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Long Night of Dreams: Midwinter Celebrations in Iceland |
| Section: CULTURE / PEOPLES |
| Author: Stephen Osmond |
| Publication: The world & I online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/1996 |
| Size: 3,353 Words, 21,495 Characters |
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The fireworks and the buffoonish antics of the Lads are amusing connections to Iceland's past. They embody the merging of Christian practice and folk imagery in the Icelandic sense of history. The fireworks can be traced to pre-Christian bonfire festivities held to honor the winter solstice, while the Yuletide Lads, despite some similarities in appearance to the international Santa Claus, originate from the darkest folklore traditions.
In the twentieth century, Iceland has undergone a giddying social transformation. The nation has developed from its dependence on a subsistence rural economy to a sophisticated urban society. For all that old beliefs and practices have fallen into decline, Icelanders have retained a profound sense of cultural continuity and the importance of folklore in t...
. . .
... the fact that these oafish trolls have not been replaced by the commercial and folkloric descendant of Saint Nicholas of Smyrna. Nicholas was certainly popular in Iceland (where more than forty churches or chapels are dedicated to him), but no Icelandic tradition of Santa Claus has developed. Icelanders prefer instead to claim the disreputable echo of their pagan heritage, the Yuletide Lads.
(806 of 21,495 characters)
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