Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2019, Qupperneq 8

It’s long been established that if there’s
one sure-fire way to start a conversa-
tion in Iceland, all you need do is say
“how about this weather?” The weather
is seriously important in this country,
deeply embedded in a culture depend-
ent on fishing and agriculture for most
of its history, so its unsurprising that
there are so many superstitions about
it. Some are of foreign origin, some
are homegrown, but they are all very
much a part of the Icelandic pantheon
of superstitions.
What dreams may come
The main concern of almost all of
these superstitions is foul weather,
both how to predict it and how to
avoid it. As on so many other occa-
sions, dreams are used in this case for
divination.
For example, if you dream of white
sheep, snow can be expected to come
soon. In another superstition, most
common amongst fishermen, there
is the occasion of being visited by the
dead in one’s dream. A passed-on rela-
tive might warn you of an upcoming
storm or, less precisely, if the departed
is angry or otherwise agitated, stormy
weather is then definitely on the way
and it would be a bad idea to go to sea.
Mind your rake
While science has yet to devise a way to
dependably and accurately control the
weather (unless you count cloud seed-
ing, which really just hastens the inevi-
table), superstitions have long imbued
people with the power to drastically
alter the weather in the most innocu-
ous ways.
One of the most common and persis-
tent weather superstitions of this
nature involves the common rake. It is
inadvisable to leave a rake in the yard
with the prongs pointed skywards, and
not just because you could induce some
Sideshow Bob hilarity—you could also
literally make it rain. Which is pretty
rude in a country that already gets its
fair share.
Upside-Down Rakes
And White Sheep
A sampling of Icelandic weather superstitions
8 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11— 2019
LÓABORATORIUM
Listen, watch & hear
more tracks:
gpv.is/play
Singapore Sling -
Suicide Twist
Take some classic
80s goth vocals, add
a drum machine and
some grunge guitars
and wham, bam, a
wild Singapore Sling
appears. ‘Suicide
Twist,’ the first single
from their upcoming
album ‘Killer
Classics,’ is a solid
effort for fans of the
cult group. The video
though, complete
with throat slitting
and more, is
disturbing. Help. HJC
Sturla Atlas & Auður -
Just A While
Hip-hop crooner
Sturla Atlas has been
relatively quiet for
the past two years,
but he’s back with a
groovy, retro dance
number that’ll be
sure to make every
teenager’s summer
driving playlist.
Featuring pop heart-
throb Auður, it’s not
Sturla Atlas’s best
work, but it definitely
has whet our
palettes for more.
New album soon?
Please? HJC
Auður -
Enginn eins og þú
While the Icelandic
summer might be
a bit too chilly for
this funky beach hit,
Auður’s ‘Enginn eins
og þú’ (‘No one like
you’) might just grab
that coveted spot
as the song of the
season. Snatch up a
ticket to Tenerife, don
your bikini, and drink
a Peroni for maximum
effect. HJC
GÓSS - Góssentíð
A thoroughly chilled
album, these songs
are pretty simple,
musically—you can
generally predict
where they’ll go
next—but it’s well
mixed and Góss
bring a lovely vocal
tone. Perhaps the
listener’s experience
might be better if
you understand
Icelandic, but their
one English cover
of Leonard Cohen’s
‘True Love Leaves No
Traces,’ is definitely
worth a listen. FR

Birgir - For Our Love
A new single by
Birgir which could
have been written
by a computer in
New Jersey. There’s
nothing unpleasant
about it, but the
lyrics are vapid,
the message banal
and the tune pretty
much instantly
forgettable. No
need to look it up if
you actually want
to hear it, however,
because you can
expect to hear it
in every Bónus on
repeat for the next
three months. FR
Skaði Manifesto
Pentagrams, lingerie,
and confetti merge
in Skaði’s new
music video for her
mantra, the ‘Skaði
Manifesto.’ In it,
the Eurovision dark
horse makes sure
you know who she is
(it’s “motherfucking
Skaði!”) over a
bumping melodic
goth beat. HJC
THE
GRAPEVINE
PLAYLIST
The must-hear music of the issue
„Þ
að
e
r u
pp
i á

ho
nu
m
ty
pp
ið
“
JUST SAYINGS
If you like sayings
that sound sexual,
but aren’t really,
then the phrase
“Það er uppi á
honum typpið” is
definitely for you.
It literally trans-
lates to “It is up
on his rod”—rod
being a possible
innuendo, if you
catch my drift. My
editor won’t allow
other synonyms to
be printed. The actual meaning of this
saying is, “someone’s excited,” and it
doesn’t exclude other genders even
though the male pronoun ‘honum’ is
more commonly used. People are still
unsure why “typpið”—an innuendo—
is used, though a Icelandic professor
suggests it could be referencing when
an animal or a bird raises their tail in
excitement. We decline to comment,
though we are up on our rod for the
answer. KH
ICELANDIC
SUPERSTITIONS
Words:
Andie Fontaine

Photo:
Art Bicnick
First
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If this were a dream, it would snow tomorrow