Pronunciation: yo-la-bok-a-flot

The Yule Book Flood or Christmas Book Flood

A fun holiday tradition that Iceland has, is the gifting of books for Christmas.

Starting after WWII in 1944 comes the Icelandic tradition of buying books and then exchanging them on Christmas Eve. Where many European countries were closing themselves off in order to rebuild their economies, it meant that not as many exports were happening.

For Iceland, paper was a lot easier to get imported, leading to books being the most common item that people could gift. It further helps that Iceland has strong literary roots solidly dating back to the 10^th century and possibly the 800’s when the first Nordic peoples settled the land, bringing with them the Runes that they believed to come from the Gods. Add to it the Icelandic Sagas beginning first as an oral tradition before getting written down appearing between the 12^th and 15^th centuries, makes for a very strong literary heritage.

The Journal of Books is distributed to households in Iceland for free and marks the kickoff of the Christmas season. This annual release of new books in the months before December is when Icelanders will buy books and then gift them on Christmas Eve when people will cozy up inside with hot chocolate.

Can’t argue with that tradition, especially if you’re a book lover!