Iceland review - 2012, Page 74

72 ICELAND REVIEW
enter winter

After a glorious summer with warm days
and bright nights, the cold and dark sea-
son is upon us. This year, the autumnal
equinox—when the day and night are of
equal length—occurred on September
22 and the First Day of Winter falls on
October 27. As of November 1, driv-
ers are permitted to equip their cars
with studded tires for winter traction
and leave them on until April 15. The
first Sunday in Advent this year is on
December 2, which in many homes
marks the beginning of cookie baking,
laufabrauð (‘leafbread’) making, clean-
ing and decorating for Christmas. The
winter solstice—the darkest day of the
year—arrives on December 21, at which
point Reykjavík sees less than four hours
of daylight and grímsey, Iceland’s north-
ernmost inhabited island, which lies on
the Arctic Circle, two hours and 15 min-
utes. In the narrow fjords of the North,
West and East, the mountains block out
the sun completely for more than two
months during the darkest period of
winter. Its reappearance at the end of
January is celebrated with sólarkaffi (‘sun-
shine coffee’) and pancakes. In Ísafjörður
in the West Fjords, sólarkaffi is always on
January 25 at the first glimpse of sun
since November 16; that’s 70 days of
darkness. ESA
the kids are all right

The ‘youth 2012’ survey on the circum-
stances of eighth, ninth and tenth grad-
ers (13- to 15-year-olds), published by
the Icelandic Ministry of Education in
September, contradicts the popular belief
that the youth of today is less civilized than
in previous generations.
The ratio of tenth graders who consume
alcohol has dropped from 42 percent in
1998 to 7 percent in 2012 and the number
of smokers in that age group is down from
23 to 3 percent in the same period.
In 2000, 12 percent of ninth and tenth
graders read books other than school
books for four hours or more each week.
That ratio is now up to 16 percent. At the
same time, the number of those who never
read for leisure decreased from 37 to 27
percent.
The ratio of ninth and tenth graders who
spend time with their parents after school
on weekdays has risen from 25 percent in
1997 to 49 percent among girls and 44
percent among boys in 2012. Teens also
spend less time outside after 10 pm, 50 vs.
25 percent, and party less; 2 percent attend
parties on a weekly basis, down from 11
percent in 1997. ESA
Photos By Páll StEfánSSon
F a c t s &
F i g u r e s
f&f Here are a few facts you might not
know about the Republic of Iceland
and the island rock on which it stands.
the 63 lawmakers

At Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament,
63 parliamentarians sit, making law and
order in the Republic. Nine of them are
lawyers by education, seven teachers, six
economists; five have a degree in political
science, five in philosophy and five only a
high school diploma. Four parliamentar-
ians have studied literature and three have
no formal education, one of whom is a
poet, another worked as an flight atten-
dant (PM Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir) and
the third in fish processing. In parliament
there are two farmers, two fish captains,
two linguists and two biologists. There
is only one art historian in Alþingi, one
historian, one business administrator, one
veterinarian, one film director, one nurse,
one practical nurse, one metal industry
worker and the other government leader,
Minister of Industries and Innovation
Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, is a geologist. PS