Atlas Iceland Festival and calendar, 1800 to 1990

Iceland let its first national day go. Shop clerks, islanders and emigrants kept it.

On 2 August 1874 Iceland heard its national anthem for the first time and received its first constitution. After 1918 the date lost its place as the national day. It survives in the timing of an August festival weekend at home and in a festival in Manitoba held every year since 1890.

vizmaya desk 6 October 2026

FactThe first national festival in Iceland was held in 1874. Its main day was 2 August in Reykjavík, when the anthem was first performed in the cathedral with Christian IX of Denmark present, the first reigning monarch to visit. [C12, C13] Reykjavík kept marking the date most years until 1909, and after 1918 Sovereignty Day replaced it as the main national commemoration. [C14, C15] The date did not disappear. This story follows it, and the rest of the old calendar, from an ash-buried highland farm to the places where what was lost was remade.

The route, in story order

Eight places, from the ash-buried heath to the places that remade what was lost

Story order, not strict chronology. The origin is the highland farm, where the old calendar was lived. The destinations are the places where its festivals were rebuilt or kept.

OrderPlaceModern countryLat, LonEraWhat happened or what is thereSourceStatus
1 Askja calderaDyngjufjöll Iceland 65.03, −16.75 1875 The explosive eruption of 28 to 29 March 1875 left ash more than 1 cm thick across about 5,000 km² of east Iceland. [C1, C2] Büntgen et al. 2024 Documented
2 JökuldalsheiðiHeath farms of Efri-Jökuldalur, such as Sænautasel Iceland ~65.27, −15.55 1841–1946 Turf farms on the highland heath were abandoned after the ashfall. North Múlasýsla, the county downwind, sent 297 emigrants in 1876, roughly a tenth of its people by the authors' rough estimate. [C5, C7] Büntgen et al. 2024; Vatnajökull NP; Visit Egilsstaðir DocumentedNumber of farms deserted: contested [C6]
3 GlaumbærSkagafjörður Iceland ~65.61, −19.50 To 1947 A turf farmhouse with a baðstofa, the shared room where the household slept, worked and held the winter evening wake (kvöldvaka) of reading, stories and verse. Lived in until 1947; a folk museum opened here in 1952. [C24, C25] Skagafjörður Folk Museum; Folklore 2018 Documented
4 AkureyriNorth coast port Iceland ~65.68, −18.09 1873 The first large emigrant group sailed from here on the steamship Queen on 4 August 1873. Emigration became mass emigration from that year. [C9, C10] Emigrant account; halfdan.is; Büntgen et al. 2024 Documented
5 ÞingvellirAssembly plains Iceland ~64.26, −21.13 1874; 1944 The 1874 festival continued here on 7 August. The republic was proclaimed here on 17 June 1944. [C13, C16] Árni Björnsson, Vísindavefur; Government of Iceland Documented
6 ReykjavíkCathedral, Landakotstún, Naustið on Vesturgata Iceland ~64.15, −21.94 1874–1958 The anthem was first performed in the cathedral on 2 August 1874. The town held a 2 August festival most years from 1897 to 1909. In 1958 the Naustið restaurant first served þorramatur, the midwinter food, under that name. [C12, C14, C27] Government of Iceland; Árni Björnsson; Bændablaðið Documented
7 HerjólfsdalurHeimaey, Vestmannaeyjar Iceland ~63.45, −20.29 1874 to today The first Þjóðhátíð was held in this valley on 2 August 1874, with about 400 people. It is the only place in Iceland where the 1874 festival became a recurring one. [C19, C20] Heimaslóð; Vísir; Tígull DocumentedOrigin story and start of annual run: contested [C21]
8 HofsósVesturfarasetrið, the Icelandic Emigration Center Iceland ~65.90, −19.41 1996, memory of 1870–1914 A restored building opened in July 1996 to remember the emigrants. It sits after this story's window and is included as the present-day memory site. [C30] hofsos.is; North Iceland tourism board Documented

Coordinates are approximate (gazetteer level). Only Askja's position comes from a cited source.

The through-line

What travels along this route is a calendar, and it arrives as a reconstruction

InterpretationThe route starts on the highland farm, where the year ran by the old months and the winter evening was spent together in one room. Ash in 1875 and a century of leaving emptied that world. 14,268 emigrants to North America are recorded for 1870 to 1914, and the share of Icelanders living from farming fell from 86% in 1801 to 5% in 1990. [C8, C22] The festivals moved with the people. The national day of 2 August 1874 was dropped by the state and kept by groups outside the national centre. The midwinter Þorrablót was rebuilt in Reykjavík by home-district associations of people who had left the countryside. [C15, C28, C29] What reached the destination were not the old customs but versions of them, each made by people who had gone.

