The first day of summer ( ) is an annual
public holiday
A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year.
Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history, ...
in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
that is celebrated on the first Thursday after 18 April (some time between 19-25 April).
It is a celebration of the start of the first summer month () of the old
Icelandic calendar
The early Germanic calendars were the regional calendars used among the early Germanic peoples before they adopted the Julian calendar in the Early Middle Ages. The calendars were an element of early Germanic culture.
The Germanic peoples had nam ...
. The old calendar had six months of
short days (winter) and six months of
nightless days (summer), so even though the climate of late April in Iceland is not very summer-like (on fourteen occasions between 1949 and 2015 the average temperature in the capital, Reykjavík, has been below freezing), the day marks the lengthening of the days
and the harsh winter being over.
Parades and organized entertainment are held in various places around Iceland on the first day of summer.
According to
folk belief
In folkloristics, folk belief or folk-belief is a broad genre of folklore that is often expressed in narratives, customs, rituals, foodways, proverbs, and rhymes. It also includes a wide variety of behaviors, expressions, and beliefs. Examples of c ...
, a good summer would be sure to ensue if the temperature dropped below freezing right before the first day of summer. People would place a bowl of water outside for the night and hope that it would freeze.
See also
*
Summer solstice
The summer solstice, also called the estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer ...
*
Spring equinox
References
Icelandic culture
Public holidays in Iceland
April observances
Thursday
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