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Feast Days and Food Days

- a few Icelandic food traditions

Many food customs and dishes are connected to certain holidays, although perhaps not as many as in other European countries. Some of these customs can be traced back in time hundreds of years, others are fairly recent, and some have ancient roots but have been resurrected or reconstructed in recent years.

 

New Year
Áramót
There are no special food customs connected to New Year’s Eve (gamlárskvöld) or New Year’s Day (nýársdagur) in Iceland, although the New Year is enthusiastically celebrated, with grand displays of fireworks – in Iceland, everyone is allowed to shoot fireworks and as the clock nears midnight, the sky over Reykjavík and other towns is practically ablaze.

These two days are more or less a repeat of Christmas, with a large family meal on New Year’s Eve, where roast lamb or pork is often served, or perhaps turkey or other poultry. On New Year’s Day, the after-effects of the revelry of the night often mean that nobody wants to do much cooking, so cold meat is frequently served – leftovers from the night before, or maybe cold smoked lamb.

 

Epiphany
Þrettándinn
In Iceland, Christmas begins on Christmas Eve and lasts for thirteen days, and the last day is called “the thirteenth.” Many people say goodbye to Christmas in some way – by taking down their Christmas tree and decorations, by shooting fireworks and holding bonfires to burn off Christmas, and some invite the family to finish off the remaining Christmas cookies and candy.

 

Thorri Feasts
Þorrablót
According to the old Icelandic calendar, the month of Thorri (Þorri) begins on a Friday between 19th and 25th January. Thorri may be a distortion of the name of the old thunder god, Thor (Þórr), but it has come to mean a personification of the Winter King – often portrayed as an old, harsh man that lays a blanket of snow and ice over the whole country and is very reluctant to let go of his “ice fetters.”

Even though Thorri feasts were held at midwinter in pagan times, there is really nothing that connects them to the present day feasts of the same name. They are a twentieth century phenomenon, although there were a few instances in the nineteenth century when small groups of people gathered for a midwinter feast they called Thorrablót. The present-day catered Thorrablót is partly an invention of a Reykjavík restaurant owner in the 1950s – he thought there might be a market for traditional and disappearing Icelandic food that had never been served at restaurants before.

Thorrablót are now held in almost every town and community in Iceland and clubs, workplaces and others arrange their own feast, so many people end up going to several of these during the month of Thorri. They may even reach into the next month, Góa, in which case they are usually called Góugleði (Góa’s Feast). Most Thorrablóts are catered by restaurants but in a few locations, people still bring their own Thorri food in the customary specially made deep wooden trays.

The following are some of the traditional offerings at a Thorrablót:

Hákarl, fermented shark, usually buried for months to allow certain unhealthful substances to leak out, then air-dried. It is usually served in bite-size cubes and washed down with ice-cold brennivín. It is divided into two types, glerhákarl (glass shark), the part closest to the hide which is chewy and semi-opaque, and skyrhákarl (skyr shark), soft and tender inner parts. Both can have a pretty strong taste.

Harðfiskur is fish that has been dried, then beaten until soft. Many farms used to have a special stone (“the fish stone”) for this. The fish was placed flat on the stone and beaten with a heavy mallet. This is something I recall having done in my childhood, although not regularly, as it was heavy work to thoroughly beat the fish. The fish is often eaten with butter. Harðfiskur is one of the old delicacies that has survived and is now sold in every shop, usually as a very popular travel snack.

Whey-preserved whale blubber used to be a staple at the Thorri feasts but it has disappeared now, as there is no whaling. One side of a piece of sour blubber is very stringy and tough, then the texture changes gradually, and the other side becomes so soft it can be cut with a fork. Whey-preserved seal flippers are occasionally seen at private feasts but rarely served by caterers.

Hangikjöt, smoked lamb, is one of the most popular offerings and almost the only thing some of the younger guests will eat. It is served cold and cut into thin slices. Magáll is a thin fat-streaked slab of meat off a sheep’s belly. It is usually smoked and cut into thin slices. Lundabaggar used to be a piece of lamb meat, often the heart, rolled in a lamb’s intestines and suet before being cooked. It was eaten fresh or whey-preserved, and sometimes smoked. Now the name seems to have been transferred to rolled, fatty flank of lamb, soured in whey. Bringukollur is fatty meat from the breast of the lamb, usually on the bone. The meat is cooked, then preserved in whey.  Hrútspungar, lamb’s testicles, are pressed and preserved in whey, with a mild, slightly sour taste and a peculiar texture, fairly similar to roe, but smoother.

