Iceland in Pictures

First Day of Summer - Sumardagurinn fyrsti

Happy summer! Today is officially the first day of summer in Iceland (first Thursday after 18th of April). This is a national holiday in Iceland and is a day for adults to clean up the neighborhood, the scouts to parade and children to get face painted. Kids also often receive a first day of summer gift, a ball or some other outdoor summery toy.

Last night’s weather also indicates that this will be a good summer. Folklore generally says that if “sumar og vetur frjósa saman” or “summer and winter freeze together”, then it will be a good summer. This means that there is frost, the night before summer. The thickness of the ice on lakes is also an indicator to how thick the cream layer will be on fresh milk that year.

Even though this is officially the first day of summer, many consider it somewhat sarcastic as there typically is little sign of summer yet. But the day stems from the old Norse calendar which only had two seasons, summer and winter.

Sviðakjammar - Sheap heads

Wouldn’t mind having some svið right now.

Svið could be translated as scorched. They are sheep heads which all of the wool has been scorched off with a torch. They are then boiled for a very long time and cut in half. That’s usually how you buy them. You can then either just warm it up in the microwave or put it in the oven as in the image. Makes for a delicious meal.

Most Icelanders like svið and will eat it at least once a year, typically in the spring. Many won’t eat the eyes because they are really gooey. The tongue however is the best.

minreykjavik:

Yummy! I ate the fokkin eye!

Naked farmers head for town

I reported a while back about a group of farmers in northern Iceland which set up an Icelandic version of the Full Monty. Now after 40 performances in Hörgárdalur valley, the gang is headed for fame and riches in Reykjavík, the big city.

The performance revolves around a fight between the farmers and a bank, essentially portraying the reality of their lives. The characters in the play decide to pay off their debt by stripping, perhaps not all to different from the actors themselves.

Even though there isn’t much left of 2011, they’ll be bringing with them what’s left of their nude calender if anybody is interested.

Watch out for the sheep when you drive around Iceland. In Iceland all of the sheep roam free in the summer. In late spring, soon after the lambs are born, the farmers take the sheep up into the mountains and set them free. Throughout the whole summer the sheep take care of themselves. As autumn comes all the farmers in a given area go together on horseback up into the mountains and round up the sheep. They are then sorted at an event called “réttir”. If you are a farmer, then this event is the highlight of the year, as it involves copious amounts of alcohol.

But really do be careful on the roads. The sheep often hang around on the roads licking salt of the road. If you see a mother sheep on one side and her lambs on the other, then it is guaranteed that they are going to run to their mother with no regard of the consequences.

(Source: mentalmaelstrom, via definitely-high-flying-deactiva)

You know that children’s game when you roll yourself down a grass hill as fast as you can? Icelandic kids only play that game once.

(Source: vinlendingur)

Icelandic Killer Sheep

I never post pictures, that are not from Iceland. But this is too good. I don’t know what B horror movie this is from, but I want to see it. Icelanders have always joked about the Icelandic Killer Sheep. The truth is that there are no real predators in Iceland that pose any threat to anything much larger than a mouse. Except for the odd polar bear that wanders to Iceland. Calling the sheep Killer Sheep is not that ridiculous actually. They do cause a lot of serious traffic accidents. Since they roam free in Iceland during the summer months, they often run across roads, or hang out on the road licking salt… Drivers then swerve off the road. Be careful of this when you are driving. Notice also that if the lambs are on one side and the mother on the other, the lambs will always run to the mother. No matter what. Also remember, that it is better to just run over the sheep than swerve out into a lava field. You can buy the sheep from the farmer and have a nice dinner.

(via narouxto)

Blue Sheep in Iceland

Drivers in Iceland have often been startled by sheep running across the road. Sheep run free in Iceland during the summer months often causing some havoc on the roads. However drivers have been slightly more startled by blue sheep in Steingrímsfjörður recently. Are these elf sheep or political sheep?

Sheep are the main product of most Icelandic farms and lamb meat the traditional Icelandic dinner. Farmers have come up with all sorts of tricks in their sheep farming. One problem that sometimes occurs is that the mother sheep denies her lamb, especially if she had two. Somehow feeling that two is one too many she’ll deny one of them milk.

Guðbrandur Sverrisson farmer at Bassastaðir has come up with a solution. Sheep know their lambs from the smell only and are color blind. Somehow he discovered that if he spray paints the whole lamb, he is able to mask its scent. The sheep no longer knows which lamb is which and lets them both drink. He says the paint does no harm and washes off in the first few months out in the mountains.

Of course his neighbors are accusing him of supporting the blue flagged Sjálfstæðisflokkur (Independence Party) political party. To counter this he’s painting some lambs green, the color of Framsóknarflokkurinn (Farmers Party).

Icelandic killer sheep

Did you know that they can predict the weather? If their pee is yellow, then tomorrow will be sunny. If it is clear, then it will rain. Scientific stuff you know.

(Source: ohheybill)

We have many times more sheep in Iceland than people.

(Source: farm6.static.flickr.com, via blueteapot)

Dead sheep

In Iceland we have a lot of sheep. Some of them are dead.

In Icelandic a dead sheep is “Dauð kind” or “Dauð rolla”.

(Source: Flickr / mattiskratti)