Word Of The Issue: Big-Fire-Christmas

The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time

For this issue, because it is the season of Christmas, Yule, Santas and various Icelandic children-eating mythical yule creatures, we will attempt to explain a word whose exact meaning and etymology has no consensus. That word is stóru brandajól, or, directly translated, definitely poorly, and probably wrongly, as big-fire Christmas.

First of all, there exist both stóru and litlu brandajól, that is, both big and small fire Christmas. What they stand for has to do with which day of the week Christmas Day takes place each year. Although there isn’t really a consensus on this or anything else to do with the word, big-fire Christmas is when Christmas Day takes place on a Monday; small-fire Christmas is when it turns up on a Friday. As Christmas Day turns up on neither of these two days this year, we can — we suppose — celebrate a no-fire Christmas.

In essence, the word brandajól is — or was — used when, because of where Christmas Day falls, the calendar that year would have either three or four holy days in a row. By that we do not mean modern holidays, but holy days according to the church calendar of yore. These days, the phrase is often used more liberally in alignment with modern holidays, so this year, with Christmas falling on Thursday, meaning that you will have four days off in a row, leads some Icelanders to declare this year to actually be a big-fire Christmas.

Lastly, we get into the debate of what the word itself means. Or actually a non-debate. The original written source for the word is Árni Magnússon. Yeah, that guy. The guy who saved all the saga manuscripts from poverty-ridden Iceland in the early 18th century, only to have much of them burn to cinders in the Great Copenhagen fire of 1728. He says that the prefix brandur, refers to fire (it still does in modern Icelandic), and according to old men of his day, the reason for calling these four-holy-days-in-a-row Christmases “fire Christmas” was because people believed that during those years, house fires became much more common.

So this Christmas, be merry and celebrate the fact that this year is not a house-burning Christmas. Or maybe it is. Depends on who you ask. Either way, be mindful of your lit candles.

Learn more Icelandic words hér.