Halved sheep’s heads, svið, are sometimes served and sviðasulta, headcheese, both fresh and whey-preserved, is a must at a Thorri feast. The head is boiled until the bones fall out and the meat (with eyes, tongue, and everything else) is pressed into a mold to set, along with a little of the gelatinous cooking liquid. Lamb trotters used to be treated in a similar manner but are rarely seen now.

Blóðmör (blood pudding) and lifrarpylsa (liver sausage), both fresh and whey-preserved, are always to be found at these feasts. They are served cold in slices. Recipes for both are to be found in the last chapter of this book. There are also recipes for the traditional side dishes, which are mashed potatoes, mashed rutabagas, steamed rye bread, and rye flatbread.

There are other, less traditional offerings that have mostly been added in recent years to cater to the tastes of those who do not like the traditional food. Among these are pickled herring, salted lamb and perhaps a stew.

Brennivín (caraway-flavored schnapps), vodka, and other alcoholic beverages are always served, along with beer and ale.

 

Beginning of Lent
Föstuinngangur
Lent is the forty days before Easter and although Icelanders no longer fast during this period, the days preceding Lent are feast days in Iceland, as in many other European countries. Ash Wednesday, the first Lenten day, is celebrated in some towns by children, who go around in fancy dresses, sing popular songs, and receive candy in return. They used to pin small bags containing ashes or stones on unsuspecting victims but that custom has mostly disappeared.

Monday and Tuesday, on the other hand, are associated with special foods or treats, when people used to indulge themselves before beginning the fast.

Monday is bolludagur, Bun Day, and it is customary to eat a lot of cream-filled buns. That custom dates from the late nineteenth century and was probably introduced by Danish or Norwegian bakers, although some goodies would have been eaten on this day much earlier. Medieval Icelandic law texts say it is allowed to eat a double portion on Monday and Tuesday preceding Lent. Much of the bun-eating now takes place on Sunday, however, since Monday is a workday and there is less time for baking.

Monday used to be called flengingardagur (Spanking Day). In earlier times, Catholic people would often spank themselves to be reminded of the pain of Jesus. Later, this turned into a comical parody of sorts and people began spanking each other instead of themselves. It became a kind of sport to try to catch people in bed or still asleep and spank them, often using a special wand or decorated stick, and to escape the spanking, people would pay a forfeit of buns. Icelandic children often still make their own bolluvöndur (bun stick), or buy them in shops, and use them to spank their parents to get some buns.

Icelandic bakers estimate they sell one million of these buns on and around Bun Day every year, which means almost four buns for every Icelander. Many people also bake buns at home. The two most common types of buns now are yeast buns (which make up 70 to 80 percent of the bakery buns) and choux pastry buns (cream puffs), but other types are also baked. In the first half of the twentieth century, the buns were usually made from cake dough. Often a jólakaka recipe was used, perhaps with an extra egg or two added, and the raisins left out. Deep-fried buns are also known and formerly ástarpungar (Love Balls) were served on Bun Day.

Immediately after this bun orgy comes Shrove Tuesday, which in Iceland is called sprengidagur, Bursting Day, when most people gorge themselves on split pea and salted lamb soup.

Traditionally everybody would eat as much as they possibly could, to the point of bursting, to prepare themselves for the seven meatless Lenten weeks to follow. This would in earlier times usually mean smoked lamb or mutton but in the nineteenth century it was replaced by salted meat and a hearty pea soup was quite appropriate as an accompaniment.

 

Sun Coffee
Sólarkaffi
Sun Coffee is not a national holiday, nor is it celebrated on the same day in all the locations where it is held. The reason is that in many narrow valleys and fjords in Iceland, the sun does not rise above the mountains during the darkest winter days. This happens mostly in the Western Fjords and the Eastern Fjords and this period can last several weeks, even months. This does not mean these places will be engulfed in darkness twenty-four hours a day, though; daylight lasts a few hours but the light will be fairly dim. The Sun Coffee is held to celebrate the re-emergence of the sun from behind the mountains, if only for a few minutes.

In some towns and villages, people will get together in a community hall for their Sun Coffee. Others celebrate at home with family and friends. Cakes and cookies are served along with the coffee, sometimes elaborate creations, or perhaps more traditional treats like crepes, crullers, and jólakaka. People who have moved away to a place where the sun does not disappear will sometimes celebrate on the day when the sun will be showing itself again in their old home.

 

Easter
Páskar
There aren’t really any special food traditions connected with Easter in Iceland, unless one counts the chocolate Easter eggs given to every child and many grownups as well. These are a twentieth century tradition, though. A few weeks before Easter, they appear in all shops, sometimes having a whole supermarket aisle devoted to them. The thin chocolate shell is filled with candy and there is always a small strip of paper inside with a printed proverb.