The map

The route crosses the country from east to west, then turns back north

From the highland heath where ash fell in 1875 to the coastal towns where the festivals were kept and remade

Places from the route table in story order, joined by straight lines. The dashed arrow marks the emigrant route out from Akureyri, not to scale.

Documented Documented, one detail contested Contested (none on this route) Inferred (none on this route)

Basemap: Natural Earth via world-atlas. Coordinates approximate; Askja from Büntgen et al. 2024. Emigrant departure from Akureyri, 4 August 1873 [C9].

Then and now: Reykjavík

Reykjavík gave the date its meaning, then gave it up

Then

1874 to 1909

  • Fact2 August 1874: the national anthem is performed for the first time, in the cathedral, and the visiting king brings Iceland a constitution. [C12]
  • FactIt is the main day of Iceland's first national festival. [C13]
  • FactThe town holds a 2 August festival most years from 1897 to 1909, at Landakotstún. [C14]
  • FactThe capital region grows from 2,317 people in 1769 to 9,507 in 1901. [C23]

Now

After 1918

  • FactSovereignty Day replaces 2 August as the main national commemoration. The merchants keep the old date. [C15]
  • FactThe merchants' holiday, first held on 13 September 1894, is the origin of today's August holiday weekend, whose early-August timing goes back to 1874. [C18]
  • ContestedIt is fixed to the first Monday of August in either 1931 or the winter of 1933 to 1934; sources differ. [C31]
  • FactThe city also becomes where Þorrablót is rebuilt: by home-district associations such as the Skagfirðingafélagið (1936), and in 1958 by a restaurant that first sells þorramatur under that name. [C27, C28, C29]

gamla hátíðisdaginn sem var að mestu úr sögunni hjá öðrum

“the old feast day, by then mostly gone for everyone else”

Árni Björnsson, ethnographer and head of the ethnology department of the National Museum of Iceland from 1969 to 2002, describing the merchants' gathering on 2 August 1918. Vísindavefur, University of Iceland, 2014. His thesis Saga daganna is the standard history of Icelandic feast days.

Numbers box

A country that emptied its farms twice: once overseas, once into towns

14,268

Emigrants from Iceland to North America recorded in the emigrant register, 1870 to 1914. Most went to Canada. Estimates of the true total run higher and vary.

Heleniak 2025, Statistics Iceland data; Icelandic Emigration Center [C8, C11]

1,190

People who left Iceland in 1876 alone, the year after the Askja eruption: about 1.7% of the population.

Büntgen et al. 2024, from Kristinsson 1983 [C4]

86% to 5%

Share of Iceland's population in agriculture, 1801 compared with 1990.

Heleniak 2025, Statistics Iceland 1997 [C22]

80.3%

Share of Iceland's population living in urban areas in 1960.

World Bank series via CEIC [C23]

36,000

People at the 8 organised outdoor festivals on the August holiday weekend in 1967.

Árni Björnsson, Vísindavefur (single scholarly source) [C39]

Counter-narrative

Three stories told about this route, and what the record supports

Did the volcano drive the exodus? Contested

The outside version

Promoters in Canada in the 1870s described Iceland as a volcanic wasteland. The Manitoba Free Press reported on 30 October 1875 that moving the entire population was being seriously discussed. [C3]

The ash-covered county of North Múlasýsla did send the most emigrants in 1876, around a tenth of its people. [C7]

The Icelandic record

Reports in Fréttir frá Íslandi describe neighbouring districts taking in refugees and their livestock. Sheep numbers fell 1 to 2% and cattle about 6% between 1874 and 1876, with no evidence of mass starvation. [C45]

Büntgen, Eggertsson and Oppenheimer (2024) conclude famine fears were exaggerated, possibly to recruit settlers. The historian Jónas Þór argues most emigrants left for a better life, not because of volcanoes. [C3]

FactInside Iceland, emigration was itself argued over: nationalists opposed it, wanting people to stay for the struggle against Danish rule. [C10]

Is Þorrablót a surviving pagan feast? Contested

The popular version

The midwinter feast in the month of Þorri is often presented as a custom unbroken since pre-Christian times.

