Happy Thorrablot!
2007 January 26
The first Friday in January after the 19th day of the month (that would be today) begins the Icelandic month of Þorri in which the festival of Þorrablót (Thorrablot) is held. Thorrablot recalls Icelanders’ Viking history with naturally preserved winter foods and drink.
Among those are:
- Hákarl (shark meat buried in the ground and allowed to putrify)
- Blóðmör (black pudding, a sausage made from blood)
- Hrútspungur (pickled ram’s testicles served in the scrotum)
- Lundabaggi (sheep’s fat)
- Svinasulta (jellied ham)
- Svið (jellied sheep’s head)
- Harðfiskur (bread spread made of fish)
- Hangikjot (smoked lamb)
And don’t forget your Slatur (sheep’s blood pudding rolled in lard and sewn up in the stomach). The ammonia laden smell and taste of many of the dishes (oh, I almost forgot to mention cooked seal flippers – yum) is traditionally followed by copious amounts of Brennivin, an Icelandic liquor, which is, of course, in turn followed by a lot of singing and dancing and then some passing out 
Happy Þorrablót, y’all!
Today is Australia Day. I would have thought your post could have included something about that but our food is not quite so disgusting to post about.
Ugh. I’m afraid I’d pass out from looking at – even just thinking about! – the food. No drink required.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Art! I just thank goodness I ate breakfast BEFORE I read this post! Other than that, I loved it! LOLOL
YUCK! Gargle Gargle blahgalgalpurrr…can you hear that? I’m barfing…haha
Uh, can I have a peanut butter sandwich instead, please?
I like the singing and dancing part, but I think I will pass on the menu!
Hope you have a great weekend, art!
Margie
Art,
Thanks for dropping by. About your guitar work and digital stuff, I’d suggest GarageBand. Take a line out of your amp and run it into GB, then you have access to a bunch of cool tools like drums and bass lines, and the composing/editing is basic cut and paste in blocks.
The learning curve isn’t too bad and with a little time invested, you can have some fun, and isn’t that what it’s all about?
Peace,
James
Yummy! Don’t forget their native liquor — Black Death.
Brennivin
Oh, never mind. You are.
Let’s get together for Beer Day and celebrate. After I finish seminary, of course.
Deal, John. You bring the Hrútspungur and I’ll provide the Harðfiskur!
Iceland rocks! I went there in February 2004 and it was one of the greatest experiences ever. I didn’t participate in the Thorramatur but I think I will have to when I go back one day. You can check out my Iceland trip site at: http://www.dpodgor.net/iceland/index.html
I went to Iceland in May 2008 and got to sample a bit of thorramatur…everyone warned me about hakarl, but I found it to actually not be too bad! I was the only woman in the group with the guts to try it, and 1 of only 2 people who ate it without gagging. The jellied sheep head was a bit off putting though