Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.12.2011, Page 53

Xmas | Spiritual!
5the reykjavík grapevine Xmas special spectacular 2011Issue 18
Celebrating December
by paul fontaine
photography Alísa kalyanova
photography by hvalreki
for those of you visiting reykjavík
over the holidays who want to at-
tend a Christmas mass, there are a
couple options available to you.
When thinking of witnessing a luther-
an Christmas mass in town, probably
the first place that springs to mind is
Hallgrímskirkja. They'll be holding two
masses on Christmas Eve, at 18:00
and then a midnight mass at 23:30. On
Christmas Day, there's a mass at 14:00.
Boxing Day features masses in Icelan-
dic and English, at 14:00 and 16:00 re-
spectively. If you're still in town, you can
also attend mass on New Year's Eve at
18:00 and on New Year's Day at 14:00.
For a national church setting that’s
a little more cosy, you can also attend
Christmas services at the Dómskirkjan
cathedral, located right next to parlia-
ment, and they have foreigners in mind
for some of these times. On December
18, they'll be holding Christmas masses
in Danish at 11:00, in German at 13:30,
and in Icelandic at 20:00. You can catch
Danish mass again on December 24 at
18:00, with a midnight mass in Icelandic
starting at 23:30. On Christmas Day and
Boxing Day, Icelandic masses are both
at 11:00. If you're still in town after the
New Year, the bishop leads a mass on
January 1 at 11:00. As this will be his
last New Year's Day mass, it might be
worth checking out.
Not all Lutheran churches in Iceland
belong to the national church—Fríkirk-
jan (located Fríkirkjuvegur 5, right
across the street from the Tjörnin pond)
is an independent Lutheran church,
and they'll be having Christmas masses
of their own. On Christmas Eve, there's
a mass at 18:00, but at 23:30 they'll be
holding a midnight mass, where Páll
Óskar will perform. Their Christmas Day
mass is held at 14:00, and they'll also be
having a New Year's Eve mass at 18:00.
The Catholics are also approach-
ing the holidays multiculturally. On St.
Þorlákur’s Day—December 23—they
have masses at 8:00 and 16:00. They'll
also be having their midnight mass, at
midnight on Christmas Eve, with a chil-
dren's version at 16:30. On Christmas
Day, they will hold Christmas mass in
English at 10:30, with Icelandic mass at
18:00. Boxing Day mass will be held at
10:30. The Catholic church is located at
Landakot, at the corner of Túngata and
Ægisgata.
Did you know the English word
“yule” stems from a celebration that
predates the arrival of Christianity to
northern Europe? It's also where the
Icelandic word for Christmas, jól,
comes from. There are people who still
celebrate this old faith, the Ásatrú, and
their Yuletide celebration—the jólablót—
is open to the general public. You can
witness this old and frankly moving
ceremony at Öskjuhlíð on December
22 at 18:00. At 19:00, they move the
celebrations over to Mörkin 6, for food,
drinks and music. The general public is
also welcome to attend this dinner, but
you need to book in advance. This can
be done through their website, www.
asatru.is.
While the baha'i in Iceland do not
celebrate Christmas (except with family
members), they do have a comparable
holiday called the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh,
which is held on November 12. This
festival celebrates the founder of the
Baha'i faith. This is a day for communi-
ties and families to come together, and
gift giving is involved.
Although there are no synagogues
in Iceland and judaism is not one of
the State-recognized religions, Rabbi
Berel Pewzner told Vísir that he has a
list of more than ninety Jewish people
living in Iceland.
However, Sigal Harmeshi says the
Jewish community in Iceland is very
small and there is nothing organized for
Hanukkah, but they will likely be have
a celebration one of the nights. Jew-
ish visitors to Reykjavík can contact:
sigal@simnet.is.
muslims have a holiday later in the
year, too, called Ashura. Again, not re-
lated to Christmas or Yule, this is a day
of fasting of special importance to Shia
Muslims as the peak day of the Remem-
brance of Muharram. However, Sunnis
also celebrate this holiday through fast-
ing, only they do so in remembrance of
the day Moses fasted to give thanks
to God for freeing the Israelites from
Egypt. While its date changes every
year, it is held this year on December 5.
All around, the winter holidays can be
rung in a number of ways in Iceland,
catering to many faiths and languages.
The Iceland Phallological Museum
opens in Reykjavík

The Johnsons just moved to town!
One thousand ISK and a sense of hu-
mour grants you entrance to the Ice-
landic Phallological Museum, which
relocated from the north of Iceland
to Reykjavík this winter. A visit to the
penis museum is of course an ideal
holiday activity for the whole family!
Large, itty-bitty, and just plain
MASSIVE phallic curio from 92 differ-
ent species of mammals cover every
surface of the museum. Some larger
specimens are mounted like big game
trophies, but most are preserved in
jars.
The museum has a collection of
272 specimens...including human.
The human penis was donated to the
museum just this year, and more are
on the way. Certified letters of intent
from future human donors are framed
and hanging on the walls for visitors
to read.
Do not miss: phallograms, and penis-
es of Sea Monster and Hidden Man.
From stained glass wall hangings, to
household items and bronze casts,
Johnsons are everywhere…and now
they are in Reykjavík! Go introduce
yourself to your new neighbours, why
don’t you?
Visit www.phallus.is for more infor-
mation.

Where: Laugavegur 116
When: Open, 11:00 to 18:00, daily
how much: 1000 ISK, free for kids
under 12
our new neighbours,
the johnsons
by jesse Ziebart