Search Results for: this day in icelandic history
Never Underestimate The Obvious
To answer a question posed in this column little over a month ago: yes, it seems that we did detain…
An Aging McDonald’s Hamburger At The Edge Of The Arctic
Earlier this year, local media feasted on a story about Iceland’s last surviving McDonald’s hamburger, reportedly purchased the day before…
The Crisis In Greece Seen Through Icelandic Eyes
In October 2008, Iceland was hit by a ton of bricks in the form of three collapsing banks. The International…
Origin Stories, Or: Why We Believe We Are Who We Think We Are
Every nation has an origin story. Unique about Icelanders in this regard, at least from the European perspective, is that…
Cycle Music & Art Festival: Conceptual Art Comes To The Suburbs
by Eli Petzold
This August, an exciting new festival comes to Kópavogur. Cycle Festival, a four-day interdisciplinary arts extravaganza, will showcase unconventional works…
The Museum Of Hidden Beings
by John Rogers
One night in 1846, a trader named Sigtryggur Sigurðsson was walking his usual route home along the beach from Húsavík,…
Iceland’s National Sport: Football On The Edge Of The World
by John Rogers
On a recent grey and drizzly summer evening, the streets of downtown Reykjavík were oddly empty. But other than the…
Pride Is Back!
The annual Reykjavík Pride festival has started, and there’s a lot going on. This year’s programme is loaded with things…
Whale Watching With Sigmundur Davið
With two massive masts, tightly furled sails, and an array of ropes and pulleys, Ópal appears to be straight out…
In Strandir: Sorcery And Tourism
A weathered wooden structure with a turf roof. From the outside, Hólmavík’s main tourist attraction sure doesn’t look like much,…
Modern Heathens And The ‘Poetic Edda’
Forty-four years ago, one of the most important sources for Norse mythology returned to its home in Iceland. The 13th…
SlutWalk Aims For Record Breaking Year
The annual worldwide SlutWalk originated in 2011, in response to the comments of Toronto Police Constable Michael Sanguinetti, after he…
Dill: An Icelandic Epicurean Epiphany
Just when I was convinced that the traditional food culture in Iceland was at risk of dying out, an establishment…
Icelandic Vikings: More Portlandia Than Pirate Paradise
The above photograph shows a recreation of the fictional construct celebrating violence in front of the very real institution of…
Potential Closure Of Downtown’s Music Venues: It’s About More Than Music
It’s Faktorý all over again. The buildings that house downtown’s booming music scene—venues like Húrra, Gaukurinn, Paloma and Dubliner—will likely…
2015 Best Of Reykjavík
Welcome, readers, to our 2015 BEST OF REYKJAVÍK issue. It’s that time in the midsummer when the days are long,…
Eistnaflug: The Grapevine Picks
by Bogi Bjarnason and Hannah Jane Cohen
Bogi Bjarnason: Behemoth Some would argue that Behemoth is the hottest commodity in extreme metal at the moment. Last year’s…
#ATP15 Final Night Review: Muddy Lineup
by Ciarán Daly
If, like me, you haven’t paid attention to Pitchfork in the last few years, pickings for Saturday night could easily…
Secret Solstice Friday RECAP: Hashtag Problem, Hashtag Zzz, And Not A Chance In Hel
The Secret Solstice music festival breaks fresh ground in Icelandic history in two ways. For starters, it is the first…
VIDEO: múm Take On Turkey’s Ancient Storm Gods!
by FD Kristján
Recently, the Icelandic indie pop band múm were invited to play a mysterious new festival among the cave dwellings and…
Feminism In The 1880s: “Women Aren’t Allowed To Be Anything At All”
by Lemúrinn
Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir (1856-1940) was the most prominent Icelandic women’s rights advocate of the late 19th and early 20th century. A…