Torrablout in Iceland (21/01)

From the end of January until the end of February, Torrablout is celebrated in Iceland. The name of the holiday comes from the name of the fourth month of winter according to the Icelandic calendar — Torrey (in Iceland it is customary to allocate only two seasons: summer and winter), which, according to Old Icelandic tradition, occurs on the thirteenth Friday of winter.

This is the harshest winter month. It is not known for certain in whose name the name of the month comes: whether it was a Norse god (presumably Thor himself) or simply a spirit of weather and nature.

Whoever Torrey was, he should have been appeased by offering him a sacrifice (blót). The celebration of Spouse's Day is directly related to Torrabloot, however, the traditional feasts for pagans, once associated with sacrifice, were suppressed by the church for a long time.

Mentions of the holiday are first found in manuscripts of the 13th century, so Torrablout is considered an ancient event dating back to the pagan era. The tradition of the feast took on a new life only with romanticism and the revival of the national spirit. In 1874, celebrating the centenary of the colonization of Iceland, the residents of Akureyri celebrated Torrablout for the first time, establishing a fashion for Viking decoration: bonfires laid out along the room, walls decorated with weapons and shields, carved thrones for honored guests and special food. Officially, the holiday began to be celebrated only in 1960.

Now Torrablout symbolizes a return to national roots and is a kind of tribute from the Icelanders to their recent past, so throughout the month it is customary to eat national food, which was once the main one for the inhabitants of the country.

It is customary to eat national food throughout the month (Photo: Mateusz Gzik, licensed from Shutterstock.com)

It is rare that a foreigner is able to appreciate the resourcefulness of Icelanders, who, under pain of hunger, are accustomed to using all — in writing, from boiled and scorched lamb heads to seal fins. In the absence of salt, the Icelanders used other methods of preserving food: lamb and whale meat were suspended in a chimney, allowing them to smoke on the smoke from manure (hangikjöt); shark meat (hákarl) was buried in the ground, allowing it to rot thoroughly (which partially removed ammonia from it); lamb eggs (hrutspungar), as well as blood sausage, were soaked in sour whey, and the fish was dried directly in the wind. Lamb's head was also used to make jellied meat for those who did not dare to look food in the eye. The decoration of the table is always a shark, aged in the ground for a long time, and possessing a unique smell and taste.

It should be said that some especially «aromatic» types of food are usually washed down with the strong alcoholic drink Brennivín, which, thanks to the state’s attempt to stop alcoholism by introducing a black label, received the «folk» name «Black Death».

Torrablout's celebrations are also accompanied by special rituals, including a rather funny custom: when meeting Torrey, the owner of the house jumped around the house on one leg barefoot, while he had to be in only one leg so that the other would hang out freely.

The best thing about the — holiday is that it does not occur on one day, but is celebrated by different areas of Iceland at different times over several weeks, which allows those who want to plunge into the tradition of Torrablout to organize an entire festive marathon, traveling from one locality to another...

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