A confession of ignorance: I’m just catching up with Jólabókaflóð, the Christmas book flood in Iceland.
Smithsonian magazine had an explanation of it. The short version: During World War II, when everything was rationed, paper was relatively plentiful, creating possibilities in the publishing business. Books were available as Christmas presents at a time when other things weren’t.
I kept reading because I’m interested in why this tradition of buying, giving and reading books in midwinter fit so well into Icelandic culture. What would have been a marketing stunt in the United States become something else in Iceland.
I’m still thinking about a comment from a Baldur Bjarnason, a writer who has studied the matter:
We are a culture that’s obsessed with storytelling. It’s a national pastime. Meetings in Iceland tend to go over because everybody starts to tell a story or an anecdote at the drop of a hat. When an Icelandic parent asks their kid what happened at school today, they’re going to get a story with a beginning, middle and an end, probably with a climax and a turning point somewhere. Storytelling is how we process life.
I’m wondering whether we in the United States could say the same thing, with the same confidence.
• Source: Lauren Oster, “Iceland’s Christmas Book Flood is a Force of Nature”; Smithsonian, Dec. 15, 2022.
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