Jolabokaflod – Iceland’s Wonderful Christmas Book Flood Tradition – Exchange Books As Christmas Eve Presents And Spend The Evening Reading

Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com – If you are a book lover, you would appreciate the annual Icelandic Jolabokaflod or the “Christmas Book Flood.” The best Christmas gift in Iceland is a book. It has been that way for decades.

In Iceland, books are exchanged as Christmas Eve presents, and then you spend the rest of the night reading in bed and eating chocolate. It certainly sounds like a perfect Christmas to all bookworms!

This tradition is part of a season called Jolabokaflod, the ‘Christmas Book Flood’ because Iceland, which publishes more books per capita than any other country, sells most of its books between September and November due to people preparing for the upcoming holiday.

“The book in Iceland is such an enormous gift, you give a physical book. You don’t give e-books here,” Bryndís Loftsdottir, project manager, Penninn-Eymundsson bookstores, said.

People in Iceland love books, and 93% of Icelanders read at least one book a year.

Reading books is something people in Scandinavia appreciate.

According to a study by John Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Nordic countries dominate in terms of literate behavior characteristics.

Iceland ranks as the third most literate country in the world.

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See also: 

Gryla: Cannibalistic, Evil Troll And Her Sons ‘Yule Lads’ – In Icelandic Folklore

Perchta: Evil Witch Of The Alps – An Old Tradition That Still Continues

Why Was Celebration Of Christmas, Easter, Midsummer And Saint’s Day Forbidden In Scotland?

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