Why are all these children wearing fancy dress today?
Children asking for sweets in the Kringlan Shopping Mall. Today is Öskudagur, or Ash Wednesday, a day off school for Icelandic pupils.
Today is Ash Wednesday, or Öskudagur in Icelandic. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in the western Christian tradition and in Iceland it's almost a version of Halloween. Children wear fancy dress and ask for sweets at their local shops. Ash Wednesday follows Bolludagur or "cream bun" day which took place on Monday, and Sprengidagur (Shrove Tuesday) when Icelanders feast on salted meat and pea soup.
Ash Wednesday derives its names from the practice of blessing ashes made from palm branches and placing them on the heads of participants. In older times in Iceland, young women would place ashes from the stove in small fabric bags which they made. They would then hang these little bags on the clothes of any unwitting boy that they fancied.
Today you'll therefore see children dressed in costumes all over town or see them participate in activities called "Beating the cat out of the barrel," a strange tradition in which children take turns in beating a barrel with a stick until it breaks, revealing lots of sweets.
