Winter holidaymakers are making their way to Iceland where residents will soon be celebrating the ancient Viking mid-winter feast known as Thorrablot.
The feast is part of the ancient Norse month of Thorri, which starts this year on 25th January with Bóndadagur (Husband Day).
The food served at a Thorrablot event is often a new experience for many visitors to the Nordic country. The feast generally features sheeps’ heads (including the eyes), pickled rams’ testicles, dried fish, soured whale blubber, rotten shark and various types of sheep offal.
Another common dish served is ‘blodmör’, a kind of Icelandic haggis. To make blodmör, the congealed blood of a sheep is mixed with lard and wrapped up in a ram’s stomach before being boiled. ‘Selshreifar’ also sometimes find their way to Thorrablot tables, giving travelers the chance of a lifetime to swallow down seal flippers.
The feast would not be complete without at least a few mouthfuls of ‘brennivin’, the national drink of Iceland. Also known as ‘burning wine’ or ‘black death’, the schnapps is made from caraway seeks and potato and is traditionally drunk with the strong food served during the month of Thorri.
[…] Icelandic mid-winter feast preparations underway […]