Jól is the Icelandic term for Christmas. The word stems from the Nordic word Yule which refers to the old solstice celebrations when the Vikings celebrated longer days and coming of the new year. Season’s Greetings to all of you. “Peace on earth and goodwill to all men”
One of the busiest days of the year, Saint Thorlakur’s Day, and the Christmas preparations are almost finished. It is beautiful outside, temperatures around zero, it is calm and snow is falling lightly. Tomorrow the children and their other halves, grown up people now, will come and spend Christmas Eve with us. Merry Christmas 🙂
Today is St. Thorlakur’s Day. Thorlakur was an Icelandic bishop in Skalholt and died on December 23, 1193. This is the day for last minute gift shopping, decorating the Christmas tree and many eat the traditional fish Skate, which smells horrible.
Three days to Christmas. It snowed today and the forecast predicts temperatures below zero. In the North it will be the coldest, with temperatures down below minus 20°C. In the South it will be warmer with temperatures down to around minus 10-12° C.
We call the shortest day and the longest night of the year winter solstice. It is when the sun’s elevation in the sky is at its lowest which will be tonight at 4:49. So December 22 is the shortest day of the year.
In Reykjavík the sun crawls over the horizon at 11:23, it is at its highest at 13:26 and sets again at 15:30. After tomorrow the days will start to get longer, something almost everyone looks forward to. Happy Solstice 🙂
This is one of the Fieldfares that has made the garden his home in the last month. He is all puffed up and self-important. Perhaps he is eagerly awaiting springtime but we are sure that no one will consciously invade his realm when he is in this mood.
There are still some berries left on the Rowan. Some of the birds prefer these frozen berries over the feed we put out, like this female Blackbird who so graciously allowed photographing.
The Hooded Merganser is a breeding bird in North America but is considered rather rare. This Hooded Merganser was on Lake Helluvatn just outside Reyjavík this week. It was first spotted there in the middle of November after having been seen in Álftanes, south of Reykjavík, several times. This is the third winter that this bird is seen on Lake Helluvatn and on nearby lakes.
It is 8 days to Christmas. The ice crystals from last weekend have melted away and the snow has changed into huge slabs of ice that is melting slowly away. The long term weather forecast predicts a white Christmas with snow and frost in the last days before Christmas.
