30 Dec 2018If you're in Reykjavík on New Year's Eve, you won't miss the multitude of fireworks being lit on every street corner. Another Icelandic New Year's Eve tradition is to light bonfires where families gather to sing songs about the elves and the hidden folk who according to folklore are prominent at this time of year.
21 Jun 2017Jónsmessa, or Midsummer's Night is celebrated on June 24th and is shrouded in a mysterious veil of folklore. However, the real midsummer's night is actually today, on June 21st, the longest day of the year when the sun never sets in Iceland.
10 Dec 2016Once you’ve finished browsing Iceland Monitor’s wide selection of news, events and features, you might like to have a look at some other Iceland-related material from around the world that we shall be collecting for you weekly.
30 Aug 2016A rock in Siglufjörður, Iceland, reputed to be the home of elves, was covered in metres of soil last year by roadworkers. A series of mishaps later, allegedly caused by the elves, the rock has now been dug up and restored.
18 Jul 2016A group of disgruntled North Iceland elves have been appeased and previously blocked drilling work has finally been completed, it would appear.
11 Jul 2016Ground drilling work in North Iceland has been hit by one setback after another – and locals suggest that not securing the permission of the ‘hidden people’ is behind the trouble.
6 Jun 2016The municipality of Snæfellnes is collecting documentation and stories about places where elves are believed to reside because of a review of the Snæfellsbær municipal land-use plan. The locals hold a strong belief in the hidden people.
13 May 2016AFP have just run a story investigating the Icelandic belief in elves. Anthropologist Magnús Skarphéðinsson, who has spent decades collecting witness accounts is interviewed by AFP on the existance of elves in Iceland.
21 Jan 2016Eymundur Jóhannsson lives with his wife and daughter at Kambastígur, a small street in Sauðárkrókur, North Iceland, a place in most danger of avalanches for the town according to a new report by the Iceland Met Office. Despite the danger the family sleep soundly, under the protection of an elf woman.
6 Jan 2016The bonfires planned in Reykjavik and Reykjanesbær today on the occasion of the epiphany, January 6th, have been postponed until Saturday due to weather. The bonfires are traditionally associated with Icelandic folklore, the elves and the hidden people.
5 Jan 2016Tomorrow, 6 January, is traditionally the last day of the Christmas holidays in Iceland and locals mark the occasion with bonfires, dance and song.
31 Dec 2015If you're in Reykjavík on New Year's Eve, you won't miss the multitude of fireworks being lit on every street corner. Another Icelandic New Year's Eve tradition is to light bonfires where families gather to sing songs about the elves and the hidden folk who according to folklore are prominent at this time of year.
10 Dec 2015There's a brand new travel series in hipster style bible Dazed and Confused and guess what the first destination piece is? Yes, that's right, it's hipper than thou Iceland, home of Björk, elves, trolls and indie rock pixies. Or something on those lines.
6 Nov 2015"There's no elf power. Iceland is a real place, with real waterfalls and real nature," said writer and activist Andri Snær Magnússon at a press conference with Icelandic musician Björk Guðmundsdóttir today.
