It all started in World War II. During these difficult times, rationing occurred in Iceland and restrictions prevented many products from being imported into the island. One of the goods that was spared from this restriction was paper.
As they say, virtue can arise from necessity or scarcity. Books became the ultimate Christmas gift. But the custom did not end with the end of the war: it became so established that it continues to this day. Jólabókaflód is the word for tradition, which literally means the flood of books at Christmas.
The ritual begins in November, when the Icelandic Publishers Association sends the Bókatíoindi, a catalog of new publications, free of charge to every home in the country, so that between midnight everyone can choose and enjoy the publication they want to give as a gift or ask for a gift to read by the fire, accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate or a Jólabland, the popular sweet Christmas drink, a mixture of malt and orange soda. 24th and Christmas Day.
A land of glaciers, volcanoes, geysers, waterfalls and the most incredible skies, Iceland is also the territory of passionate readers. Some claim that it is the country in the world that prints the most books per capita, that half of the population reads more than eight copies a year and that one in ten Icelanders publishes a book.
The only Icelandic Nobel Prize winner is the poet and writer Halldór Laxness and the capital Reykjavik was declared a City of Literature by UNESCO. Is it any wonder that Icelanders spend Christmas Eve reading?
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