About Next Week

The kids obviously will not have much of studying during next week. Below is a letter that we received from school with my notes in Italic.

4th of February, Monday: Bun Day (Bolludagur) Cream Puff Day

Bun Day is a custom that came to Iceland from Norway and Denmark in the late 19th century. The custom in Iceland consists of the children attempting to ´spank´ their parents in the morning and say ´bolla, bolla´. If they accomplish this task, the parents will have to give them a bolla/bollur, a cream bun that you can find in all local bakeries. The kids suppose to sneak in our bedroom and spank us before we get out of bed with special wands designed for this purpose. A number of cream buns recieved by a child is directly connected with a number of whips he/she manages to give to his parents. The adults cannot join the fun and spank anybody in return.

February 5th, Tuesday: Blow up day (Sprengidagur) or Fat Tuesday (American)
The roots of this custom can be related to eating meat on this day before the 6 weeks of fasting before Easter. In Iceland this custom has no other meaning than eating an old traditional dish called "saltkjöt og baunir" (salted lamb and split-pea soup) until you burst! The hot lunch served on this day will be "saltkjöt og baunir".

February 6th, Wednesday: Öskudagur (Ash Wednesday) NEED CANDY!!!!!

We will have early release at 12:30 p.m. on this day and the children can come to school in costume. At 10:15 a.m., we will begin our "Öskudagsskemmtun". We will have dancing, limbo, a jumping castle, and other fun activities. The kids will also be able to visit ´stores´ in the school and sing for the storekeeper who will treat the singers to a piece of candy. Last year, this day was a great success in the school and the kids really enjoyed it. We would like to ask all parents to send in a bag of candy to be used in the stores. For set-up purposes, we need to receive the candy no later than Tuesday.

Apparently our kids will have two Halloweens in Iceland.