Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1980, Page 46

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
SUMMARY
The Icelandic name for January 13, the Octave of Twelfth Night, is geisladagur, literally Beam
Day or Ray Day. The word geisli was sometimes also used for holy beings and saints. This name
of the day appears in all printed almanacs since 1576 onwards. It is frequent in the dating of docu-
ments from the 14th and 15th centuries, and also occurs in sagas, which were written in the 13th
and 14th century. However, it is not to be found in manuscripts older than the 14th century. And
there is no valid explanation of the name so far.
No similiar name of the day is to be found in closely related languages. ln the Catholic Church
the day is dedicated to St. Hilary of Poitiers (4th century). in Norway and Sweden it was often
called the ,,20th Day of Christmas,” and from the 17th century also „Day of St. Knut,” whose
day originally is January 7.
In the Eastern Church the memory of the Baptism of Christ at Epiphany, January 6, was some-
times called ,,Day of the Holy Lights,” in Greek hemera lon foton. In the competition against the
Eastern Church the Roman Church on the other hand tried to deprive January 6 of the distinction
of the Baptism and put instead the Adoration of the Magi, i.e. the Three Wise Men or Holy
Kings. Subsequently several divisions of the Roman Church in the Middle Ages transferred the
memory of Christ’s Baptism to the Octave of the Twelfth Night, January 13. This, however, did
not become a general rule until as late as 1955.
One is tempted to conclude that there must be a connection between the Greek and Icelandic
„Day of Holy Lights.” In that case we must assume that this designation of the Feast of Baptism
was brought early into the Icelandic language. We then also must assume that the Icelandic
Church was one of those, which moved that ceremony from the 6th to the 13th of January at
somc time in the Middle Ages.
As to the question, how this liturgical name may have been brought to Iceland, we once more
must consider the existence of the rather obscure so-called „Armenian and Greek” itinerant bi-
shops, who seem to liave been present in Iccland in the 1 lth century and are mentioned in a few
sagas and law books.