Will Jolabokaflod Become Your Favourite New Family Christmas Eve Tradition?

Picture the scene… It’s the night before Christmas and you’re wearing your favourite pyjamas and fuzzy socks. The family has gathered together in the living room where the fire is crackling and the fairy lights from the tree in the corner are gently glowing. Everyone is snuggled up with blankets and steaming mugs of their favourite festive drink. Anticipation fills the air. But this year, instead of settling down for yet another night of TV, you’re all settled in to spend your Christmas Eve reading.

This is exactly what Jolabokaflod, a cultural reading ritual that is growing in popularity, is all about.

We’ve been participating in Jolabokaflod for several years now in my house, and it’s one ‘trending bandwagon’ that I am more than happy to jump on!

In this post, I’ll be describing what Jolabokaflod is, where it comes from and heaps of interesting facts that, I am sure, will convince you to give this bookish tradition a try.

Enjoying this topic? Here are some related posts:

Jolabokaflod (Jólabókaflóð) is a wonderful Icelandic cultural phenomenon that translates to “Yule book flood” (or “Christmas book flood”).

In Iceland, the main gift-giving day of the festive period is Christmas Eve. In homes across the nation, families gather to exchange gifts and spend the evening reading and sipping hot chocolate.

How perfect does that sound?

The tradition began during World War II, when paper, unlike many other commodities, wasn’t rationed in Iceland. Because paper was a cheap resource, books became the perfect gift.

If, like me, you want to be able to say ‘Jolabokaflod’ properly, I’ve linked this super handy, short-but-sweet video to help:

Learn More About Jolabokaflod

Besides being a wonderful tradition, placing such value in reading has had plenty of positive knock-on effects in Iceland too. Here are just a few impacts that celebrating reading and giving it such a platform on the calendar has had:

  • Iceland is the third most literate nation according to this data from Central Connecticut State University. Finland holds the top spot, with Norway in second place. For comparison, USA ranks 7th and UK comes in at 17
  • The population density in Iceland is low, at 3.5 people per square kilometre of land. The low population is insufficient to publish year-round, so publishers go to work towards the end of the year “flooding the market” with new books. For comparison, population density in the USA is 35 and UK 274 per square kilometre. (source: The World Bank)
  • Icelanders read on average 2.3 books per month according to a recently conducted survey by the Icelandic Literature Centre. Compare this to a typical American reader, who reads just 4 books per year
  • The Reykjavik Book Fair has been held every November since 2011 when the city was awarded the title of UNESCO City of Literature. This free event is open to everyone and visitors can browse books, take part in talks and activities and meet Icelandic publishers and authors. Perfect for building anticipation for Jolabokaflod!
  • Every Autumn ‘Bokatidindi’, a book bulletin, is delivered for free to every household. Bokatinindi is a catalogue that lists books that are available to buy during the Christmas period. Around this time, there are author interviews, features and commercials on TV all promoting books.

pinterest graphic of cosy stocking feet by a fire with books and teacup

Will you be giving books this year?

We started exchanging books on Christmas Eve a few years ago at home. It has become one of the moments that I look forward to most every year. We exchange a book, new pyjamas and fluffy, warm socks and spend the evening reading and sipping steaming mugs of mulled wine or cider. Exchanging books is a tradition that beats squeezing into overcrowded, overpriced pubs. Especially this year!

Neil Gaiman quote - “Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it's much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world!”

Final thoughts …

So, what do you think? Will you begin a tradition of giving books this Christmas Eve? Let me know in the comments below. I can’t wait!

P.S. Do you want to get your kids reading more next year? Or maybe you want to? How about taking part in a challenge?

Find out more about my 2021 Kids Reading Challenge! Sign up below to be notified when the challenge goes live.