The great mid-winter feast named Þorrablót, in honour of the Nordic god of thunder [View all]
The month of Þorri was greeted by half dressed farmers hopping on one leg.
Þorri is the fourth month of winter, according to the ancient Norse calendar, and began on a Friday between the 19th and 25th of January. In pre-Christian times Icelanders would celebrate Þorri with a great mid-winter feast named Þorrablót, in honour of the Nordic god of thunder, Þór. The tradition was lost soon after Icelanders converted to Christianity.
During Iceland‘s struggle for independence from Denmark in the 19th century, young Icelanders studying in Copenhagen decided to revive the old custom of Þorrablót. The first modern Þorri feast took place in the Danish capital on January 24th 1873.
The year after, the inhabitants of Akureyri, a town in north Iceland, decided to follow suit. From there the custom spread throughout the country. By the 1960’s Þorrablót had become a popular part of Icelandic tradition and is still widely celebrated each year.
http://icelandmag.com/article/great-mid-winter-feast-named-thorrablot-honour-nordic-god-thunder
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