The documented history

The modern Þorrablót was first held by Icelandic students in Copenhagen in 1873, within the independence movement. The word þorramatur first appeared in print in 1958, when a Reykjavík restaurant began serving it. [C26, C27]

Árni Björnsson takes a middle position: the word in medieval texts suggests a pre-Christian midwinter feast existed, but the modern form was rebuilt. [C32]

Why did Heimaey hold its own festival? Contested

The island's standard story

Bad weather kept the islanders from reaching Þingvellir in 1874, so they held a festival at home. [C21]

The challenge

A 2024 article in the local paper Tígull calls that story wrong and argues what matters is that the island was the only place where the 1874 festival became a regular event. [C20, C21]

When the festival became annual is also disputed: sources give 1901, 1916 for the August date, or the 1940s. [C21]

Hero insight

Iceland's first national day, 2 August 1874, lost its place at home after 1918, yet it still sets the timing of Iceland's August festival weekend and of a Manitoba festival held every year since 1890, kept alive by shop clerks, islanders and emigrants rather than by the state.

Supported by claims C12, C13, C14, C15, C18, C19, C20, C33, C34. All Verified.

The state let go of 2 August in 1918. Three other groups kept it.

2 AUGUST 1874

FactIn Reykjavík the anthem is sung for the first time and Iceland receives a constitution. The same day about 400 people hold a festival in Herjólfsdalur on Heimaey, and Icelanders in Milwaukee, United States, celebrate too. [C12, C19, C34]

1897 TO 1918

FactReykjavík marks the date most years from 1897 to 1909. After 1918, Sovereignty Day replaces it as the main national commemoration. For the state, 2 August is over. [C14, C15]

SHOP CLERKS

FactThe merchants' holiday, first held on 13 September 1894, takes up the old date: in 1918 the merchants gather on 2 August. In the early 1930s it is fixed to the first Monday of August (1931 or 1934; sources differ). By 1967 the weekend holds 8 organised outdoor festivals with about 36,000 people. [C15, C18, C31, C39]

ISLANDERS

FactVestmannaeyjar is the only place in Iceland where the 1874 festival became a recurring event. ContestedWhen it became annual is disputed. [C20, C21]

EMIGRANTS

FactÍslendingadagurinn has been held every year since its first parade in Winnipeg, Canada, on 2 August 1890, and moved to Gimli in 1932. Its date was chosen for the 1874 celebration and constitution. [C33, C34]

TODAY

InterpretationOne date crossed a century in three other pairs of hands, each for its own reason: a day off, local pride, ethnic memory. What the state let go was not lost. It moved to the edges.

Timeline sources: Árni Björnsson; Government of Iceland; VR union; Heimaslóð; Icelandic Festival of Manitoba. Dotted spans are contested dates.

Sources and claims log

How this story was checked

Every claim on this page traces to a row in the research file's claims log, marked by its number in brackets. A figure, date or causal claim needed two independent sources or one primary source. Facts, interpretation and contested claims are labelled where they appear. Speculation was kept off the page.

45Claims logged
31Verified
2Verified, one detail contested
7Contested
5Unverified, not used

What stayed contested

  • Whether the Askja eruption caused the 1876 exodus [C3].
  • How many farms were deserted on Jökuldalsheiði [C6].
  • The total number of emigrants beyond the 14,268 recorded (estimates 16,000 to 20,000) and the headcount on the Queen in 1873 [C8, C9].
  • Why Heimaey held its own festival in 1874, and when it became annual [C21].
  • The year the merchants' holiday was fixed to the first Monday of August [C31].
  • Whether Þorrablót continues a pre-Christian feast [C32].
  • US Icelandic-speaker counts (census year) and Reykjavík city population in 1960 [C37, C38]. Not used on the page.

What we could not find

  • The Icelandic primary works were cited through scholars, not read directly: the emigrant register Vesturfaraskrá (1983), Saga daganna, the 1874 festival account by Brynleifur Tobíasson, and 1870s newspapers.
  • A dated, sourced account of when and why the winter evening wake ended. Claims that radio and urbanisation ended it rest on one popular source, so they are not used here.
  • The departure port of the eastern emigrant group of 1876, and the year the last Icelanders left turf houses, rest on single sources and are not used here.
  • Verified coordinates for seven of the eight places.
  • Voices of women emigrants and farm servants, who appear only in totals. The First Nations communities on the shore of Lake Winnipeg, hit by the 1876 to 1877 smallpox outbreak that also killed more than 100 settlers, lie outside this Iceland-bounded route but belong to the destination story [C35].

Sources

vizmaya desk · 6 October 2026 · Atlas spin 6f056901