The Ceremony of Community: The Icelandic Sorcery Festival Readies Its New Ritual

Along the southeastern coast of the Westfjords, in the town of Hólmavík, resides The Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft, a true gem for lovers of obscure history, pagan spiritual traditions, and generally spooky stuff. This month, it will transform into the home and hearth of the Icelandic Sorcery Festival, a brand new celebration of art, music, tattoos and the uncanny numinous history of the Strandir region.

“For Iceland, the sorcery that was practised back the 16th century mainly involved hardship,” Hrafnhildur (Habba) Inga Guðjónsdóttir, the festiva’s main founder and “Big Mama” says of the unique nature of Icelandic sorcery practices. “People were using sigils and staves to try to get a better life because obviously Iceland was very, very harsh. Everybody was poor and hated their neighbours.”

Known professionally as Habbanero, Habba is a local tattoo artist and co-owner of the studio Örlög renown for her traditional Nordic handpoke technique. Specialising in Icelandic magical staves — 16th century sigils blended with Christian symbols — Habba’s tattooing practice is its own form of ritual.

“I love working with the energies that involve staves, so when I tattoo and when I make specialised staves for people, it’s like a little mini ceremony,” she says. “It’s hard to describe because there’s not really any description for it. It’s just like this connection and this interaction with another soul.”

People were using sigils and staves to try to get a better life because obviously Iceland was very, very harsh. Everybody was poor and hated their neighbours.

She is also a musician in the band Vévaki alongside her husband, ancient-instrumentalist Sigurboði Grétarsson, who also shares a long history with the sorcery museum and its owner, Anna Björg Þórarinsdóttir.

“Sigurboði works a lot with traditional instruments, so Anna has been getting him to come to the museum to perform kvæði [medieval ballads], play little shows and talk about Nordic mythology, runes and all sorts of different things.” Habba started spending a great deal of time at the museum with her husband, becoming part of the museum and the town’s community, which led her to the notion of holding a small tattoo expo there.

With that seed planted in the spring of 2023, the idea for the festival rapidly grew through her connections with the Northern Fire collective, a group specialising in Nordic and Celtic art forms.

“My friend, Sean Parry, [started it] and his idea was a collective where we could all sell our arts and where we could talk about subjects we are passionate about in regards to ancient history,” says Habba. “Most of us are tattoo artists, but also dabbling with things like music, leather work, folk dance — there are a lot of historians in this group. So I was like, ‘okay, one of our meetings should be in Iceland’.”

This conclusion naturally entangled itself with Habba’s original tattoo expo idea, which then blossomed into the Icelandic Sorcery Festival. Now barely a year later, along with the support of her artist and the Westfjords communities, the festival will fully bloom over April 19-21.

Over the weekend, guests can stroll through the village set up by the historical Viking reenactment group Rimmugýgur, take in workshops and lectures on ancient Nordic sorcery methods, such as Icelandic herb magic and fóstbræðralag [blood brotherhoods]. Folks can also get some magically unique ink from the 14 tattoo artists on site, throw some axes around or just take in the museum’s multi-housed exhibitions.

Art Bicnick/The Reykjavík Grapevine

The nights will be filled with music, from the entrancing sounds of goth-witches Kælan Mikla, classical-folk enchanters Umbra, doom-ethereal band Svartþoka, Habba and Sigurboði’s Vévaki — who perform ritualistic styles of kvæði and rímur [ancient epic poems] — and many more. The Friday night concert will be followed by a walk through the town to the beach where a bonfire ritual will be performed.

“We’re going to have a blowout ritual with a little twist, which is going to be so interesting to see,” Habba says, the glint in her eye adding to the air of mystery surrounding the ritual. A smidgen of secrecy is all part of the fun of sorcery, but the festival is most definitely not only for those already in the know.

“We want this festival to be absolutely welcoming to everyone to come and learn and participate,” she says effusively. “I hope people will be high on love and togetherness and I hope they will feel spiritually light. If people are curious, they should come and see for themselves because we’re not going to be flying on broomsticks.”

The Icelandic Sorcery Festival is happening April 19-21 in Hólmavík. Program and festival pass information is available at SorceryFestival.is. See you there!