Land of Fire and Ice has unofficially been Iceland’s tagline and considered the ultimate truism for the beautiful island up north. This is an obvious reference to the bubbly volcanoes and the multitude of glaciers you find compact in this little space of a country. However a more fitting description would be highlighting the country’s many contrasts. Iceland is a country of great dissimilitude. Not only in terms of glaciers and flowing hot lava, in other words hot and cold, but also the bright summer nights where day and night could switch roleplay and then the opposite, the season of dark days in winter. One cannot leave out the steaming hot geothermal waters vs. the cold air, be that summer, winter, autumn or spring. Iceland is not a destination of either this or that, should you choose summer or winter to visit. Choose both, it’s that simple, the contrasts between the white season or the green season gives you plenty to discover on your second visit.
It is widely misunderstood that Icelanders in general agonise during the season of dark days, but that couldn´t be further from the truth. While the daylight is highly celebrated, the dark days are doted upon. Why? could one ponder over, the answer is quite simple, it is the light.
The lights of winter
Anyone that has experienced the crispiness of the dark moonless sky with not a single cloud in sight, knows that what follows is nothing short of otherworldly magic. This is the time when you dress up in layers, your winter parka and woolly hats and head out into the pitch-black night to adore the northern lights. If you have experienced this, you will know there is something so soothing and awe-inspiring in gazing at the star lit sky putting on a show of an intricate role play with waverly multicoloured lights floating above you. Green hues float into blue, or vice versa, which then turn light green, wow.
There you got your answer why the season of dark days in Iceland are equally welcomed as the season of continuous daylight, where the night merges into a day and the other way round.
This is however not all, thanks to the inexpensive electricity, from the autumn the patios, terraces, windows, balconies and houses all become lit up with lamps, candles and fairy lights. It is beautiful to watch, the string of lights thread through the garden bushes or a balcony bannister.
Icelanders have learned to appreciate the contrast between the dark and the light and have used the light as an inspiration for events, light installations and art shows. The winter lights festival is celebrated annually throughout the country in most towns, normally during early February. It is a show interwoven with artists and musicians alike to create a spectacular illuminating celebration of the season.
It is a great example of how to take advantage of what you have, one could easily be lost in depression and retrieve to their own quarters, when the darkness sits looming outside your door. However with the attitude of humility and humbleness instead, the dark days of winter have so much to offer in Iceland. It is a perfect example of how easily we can get along with nature and the natural way of things.
The Season of the Northern Lights – Aurora Borealis
So much has been said and written about the northern lights. Where and when to see them, how to photograph them and how to book an excursion to go to see them. First of all the Aurora Museum has written a great blog about photographing the lights, secondly to sum up the excitement about the northern lights it is easiest to say one has to live them and not to read about them to get the real understanding of the breathtaking phenomenon it is. To provide a brief inside, there are electrically charged particles that hit the Earth’s magnetosphere which put on the show of light display in the sky. It starts off in winter with neonlike colours of green and blue hues which later in winter we get to see the purple and or fuchsia -like hues added to the mix. This occurrence is only visible on dark and cloudless nights. They can be seen though with the existence of thin layers of clouds as well but normally less intense. In the perfect conditions the activity is more intense and somewhat lasts longer, they can appear like a brief swish in the sky or float over in a dancing and whirling motion to our great amusement and excitement. Again, this otherworldly natural phenomenon is best to experience first hand as opposed to seeing photos or reading about them. If there exists one reason for you to visit Iceland in the winter, this is it. The northern lights or the Aurora Borealis, often dubbed the goddess of the sky.
John Lennon’s memorial – The Imagine Peace Tower
On the topic of lights in Iceland, on October 9 each year since 2007, a tower of light has been lit on a small island, Viðey, just off the coast of Reykjavik. Notably John Lennon’s birthday was October 9 and Yoko Ono created this memorial to celebrate her late husband John Lennon. This is the Imagine Peace Tower in Viðey island. The tower is lit for two months or until December 8, the date he was shot and killed outside the Dakota Building in New York City. The Imagine Peace Tower is then lit again from December 31 until January 6, the Icelandic Epiphany, and again for one week around the spring equinox, or on March 25 next year.
The Imagine Peace Tower is both an art installation and memorial made up of 15 strong searchlights that create a column of light in the dark winter sky on the island of Viðey, a real warmth in the dark and as a reminder of Lennon’s fight for peace reiterated in his iconic song Imagine. It can be seen from downtown Reykjavik as well, look towards the iconic mountain Esja and witness this beautiful and powerful light column shooting its light towards the dark sky. There is something meditative and peaceful about the visit to the island while the tower is lit and is highly recommended as opposed to witnessing it from a distance.
