Valentínusardagur 2021

Valentine's Day 2021

In Iceland they don't actually celebrate Valentine's Day, but rather "Men's Day" and "Women's Day", "bóndadagur" and "konudagur".

" Men's Day " falls on the first day of the Old Icelandic winter month of Þorri, which is the first Friday between January 19th and 25th. According to old lore from the 18th century, tradition required that the master of the house be the first to arrive on the farm on this day and he would greet the winter month appropriately. In return, the housewife should “treat her husband well” on this particular day.

Later (probably only in the 19th century) " Women's Day " was added, on the first day of the winter month of Góa, i.e. on the first Sunday between February 18th and 24th. Here the husbands were supposed to celebrate their housewife with the beginning of the month of Góa, which brought with it the rising light and the arrival of the first signs of spring.

However, the tradition of husbands honoring their housewives by giving them flowers on Women's Day came later - the first newspaper advertisement from the Icelandic Association of Gardeners and Florists calling on men to give flowers to their wives on "konudagur". buy, apparently dates from 1957.

Icelandic beer, Icelandic chocolate and a little flower, the man of the house and the housewife can both feel well treated.

Valentine's Day in Iceland

Valentine's Day has less significance in Iceland; it was first mentioned in an article in the daily newspaper Morgunblaðið from 1958, in which it was reported that florists in Reykjavík had made small bouquets of flowers to sell on Valentine's Day.

Quick Valentine's Day gift - simply homemade

If any of you need a quick Valentine's Day gift for your loved one or spouse by Sunday - I could recommend my recipe for licorice chocolate .

All you need is 100 g of chocolate , 25 g of couverture and 40 g of licorice wheels .

The chocolate and the couverture are then melted in a glass in a water bath.

The licorice wheels are unrolled, divided and then nicely chopped with a chopping knife or similar.

The licorice pieces are then added to the melted chocolate...

...mix the whole thing thoroughly and then pour it into praline molds using two teaspoons or something similar.

Then put the licorice chocolate in the fridge for at least 2 hours and let it solidify.

Your homemade, sweet Valentine’s Day gift is ready!

[Translated from here.]