Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.02.1995, Blaðsíða 8

8 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur T7' febrúar 1995
Aö
Þreyja
Þorrann
\
According to the old
Icelandic calendar
Þorri was the
fourth winter month, begin-
ning on a Friday in the 13th
week of winter and lasting
thirty days. During the Middle
Ages Þorri became personified
as a supernatural being and
referred to as “Þorrinn”. The
name comes from “Þverra -
Þorrinn”, which means ebbing
or waning and “blót” meaning,
sacrifíce, or the sacrificial cere-
mony (feast) offered during the
month of Þorri.
According to my sources,
three such feasts were held
annually; when winter set in
(Oct.), at Yule tide (Dec. or
Jan.), and when the summer
began (April). The midwinter
sacrifícial feast was most likley
held to celebrate the rising
sun, longer and warmer days
ahead. With the adoption of
Christianity, such sacrificial
feasts were only allowed in
secrecy and the word “blót”
came to mean curse. A rem-
nant of this celebration
remained as feasting in homes
on the first day of Þorri,
Midwinter Day or Farmers’
Day, “bóndadagur”.
On that day it was the duty
of the farmer to welcome Þorri
with proper respect by rising
early in the moming. He was
to get up in a hurry and go
outside, clad only in a shirt,
barefoot and partly barelegged
for he was to wear only one
leg of his pants. Thus attired
he was to hop all around the
house on one foot dragging his
pants and bidding Þorri wel-
come to his home by reciting a
prescribed verse, which now is
lost. Then he was to hold a
banquet for his neighbours.
The verse women used to wel-
come Góa was something like
this:
Welcome, dear Góa,
and pleasé enter in,
do not remain outside in the .
wind,
throughout the spríng day.
There is not complete
agreement on which one
of the married couple was
supposed to greet Þorri. In the
Westem Fjords the opinion is
that the wife should greet
Þorri. While growing up in the
Western Fjords myself I have
no recollection of Þorri or
Góa being welcomed, but my
grandmother taught me a
verse with which to welcome
Harpa on the first day of that
month, which was the young
maiden’s day. I was to go out
wearing a spring dress and
run three circles around the
house in one direction and
then three circles the other
direction and welcome Harpa
with a verse.
The Þorrablót was cele-
brated only intermittently
until the 20th century when it
became popular again as a
midwinter festival. Traditional
foods and delicacies, which
had become scarce in towns
and the city of Reykjavík,
were now in stores and
restaurants.
Beginning in 1959 a popu-
lar restaurant in Reykjavík
“Naustið" -offered “Þorri-
foods” in wooden troughs for
groups. The troughs were
replicas of those found at the
National Museum and in
them were to be found:
Súrsuð svið (pickled singed
sheep heads), hangikjöt
(smoked lamb), lundabaggar,
súrsaðir hrútspungar (pickled
rams’ testicles), hákarl (shark
specially prepared and fer-
mented), bringukollar, (pick-
led front parts of lamb),
glóðarbakaðar flatkökur (flat-
bread baked on open fire),
rúgbrauð með smjöri (rye-
bread with butter) as much as
anyone could inhale!
Other foods popular at
Þorrablót were pickled liver
and blood sausages, whale
meat, seal meat and hard físh.
It has become easier nowa-
days to endure the long cold
winter months in Iceland, It is
the custom now that women
give their husbands flowers on
“Bóndadagur” and the hus-
bands bring their wives flowers
on “Góu-dagur”. For the chil-
dren there is skiing right on
the doorsteps of Reykjavík at
the Ártúnsbrekka and the
many restaurants and clubs
offer feasts of all ldnds.
Þorrinn var fjórði
vetrarmánuðurinn
samkvæmt gamla
dagatalinu. Hann hefst fös-
tudag í 13. viku vetrar og
endist í 30 daga. í Sögu
Daganna er m.a. sagt að Þorri
sé persónugerður sem
vetrarvættur í sögnum frá
miðöldum. Fyrsti dagur Þorra,
miðsvetrardagur, bóndadagur,
var tileinkaður húsbóndanum.
Eftir fornum munnmælum átti
bóndinn á hverjum bæ að fara
snemma á fætur þennan dag
og “fagna Þorra”. Hann átti þá
að fara út á eintómri skyrtun-
ni og í annari brókarskálmin-
ni, en draga hina á eftir sér, en
vera allsber að öðru. Svo átti
hann að hoppa á öðrum fæti
þrjá hringa í kringum bæinn
og viðhafa einhvern formála,
sem nú er líklega týndur og
bjóða Þorra í garð. Síðan átti
bóndi að bjóða nágrann-
abændum til sín til veizlu.
Formálinn sem húsfreyjan fór
með er hún bauð góu velkom-
na er á þessa leið:
Veikomin sértu, góa mín
og gakktu inn í bæinn,
vertu ekki úti í vindinum,
vorlangan daginn.
Asíðari hluta 19. aldar fóru
embættismenn að tíðka
samkomur sem þeir kölluðu
“Þorrablót” að fornum hætti,
MORGUNBLADID
Fjöldi barna skemmti sér á skíöum í sólinni í Ártúnsbrekku. Þau koma
alls staöar aö úr borginni; úr Vesturbænum, Vogunum eöa nærliggjandi
húsum. Sumir voru iönir viö skíöastökkiö, meöan aörir renndu sér svig,
á sleöum eöa fengu sér bita.
matar- og drykkjuveislur þar
sem sungin voru kvæi og
drukkin minni Þorra og
heiðinna goða en lagðist
síðan af. Um miðja 20. öld
hófu átthagasamtök á höfuð-
borgarsvæðinu síðan Þorra-
blótin aftur til vegs og
virðingar í þéttbylinu og
buðu Þorramatinn sem var
orðinn sjaldhafður í
kauðstöðum. Árið 1958 hóf
veitingahúsið Naustið að
bjóða gestum, þó ekki færri
en þrem saman, “Þorramat” í
trogum. Trogin voru smíðuð
eftir fyrirmynd úr þjóðmin-
jasafninu og í þeim voru
meðal annars: súr svið, lund-
abaggar, hangikjöt, súrsaðir
hrútspungar, hákarl, bring-
ukollar, glóðarbakaðar flat-
kökur, rúgbrauð með smjöri,
allt óskammtað, segir í Sögu
daganna.
Gunnur Isfeld