Happy Konudagur!

Konudagur, or Wive’s Day, marks the beginning of the old Icelandic holiday of Góa, the fifth month of winter. For poets in a nation filled with poets, Góa is the personification of winter and the wife of King Þorri (for which the preceding month is possibly named, also a harsh and powerful personification of winter).

Traditionally on this day, the man of the farm would step into the snow, lightly-dressed, to welcome Góa into the barn, hoping she will be generous and the winter weather relent. When men started to travel away from home for work-related reasons, the women of the house took on this responsibility, welcoming Góa with this poem:


“Velkomin sértu, góa mín,
og gakktu í bæinn;
vertu ekki úti í vindinum
vorlangan daginn.”

(“Welcome, my dear Góa,
and come inside;
don’t stay out in the wind,
oh summer day.”) 


In its modern iteration, husbands present their spouses with presents or flowers and arrange for delicious cakes (if he himself is all thumbs in the kitchen) on konudagur.