Why did I decide to learn about Icelandic culture?
In this blog, I have chosen to
analyze and do a deep dive into Icelandic culture. I decided to look into and
discover this culture for a few different reasons. Firstly, and probably the
most important reason, is that it sounded genuinely interesting to go and learn
about what Iceland and the Icelandic culture has to offer. Iceland is a notable
country in the Nordic region of the earth, and as someone with notable ancestry
from this area (specifically Norway), I would love to hopefully learn more
about the history of Nordic countries. Secondly, I decided to choose looking
and learning about Iceland and their culture is because Iceland is a small
country, having a population of just under 370,000 people, according to a 2025
estimate.
I am curious to learn and see how such a small
population affects and shaped the culture of the Icelandic people. I hope that
learning about a country with such a limited population will allow me to effectively
understand how the people from Iceland were raised, but also become more
knowledgeable about those from Nordic countries and cultures. With this, I also
hope that learning about a culture with a small population will allow me to effectively
understand those who belong to other cultures that only have a handful of
people.
What are some features of Icelandic
culture?
In Iceland, the people have a strong
connection to the arts, specifically with literature!
Iceland
has had their history being continually recorded and documented since the
Vikings first settled in Iceland, beginning in 874. Iceland holds the titles
for the most writers per capita, most books published per capita, and more books
read per person than anywhere else in the world. They even celebrate what they
call Jólabókaflóðið, or the Christmas Book Flood, where the people of
Iceland purchase books for their loved ones to be opened on Christmas Eve,
where the rest of the night they will spend reading their newly gifted books.
Sourced from: Blue Green Atlas
If you haven’t already noticed,
Iceland is a beautiful island, which is tucked and held between two tectonic
plates, where their movement through time has helped shape their environment.
It has been nicknamed “The Land of Fire and Ice” because of the drastic
contrast between the volcanic activity and the glaciers that make up the
beautiful landscape. Due to the volcanic activity on the island, geothermal
energy is a prominent part of the culture of Iceland. Geothermal heat is used
to bake rye bread underground by locals. Geothermal pools have been used for
public bathing for centuries by Icelanders, dating back to the Viking
settlement. The nature of Iceland is beautiful in many different ways, from
glaciers to geysers to hot springs to volcanoes to clear views of the Aurora
Borealis at night.
There are many more aspects unique to the culture of Iceland, such as food, holidays, music, clothing, etc.
“In studying other cultures, we
do so very often from the perspective of our own culture.”
This
statement is highlighting the ideas of ethnocentrism, which is defined by the
Cambridge Dictionary as “the belief that the people, customs, and traditions of
your own race or country are better than those of other races or countries”.
This is a natural thing that occurs across the world, as our own upbringing
tends to shape how we view the world, which then tends to lead to
misunderstandings, where we may view practices from other cultures in bad taste
rather than realizing it is simply different.
In order
to overcome this implicit bias, I plan to gather information from a variety of
sources, such as articles from reliable news outlets, where we can see things
from the perspective of Iceland natives, but also those who are “outsiders”,
who have not been surrounded and raised by the culture of Icelanders. Using
sources such as the Icelandic Government page can help give insight to what
Iceland stands for, but I would also like to go and find other sources that
have more of an outside perspective. This allows for a more well-rounded approach
to the information that will be discussed in posts throughout this blog.
References and Sources
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iceland/#people-and-society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Christmas_book_flood
https://bookriot.com/icelandic-literary-culture/
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24399599
https://www.visiticeland.com/article/geothermal-pools
https://www.nathab.com/blog/50-fast-facts-about-iceland