Christmas in Iceland
Christmas holiday needs no introduction, but spending Christmas in Iceland may very well be different from what or how you have celebrated these festivities before. Let’s just start with the santas as there are 13 of them in Iceland, yes you read correctly, and commonly referred to as Yule Lads in English. It gets better, they are the sons of the trolls Grýla and Leppalúði which respectively would be translated to ugly and badly dressed. The Yule Lads descend, one by one, each year from the mountains in the advent to bring treats to small children while at sleep. They are naughty but funny and demand various items in exchange for their treats to the children, depending on their preferences. Like Skyrgámur, would prefer skyr for example, Kertasníkir would want candles and Ketkrókur would hook some meat on his way out. As a result of them being 13 and visiting one by one, the Christmas season or advent begins in early December in Iceland.
Let’s turn our focus to the lights again, if you remember what we mentioned above regarding the fairy lit gardens and such, in and around mid November lights and decorations are progressing fast with the streets and shopping malls being lit as well. Advent-lights decorated windows, string lights come to view on balconies everywhere, towns decorate their streetlamps and streets as the days get darker and darker. Until…
The shortest day in Iceland
December 21 is the darkest day of the year in Iceland. On this day, Reykjavik gets only 4 hours and 8 minutes of daylight. But, to give you an example, on the island of Grímsey in the north of Iceland, with a population of between 20-30 people, the daylight is only 2 hours and 13 minutes. The sun can barely be seen. However, the northern lights stretch themselves out creating a beautiful setting on the winter sky building up excitement for what is to come, another light spectacular ..
New Years Eve in Iceland
New Year’s Eve in Iceland is not an event to take lightly. Icelanders are serious about bidding farewell to one year and welcoming another. As far as the decorative light displays go, nothing compares to New Year’s Eve in Reykjavik and surroundings. The excitement starts building up with the sound of odd fireworks popping up here and there during the week leading to the New Year’s Eve. One could say the rescue squad teams are giving you a taste of their products, as the sales of fireworks is one of their biggest income streams. Competitiveness is in the Icelanders blood and it is during this time that they really bring it out with putting a huge effort in their private garden show and some go even as far as building a home-made fireworks launch pad. Phew, now that’s an effort to admire. And come New Year’s Eve, everyone is set to enjoy the excitement of the fireworks. The entire population will keep a watchful eye on the weather forecast for this one night, hoping for white christmas and clear skies with a little bit of wind. Gentle wind is necessary to push away the enormous amount of smoke that follows this madness. In Iceland the tradition is that families gather in large numbers for a proper celebration around 8 pm, head out to their local bonfire to sing songs, greet neighbours and adore the heat and light. The fireworks really get going after the annual satirical program is aired on television. Nothing is as intensely viewed and criticised in Iceland as this one episode of comic relief summing up the year that has come to an end. At 11:30 pm the program ends, and one could almost hear a needle drop in the silence that follows during the half hour until the fireworks begin. At midnight the fireworks spectacular begins, remembering the competitiveness of the Icelanders, everyone blows up their absolute biggest firework creating a mega show in the sky and thunder to go with it all over the city. The entire sky is lit up with fireworks in every direction, and it takes a while to finish. For some the preference is to find a hill or a spot that sits high up, like the Perlan museum, and view the spectacle from there. Most of it will be finished around 1 am in the new year, the supplies have been blown up, literally, and things settled down again. You will though, in the days up to the Epiphany on January 6 continue to see a puff here and there ..
The Epiphany – January 6
Another much smaller show, which marks the formal end of the long Christmas season in Iceland, will take place on January 6. Revisiting the Yule Lads, well it is their time to depart and ascend back to the mountains to rest until the next december is upon us. Icelandic folklore says January 6 is the night when the elves and the hidden people are about. It is the night to celebrate the mystical side of life, whether you are a believer or not, everyone sings along to songs about elves, moon and magic. Everyone is in high spirits and in a good mood, looking positive towards the new year, happy and to wrap up the holiday season.
Winter Festivals
Icelanders are keen on big gatherings, which more often includes music and light in one form or the other. During the long winter period, a number of festivals pop up to entertain this habit and lighten the mood. In addition to the Winter Lights Festival mentioned above, few more mentions are worth including, the Night of Lights in Reykjanesbær, Dark Music Days in Reykjavik, late January, and the Art in the Light in Seyðisfjörður.
The Spring Equinox
March 20, marks the moment when Icelanders start to sense a sigh of relief as the day and night are approximately equally long. Out goes the fairy light and the light decorations and in comes the eye mask. After a plentiful amount of celebrations during the season of dark days, the promise of spring is in the air. With the sound of thawing up streams and creeks after a long winter, everyone is ready for a little more daylight. From now on, day by day, the daylight increases with a rise in temperature getting ready for another extreme season. A season with different lights is upon us again, the distinct changes of the seasons are celebrated. The summer starts with a bank holiday, the third Thursday in April, for the first day of summer. In Iceland, to enable us to live with nature, there’s always some magic to be found in the moment.
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