Ash Wednesday In Pictures

If you have been outside at all today, you have no doubt noticed all the goblins, mini-Trumps, witches, and superheroes, and it is not just because Icelanders do not understand how calendars work! No, today is Öskudagur (“Ash Wednesday”), when Icelandic kids dress up and go from shop to shop, singing songs and getting sweets for the effort. It is held seven weeks before Easter, meaning it can be anywhere from February 4 to March 10.

Many kids put a lot of effort and take pride in their costumes—when yours truly returned to the office from lunch, there were five kids from Langholtsskóli walking from place to place muttering that they wished a journalist would take their picture (of course we did).

Our resident photographer Art Bicnick went out to snap a few pictures; check out the gallery below.

PS: Icelandic children get free dental service up to the age of 18, at which point it is just plain creepy to keep berating shopkeepers for sweets (unless you’re accompanying your kids, of course).