It's Bolludagur!!!
Monday reading #30
Monday Reading is my weekly recommendation of something I’ve found thought-provoking or fascinating. Sometimes it is about something I have read. Sometimes it is about television or food or music or projects I care about supporting. Sometimes I do not send it on Monday. Please share with anyone who might like the vibes!
One more story from Iceland:
It’s Bolludagur! It’s Bolludagur! Grab your Bolludagsvöndur and beat your parents until they give you cream buns!
Yes, Icelanders, even after tossing so many of the other colonial trappings of Danish rule, embrace some Fastelavn traditions, with their own weird custom attached.
On Shrove Monday, Icelanders treat themselves to bolla, a bready pastry filled with jam and whipped cream. And … parents are awakened by their children chanting “bolla bolla bolla!” and assaulting them with Bolludagsvöndur, festive wooden sticks with paper decorations attached. They are entitled to a number of cream buns equivalent to the number of whacks they get in with their sticks before their parents are fully roused. Sometimes they make the sticks in school, but you can also buy them at the grocery store. (I bought two. That is also the number of bollur I consumed.)
This year I had a Swedish semla, which features marzipan and cardamom. I am loyal to the buns of the Nordic nations and their former colonial brethren. You may have you paczki, your fastnacht, your king cake, your pancakes. I shall feast on bollur. (Okay, fine, I also had paczki yesterday.)
Go forth and eat pre-Lenten treat(s)!
See you soon!
Bolla! Bolla! Bolla! Love your essays on Iceland.