Culture and Living
| Iceland Monitor
| Sat 7 Jan 2017
| 14.46 GMT
| Modified
at
20.18
Icelanders celebrate end of Christmas with Elf bonfires
Yesterday marked the epiphany, Twelfth Night, the end of Christmas which in Iceland is celebrated in a somewhat pagan fashion.
The date is called Þrettándinn (The Thirteenth) in Icelandic and folklore tells of strange things happening on that night such as speaking cows, elf celebrations and the appearance of trolls.
It is also the night that the last of the Yule lads, Kertasníkir, leaves for the mountains, reappearing only for next Christmas.
The photographers of our sister publication mbl.is took the accompanying photographs from around Iceland.