Iceland has plenty more going on than volcanoes and dramatic landscapes. These facts dig into its strange traditions, old laws, Viking roots, unusual rules, and the small cultural details that make the country feel completely unique.
Akureyri’s Heart Shaped Lights
1. In Akureyri, Iceland, the red traffic lights are shaped like hearts. They were installed in 2008 as a morale booster following the financial crash that brought down Icelanders.
2. On October 24, 1975, ninety percent of Iceland’s women went on strike to demand equal rights. For the whole day they neither went to work, did housework, nor cared for their children. In 1980 Iceland elected its first female president, who credits that election victory to that day.
3. In Iceland, a newborn may not be given a name that has not been used before under Icelandic rules. Any new name must be pre-approved by the Icelandic Naming Committee. Parents are also prohibited from giving a child a name that would cause embarrassment to the child.
4. There is a church in Iceland where people can worship the Norse Gods.
5. In 2015 the authorities in Iceland’s Westfjords repealed a 400-year-old law that allowed any Basque people found in the region to be legally killed on the spot.
6. Iceland was heavily forested before the first humans arrived. Within 500 years of their arrival, 95% of the woodlands were cut down, causing soil erosion, crop failure, and the eventual abandonment of many farms.
7. In Iceland it is common to carry alcohol openly outdoors, and locals use a ‘beer mitten’, invented by Icelanders, to keep their hands warm and the beverage cold.
8. Iceland has a Horse Naming Commission that oversees horse names across the country to ensure that no horse is given a foreign, vulgar, or inappropriate name.
9. Iceland was involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq; they sent two troops.
10. Until 1987, there were no television broadcasts in Iceland on Thursdays. The idea behind the decision was to reserve Thursdays as a day for socializing, and as a result many Icelanders born before 1987 joke that they were most likely conceived on a Thursday.
Iceland’s Viking Tactical Unit
11. Iceland’s SWAT unit, which is the closest thing the country has to an army, is called the Viking Squad.
12. In 2009 a man in Iceland purchased and preserved the final McDonald’s burger sold in the country and donated it to Iceland’s National Museum; the burger can now be watched via a live webcam.
13. All people in Iceland pay a church tax, and the portion from those not affiliated with any church is directed to the University of Iceland, at least as of 2004.
14. Icelanders actively try to remove English loanwords from their language by inventing and replacing them with new words formed from Old Icelandic and Norse roots.
15. In the year 1000, to prevent civil war, both sides chose the wisest man to propose a peaceful solution; he recommended a mass conversion to Christianity that allowed pagan worship in private, everyone agreed, and he converted himself.
16. In the 1880s, 20% of autopsies in Iceland showed echinococcosis, a tapeworm that can be transmitted from dogs to humans and can cause blindness and severe complications. Consequently, the city of Reykjavik banned keeping dogs as pets for decades.
17. The Althing, Iceland’s parliament, is the world’s oldest surviving parliament, founded in 930.
18. Iceland once had birch forests, but Viking settlers cut them down. Their sheep then ate the saplings, preventing forest regrowth and creating the barren landscape Iceland is known for.
19. Iceland is the only country in the world without mosquitoes.
20. Reykjavík uses hot water to keep part of its downtown pond warm so the birds living there always have a place to swim, even in winter.
No Return For Exported Horses
21. If an Icelandic horse leaves Iceland, it is permanently barred from the country.
22. In 2013 Iceland’s government asked several FBI agents to leave after the agents lied to local officials, saying they were investigating terrorist hackers; they were actually investigating WikiLeaks.
23. A genetic study of Icelanders found that some carried a mutation most commonly seen in Native Americans, and it suggested this could be due to American women having children with Viking men during Norse exploration of America in the 11th century AD.
24. Icelandic folklore says the monstrous Yule Cat will eat anyone who does not receive clothing for Christmas.
25. In Iceland the telephone directory is ordered by first names because surnames are effectively the father’s first name with -son or -dottir added.
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