Although many people do serve lamb at Easter, that cannot be said to have any special significance, as it does in some other countries; after all, a leg of lamb is the traditional Sunday roast in Iceland. In earlier times, the first meat meal after the many weeks of fasting would have been smoked lamb or mutton. It used to be traditional to serve a thick rice or barley porridge, made with cream or milk, on Easter Sunday and sometimes also on Maundy Thursday, the week before Easter.

 

First Day of Summer
Sumardagurinn fyrsti
The old Icelandic calendar year had only two seasons, summer and winter, which is why we celebrate the first day of summer in late April, when it isn’t even spring yet, or not so that you’d notice. But it is a very old holiday, dating back to pagan times, and the custom of giving presents on this day is mentioned in the fifteenth century. It never disappeared and has recently undergone a revival.

In the nineteenth century, the usual feast dish on the first day of summer was a thick, rich rice or barley porridge, slowly simmered for a long time and studded with raisins. No special dishes are connected to this day now, except in certain families. I, for instance, always make the thin, traditional crepes and serve them with jam and whipped cream on an old plate with a blue flower pattern – you can hardly get more Icelandic than that on this most Icelandic of all holidays.

 

Seamen’s Day
Sjómannadagurinn
This occurs on the first Sunday in June, unless that happens to be Whitsunday (Pentecost, fifty days after Easter), in which case the holiday is moved to the next Sunday. This festival, held in all fishing towns and villages around the country, as well as in Reykjavík, celebrates the importance of fishers and other seamen in Icelandic culture and history. Coffee parties, often arranged by women’s clubs and displaying a huge selection of baked goods, are usually held in community halls but the main festivities take place outdoors, usually around the harbor.

 

Independence Day
Þjóðhátíðardagurinn
Icelanders celebrate their independence on June 17. On that day in 1944, Iceland celebrated its independence from Danish rule at Þingvellir.

No particular food customs connected to this day have emerged but some people will invite family and friends over for coffee and cakes. And if weather permits, the outdoor grills are put to use and grilling parties are held in many a backyard or balcony.

 

Harvest Celebration
Töðugjöld
The Icelandic harvest feast was a tame affair compared to some other countries. When the last bale of hay had been brought home in the autumn, it was usually celebrated with a meal. Sometimes a lamb or an adult sheep was slaughtered and cooked for the feast, and perhaps a thick and creamy porridge was made. Pancakes, crepes, crullers and other treats were served with the coffee. The harvest celebration has now disappeared almost completely.

 

St. Thorlak’s Day
Þorláksmessa
Christmas begins on Christmas Eve in Iceland so December 23 is a hectic day for many, as there are so many last-minute preparations to do. The day is named for St. Thorlak, Þorlákur Þórhallsson, a bishop at Skálholt in the late twelfth century, who died on this day in 1193 and has been revered by Icelanders ever since, even though he was not formally canonized until 1985.
Icelanders do not have a tradition of eating fish at Christmas but fish is traditional on St. Thorlak’s Day and in later years, the fish of the day has become putrefied skate.

This custom began in the Western Fjords and has spread all over the country. The skate, which is left to ferment for several weeks, has an extremely strong and unpleasant smell that intensifies while it is being cooked. The man of the house (who is often responsible for the cooking of this particular item) is sometimes banished to the garage and has to cook the skate on a gas burner there, or else the whole house might stink of ammonia come Christmas. Instead, the smoked lamb is often cooked in the kitchen and produces a smell that almost everybody loves.

It has to be said, though, that the taste of the skate is not nearly as bad as the smell, although opinions may differ. Some prefer it so putrefied that it brings tears to their eyes and their breath smells of it for many hours afterward. An eighteenth century poet praised skate of this kind to the skies and said it was “better than brennivín” (caraway-flavored schnapps), which is praise indeed, coming from an Icelander.

The skate is usually cut into chunks and poached, sometimes in the cooking water from the smoked lamb. It is served with hamsatólg (melted sheep’s tallow with cracklings) and/or hnoðmör (sheep´s tallow that is kneaded and dried before it is melted), along with boiled potatoes. It usually gets washed down with several straight shots of brennivín.

 

Christmas
Jól
Many food-related traditions are knitted to Christmas and the preparations often begin with Christmas baking. Although most Icelandic housewives do not bake nearly as much as they used to, a lot of Christmas baking still gets done and for some, it is practically the only time of the year that they do any baking at all.

Many bake several types of cookies. Some traditional Christmas cookies are vanilla wreaths, species, meringue cookies, chocolate cookies, spice cookies, coconut macaroons, serina cookies, farmer’s cookies, and several others, and Sarah Bernhard cookies are a fairly recent tradition in many homes.

