Man's Day and Woman's Day (Iceland)

Man’s Day (Bóndadagur) and Woman’s Day (Konudagur) are both old traditional days that are respectively the first day of the first two months of the old Icelandic calendar. The months were named and ordered according to the Norse calendar used by the Vikings rather than the Gregorian calendar used today. The first month of the old calendar year is Þorri and the second is Góa.

Old Icelandic calendar months

Man's Day

Man’s Day is the first day in the month of Þorri, which is from the 13th of January to the 11th of February. The following month was first called Gói (masculine), than later on changed to Góa (feminine). Þorri always begins on the first Friday in the period of 19th to 26th of January. If January the 19th is a Saturday then Gentleman’s day is on the 26th of January etc.

The first written reference about the Man’s Day is in a chapter in Þjóðsögur (translation: Folk Tales) from the year 1864 written by Jón Árnason, so perhaps the name Man’s Day comes from him.

Man’s day was dedicated to the master of the house and the farm, not the workmen or other men who lived on the same farm. The master of the house and the farm was most often a farmer in the time these days. If Bóndadagur is directly translated from Icelandic it means Farmer’s day.

Woman's Day

The first day of Góa is called Woman’s Day, which always falls on a Sunday. Woman’s day was dedicated to the mistress of the house / farm. The first reference to the phrase Woman’s Day is when Ingibjörg Schulesen claims knowledge about both the traditional days. She was a sheriff's wife in Húsavík in the period of 1841 to 1861 and she believes that she has learned about these traditional days there. That was before the legends of Jón Árnason were published.

Traditions

According to Jón Árnason, the month of Þorri should be welcomed according to these traditions:

The gentlemen should get up first of all the people on the farm the same morning that Þorri starts. They are supposed to get out of bed only wearing a shirt, barelegged and barefooted, but put on underwear and one of the trouser legs on one foot and let the other one hang back and drag it behind them. Then they should walk to the door, open up, hop on one leg around the house, while their underwear and their trousers are still just one leg. Then they were supposed to have a feast for the other farmers / masters of the nearby farms, and together they welcome the month of Þorri.

Modern times

Today Man’s Day is for all men who are in a relationship, not the master of the house. It is an occasion for girlfriends, fiancées and wives to give their significant other special attention. There is the old saying that the man’s heart lies through his stomach and in many Icelandic homes it is a tradition to cook hangikjöt (traditional Icelandic smoked lamb) on Man’s Day. Additionally it is customary to give a small gift or token of appreciation. The first advertisements referencing Man’s Day’s appeared in the 1970s, but became a tradition very shortly after that.

It is a customary in modern times to look at Woman’s Day as the day of all women. Not only do husbands, fiancés and boyfriends use the opportunity to delight their beloved ones with flowers on this day, but also many sons and brothers buy flowers and tokens on this day for the women in their lives that they love and appreciate.

In Icelandic society, Woman’s Day has taken the place that Valentine’s Day occupies in many other countries. Most Icelanders think these days are fun and many people take them very seriously, for example give expensive gifts or always have the same food every year on these days. The traditions are often very different in each home and not everyone takes part in these days.