini, the Irish singer Damien Rice, and the popular band Of Monsters and Men have all served as guests.

New South Wales Bank Holiday, the second weekend of August, Reykjavik gay parade If the gay parade in Reykjavik is not the largest festival in Iceland, it is definitely one of the largest in Iceland. The entire center of Reykjavik is filled with colorful costumes, explosive party music and dancing crowds. It doesn't matter whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, straight or asexual. Everyone, regardless of age, can participate in the gay parade, and even the mayor will change into women's clothing.

Reykjavik Culture Night on the third Saturday in August

The cultural night in Reykjavik is called "Menningarnótt" in Icelandic. On this day, the city has a wide variety of celebrations, including dancing, design, music, art, concerts, games, famous brand stores for tourists to quickly shop, etc., with a variety of tricks and interactive interactions. Art galleries and museums across the city will be open, mostly for free). In addition, the Reykjavik Marathon will also be held on the same day. On this day, locals will open their doors and invite guests to enjoy free home-made waffles. So this day is a great opportunity to make local friends and visit local people's homes.

September Reykjavik International Film Festival The Reykjavik International Film Festival is held every September for 11 days. It will showcase many films and documentaries from more than 40 countries, with a wide range of themes.

In September, many Icelandic and world-renowned writers come here to hold dialogues, lectures, book signings and other activities at the Reykjavik literary festival. Writers such as Kurt Vonnegut, Ian McEwan, Doris Lessing, Günter Glass, Paul Oster, Isabel Allende, Nick Hornby, Anne Prooux, David Sedley, Martin Amis, Hanniford Qureshi and other writers have all come to the Reykjavik Literary Festival, including Nobel Prize winners and world literary masters.

October 31 All Saints' Eve (All Saints' Eve) In early November Iceland Radio Wave Festival This large-scale music festival is held in October or November every year for 5-7 days. The main venue is the Harpa Music Center in Reykjavik. Famous singers such as múm and Sigur Ros all attended this event. During this period, all kinds of food, all kinds of good music and all kinds of people will gather here.

November 11 Father's Day December 24 Christmas Eve/Christmas Eve/Christmas Eve Iceland has a tradition of celebrating Christmas after the shortest day of the year since ancient times, which is December 21 in the calendar. Because from this day on, the days begin to get longer, and this day is called Jól or Yule in Icelandic. Since then, Christians have also learned to use this festival to celebrate the birth of Jesus. That is to say, both Christmas and "jól" mean Christmas in Icelandic, which is December 24 in the Gregorian calendar.

December 25 Christmas Day December 26 Boxing Day/Boxing Day December 31 New Year's Eve, Icelanders will have a family dinner first, then get together with friends from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m., and stay until the next morning. At about 10 p.m., Icelanders will gather in front of the TV and watch the comedy show Áramótaskaupií, where all the major events of the year, news, politics, etc. will be mentioned.