Why Icelanders Give Stories for Christmas?
If you spend December in Iceland, you might notice something unusual in every home: towering stacks of new books. Not toys. Not gadgets. Books.
Welcome to Jólabókaflóðið – the Christmas Book Flood – one of Iceland’s coziest and most beloved holiday traditions.
What is the Icelandic Christmas Book Flood?
Jólabókaflóð (pronounced roughly “yo-la-boke-a-flowth”) is the name Icelanders give to the yearly wave of new books released in the months before Christmas. These books are then bought as presents and exchanged on Christmas Eve – making books the classic Christmas gift in Iceland.
The “flood” doesn’t stop at the bookshop. After gifts are opened on the evening of December 24, many families simply… go quiet. People curl up on sofas, in favorite chairs, or under new blankets, crack open their fresh books, and read late into the night – often with hot chocolate, jólabland, or Christmas beer within reach.
It’s Christmas as introverts secretly dream it: warm lights, thick socks, snow outside, and the whole country reading at once.