Cakes also get baked. Many have adopted the tradition of the English Christmas cake but the Icelandic Christmas Cake, as vínarterta is sometimes called in America, has more or less disappeared. Some still bake it for Christmas, though, and my mother always makes both the regular and the brown version. Meringues and layer cakes, filled with whipped cream and various kinds of sweet creams and mousses, are also made.

Many families or groups of friends come together for one evening in December to make leaf bread. Others meet for candymaking or other such activities, but this tends to involve only the women and children, not the whole family.

Restaurant Christmas buffets have become very popular in recent years and are usually attended by groups of people, often workmates. Another Scandinavian pre-Christmas tradition that enjoyed popularity for a while was jólaglögg, “Christmas glögg”, where people drank lots of hot spiced red wine, usually generously fortified, and munched on spiced cookies.

In Iceland, Christmas begins on Christmas Eve. The shops close at noon or a little later and at 6 p.m., the church bells ring to signify the beginning of Christmas. By that time, dinner will be well on its way in most families and some sit down to eat as soon as Christmas arrives, because the children are eager to begin opening their presents.

There are many traditional Christmas main dishes: Smoked lamb, eaten in at least 90 percent of Icelandic households at least once during the Christmas holidays. It is served on Christmas Day in most homes, but some families still serve it on Christmas Eve. Ptarmigan, so closely knit to Christmas that some people would be willing to postpone the festivities rather than miss it. Roast goose with a fruit stuffing is a festive dish that can be really very good. Some feel roasted pork with cracklings is a bit old-fashioned but others say “yes, but that’s exactly why we want it for Christmas.” Smoked and salted pork rack is a safe bet, since it is difficult to turn into a failure and most people like it. Roasted leg of lamb is an old favorite which is all the more appreciated since it is no longer served every other Sunday in many homes.

Turkey has recently become a very popular Christmas dish, but there aren’t really any traditional or Icelandic recipes for it. The same goes for beef dishes.

Side dishes vary, of course, depending on what the main dish is, but not as much as could be expected. Glazed potatoes, for instance, can be served with almost everything except the smoked lamb. Red cabbage goes with most of these dishes too, as do boiled carrots and peas, and Waldorf salad or an apple salad is very popular. Leaf bread is very traditional with the smoked lamb in many families, but others never serve it. Dessert is often ice cream, store-bought or homemade, or a mousse (lemon and pineapple are popular flavors, and of course chocolate), but for many, rice pudding or ris a’l amande is absolutely essential.  Evening coffee, with cakes and cookies, is often served after the presents have been opened.

Christmas Day can be lazy or hectic, depending on wether you stay at home or attend a large family party, but unless you should happen to host such a party, there usually isn’t much cooking going on. Most people serve cold smoked lamb and only have to prepare a side dish or two. Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, is a holiday in Iceland and is usually leftover day. There tends to be lot of good food left over from the two preceding days and there is no need to cook anything new. And there are even more family parties to go to.

The traditional Christmas beverage, sometimes drunk with all Christmas meals, sometimes just with the smoked lamb, is a mixture of a fizzy orange flavored lemonade (appelsín) and a dark brown non-alcoholic ale (malt). This is usually enjoyed by young and old alike but some adults may prefer Christmas ale or red wine.

 

“Sewing Clubs”
Saumaklúbbar
I feel that the Icelandic sewing clubs warrant a mention here for various reasons, even though they do not belong to any particular day or season. They are, however, culinary exercises and Gestgjafinn devotes a whole issue to them every year. But I’m not sure if I can describe them – I remember once asking a friend: “Have you ever tried to explain sewing clubs to a foreigner?” and she said: “Foreigner? I can’t even explain them to my husband.”

A sewing club is not a club, and hardy any sewing ever gets done. It is a small group of women – often old college mates, childhood friends, or otherwise connected – who meet at the home of one of the group, maybe once a month, simply to talk, gossip, share their joys and sorrows, and enjoy one another’s hospitality. If the group is large – 10 or more – several members will sometimes bring cakes and other goodies but in most cases the host of the evening will provide all the refreshments.

Some of these gathering can turn into virtual calorie orgies, or showcases for the culinary skills of the hostess, but others are much more moderate. There is usually a cake or two (or three). There is often a hot dish, usually involving bread, and a cold savory dish as well. There may be crackers and dips, or a cheese platter, and a multitude of other things, both sweet and savory. This is washed down with lots of coffee and often a few glasses of sherry or wine. A sewing club meeting is almost always held in the evening and will frequently continue well past midnight.

Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir