Jólabókaflóð Tradition

When I was in college, my friend Keirsten and I would always talk about books. We were busy theatre majors and never had time to read during the semester, but come winter break, we devoured stories. We’d come back to school in January ready to discuss and then look forward to all the books we could read over Spring Break.

When we left school, we stayed in touch through texting and social media, as most of do. One day on Facebook, she tagged me in a post about a Christmas Eve tradition in Iceland, where families gifted each member a book and they all read quietly with a warm beverage until the early hours of Christmas Day.

Sounds just like a hug, right? Come to find out, it’s even more magical than I imagined.

The tradition is called Jólabókaflóð (sounds like “yo la bok a flod” for those of us who need it spelled phonetically). It means Yule Book Flood and it began during World War II. It began because so many things were rationed and limited during the war, but paper was inexpensive. Books were easily printed and shared.

Thus, books became a special and cost friendly gift in the country and it remains today!

I’m still not sure what the holidays are going to look like this year. We didn’t travel for Thanksgiving and we’re trying to make the best and safest choices for our families as Christmas approaches.

I was inspired by this article and I hope we can share this new tradition together in person this year, a twist on White Elephant, Blind Date with a Book, and Jólabókaflóð. If we can’t share it together in person, I think it will be a really great way to make it special if we’re far apart.

I would love to know your favorite family traditions or traditions from other countries and cultures that you have adopted, like Jólabókaflóð!