It is customary in Iceland to give books as gifts on Christmas Eve. This tradition should come as no surprise to foreigners as Iceland disposes of a tremendous cultural heritage with respect to literature. So it is that from the Viking Age and High Middle Ages (periods of time throughout which the Icelandic sagas and the…
The tradition of building houses with turf roofs in the Faroe Islands and Iceland dates back to the Viking Age. These architectural structures are the result of the climate on these islands, the requirements of the Norse society that settled them during the early Middle Ages, and last but not least of the local environmental…
Here is a top of the five greatest Viking Age longships built in contemporary times. The following are either replicas of well known Viking longships or vessels that have been built from scratch, based on the concept of the ships used by the Norsemen during the early Middle Ages. For this top, there have been…
In September, 2016, a group of five goose hunters discovered a millenary quite well-preserved Viking Age sword somewhere in the Skaftárhreppur municipality from Iceland. The five men stumbled upon the artefact by chance, while on a goose hunting trip in the south of the country. A member of the goose hunters group, Rúnar Sighvatsson, stated that…
In Icelandic and Faroese folktales, the ‘hidden people’ (or ‘Huldufólk’ as they are known in both Icelandic and Faroese) are supernatural beings that reside in, beneath or behind the rocks. The term ‘huldufólk’ is a synonym of ‘álfar’ (meaning ‘elves’), and has been in use since at least the beginning of the 19th century in Icelandic folklore….
