Stekkjarstaur - Gimpy
The old Icelandic sheep enclosure was not a palace. In the middle you can see the manger, where the hay was placed before the sheep to eat. You are not seeing things, Icelandic sheep have very short tails. To TOP

Giljagaur - Gully Imp
In the past centuries almost everything was kept in wooden containers, such as the milk pail, from which Giljagaur is stealing the froth.
This building form with pillars, rafters and beams has existed in Iceland since the settlement over 1100 years ago. To TOP

Stúfur - Short-Stuff
The inside of an old Icelandic kitchen. The housewife is stirring a pot over hlóðir, an open fire surrounded with stones or bricks. The barrel on the floor is a water container, at that time there was no running water in the houses, and one of the duties of the children in some households was to carry the water to the house, from a nearby brook or stream. To TOP

Þvörusleikir - Pot-Scraper Licker
Another view of an old kitchen. You can see the stone surrounded fire clearly, and the cast iron pot, a cauldron, really. And you can also see the þvara, pot-scraper, which our friend Þvörusleikir is licking. This was used to scrape the sides of the iron pot, in which something boiled almost around the clock. And as this was not done very often, the name of þvara has enriched the Icelandic language: "To stand like a þvara", means to stand still and do nothing.
The wooden butter churn to the left was used up to this century. To TOP

Pottasleikir - Pot Licker
Pottasleikir cleaning the cast iron pot. Cleaning the pot was considered a treat for the children. As he is sitting on the stone fireplace, this has to be at night. The fire was "hidden" at night, i.e. the embers were covered with ashes, so as to keep until the next morning. If the fire went out, that was a major disaster, as matches or lighters were not everyday items. To TOP

Askasleikir - Bowl Licker
The inside of the old living room of the Icelandic farmhouses. Everybody slept in this room, men and women alike. Their bed was the place where they kept their possessions, either up against the wall, or in a chest under the bed. The askur, or bowl, on the floor was a personal possession, the food for the day was put into the bowl, and people then ate from it at mealtimes. Often put before the cats and dogs at night.

As you can see from this postage stamp these bowls were works of art. They were often monogrammed, and a good askur was a prized possesion. To TOP

Hurðaskellir - Door Slammer
The doors in the old Icelandic farmhouses were heavy and creaky, and slamming them reverberated through the house. Very often there was only one door to the house, the front door, and that was closed before nightfall. A slamming or creaking door at night was not good news, most probably a visiting ghost. To TOP

Skyrgámur - Skyr Gobbler
This a a large barrel, used to make and store skyr, which is an Icelandic form of yoghurt, but much thicker. Skyr was one of the mainstays of the Icelandic diet for centuries. To TOP

Bjúgnakrækir - Sausage Snatcher
Mutton and sausage were hung up among the rafters to be smoked. This was done in every farmhouse, and several even had special houses for this smoking of the mutton and sausages. Smoking, and later salting and pickling, were the only means of conserving meat products for the long winter. To TOP

Gluggagægir - Window Peeper
The windows in old Icelandic farmhouses were not large display windows, they were small and usually covered with a thin skin of some sort, so there was not much light that shone through.
The table in this illustration is a work table, not a dining table. People ate sitting on their beds. To TOP

Gáttaþefur - Doorway Sniffer
This is the Icelandic göng, or hallway. A building style peculiar to Iceland, called "gangnabær" - Hallway Farmhouse. These farmhouses were designed to conserve heat, only one door to the outside, and then a hallway, and all rooms of the farmhouse were accessible from the göng. To TOP

Ketkrókur - Meat Hooker
The roofs of Icelandic farmhouses were covered with grass for insulation. The contraption on top of the chimney is for preventing the wind from blowing down into the chimney.
The mutton to be smoked was placed high in the rafters near the chimney, which was really just a hole in the roof, with a duct extending just above and below the roof. To TOP

Kertasníkir - Candle Beggar
Another view of the old Icelandic living room. Kertasníkir is a great favourite with Icelandic children, they often leave a candle for him in the shoe they place on the windowsill. To TOP