Glen Allen to embrace Nordic spirit
Jolabokaflod is a tradition from Iceland that involves sharing chocolates and books. The Intermission Beer Company will be hosting a version of this stateside.
Iceland is known as one of the book-reading capitals of the world. A huge 93% of Icelanders read one book per year, while only 73% of Americans do the same. Americans tend to start the holiday season with Halloween and Thanksgiving, but the Icelanders begin it with the publication of the Bokatidindi, which is a catalog that lists every book published in Iceland that year. This publication is sent to every house free of charge. Print shops are usually used to produce such publications.
This publication is the warm-up for Jolabokaflod on Christmas Eve. Jolabokaflod, sometimes known as the ‘Yule Book Flood,’ started during World War II in a time when foreign imports were difficult to get, but paper was readily available. The local population could not sustain publishing books all through the year, so most publishers aimed to release their new books at the end of the year.
Exchanging books is nothing new to Icelanders, but the tradition of doing it on Christmas Eve is a fairly recent one. Families spend the evening reading the books that they’d been given. The idea has gained plenty of attention on social media and people from all over the world are now taking part.
Anyone located in Glen Allen who would like to experience Jolabokaflod should pass by the Intermission Beer Company at 10089 Brook Road on December 22 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
Iceland is known as one of the book-reading capitals of the world. A huge 93% of Icelanders read one book per year, while only 73% of Americans do the same. Americans tend to start the holiday season with Halloween and Thanksgiving, but the Icelanders begin it with the publication of the Bokatidindi, which is a catalog that lists every book published in Iceland that year. This publication is sent to every house free of charge. Print shops are usually used to produce such publications.
This publication is the warm-up for Jolabokaflod on Christmas Eve. Jolabokaflod, sometimes known as the ‘Yule Book Flood,’ started during World War II in a time when foreign imports were difficult to get, but paper was readily available. The local population could not sustain publishing books all through the year, so most publishers aimed to release their new books at the end of the year.
Exchanging books is nothing new to Icelanders, but the tradition of doing it on Christmas Eve is a fairly recent one. Families spend the evening reading the books that they’d been given. The idea has gained plenty of attention on social media and people from all over the world are now taking part.
Anyone located in Glen Allen who would like to experience Jolabokaflod should pass by the Intermission Beer Company at 10089 Brook Road on December 22 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.