women's day

Yup today is women's day in Iceland. Which means that today women are being spoiled by their significant other. This is our counterpart to Valentines day. We have women's day that has been known by this name since 18 hundred and something but before that it was just a celebration of a new calendar month which meant longer daylight hours and spring arriving. Women's day is always the Sunday in week 8 of a new year. I was woken up by not a breakfast in bed but cake in bed. Like the whole cake mind you.

Yup that's it I am going to be so good and only have like one slice and give someone else a bite too. 

We also have husbands day (direct translation) it is held in week 13 of winter which was this year was on the 25. of January. It is a celebration of the beginning of one month in the old calendar. It used to be that the man of the house should go outside very early in the morning in nothing but a thin shirt and bare legs and no shoes, he should put one leg of his pants on and then go out and jump on one leg round the house, dragging the pants behind him to invite the new month in. Then he should throw a fiest which is still held to this day where people eat stuff like fermented shark, cured lamb testicles, singed boiled sheep heads, blood pudding, wind dried fish and so on. This is a delicacy here but I don't like it. You can read more about it here.

So you see now why I don't celebrate Valentines day lol we have our own, and I am a bit old fashioned that I don't think we need to start celebrating all the American days. Because apparently that is happening, they have started with Halloween (we have Ash Wednesday same thing ), Valentines day and even started trying to sell Thanksgiving stuff here. I am not sure why we would celebrate Thanksgiving but Iceland is way to absorbed in trying to become like everyone else these days. I am a bit scared that these old traditions will fade out eventually, which is a shame since some of them are hundreds and hundreds years old.

OK enough procrastinating better get back to studying.