Icelandic Feasts and Celebrations - Þorrablót

"Þorri is one of the old Icelandic months. It always begins on a Friday, between the 19th and the 25th of January, and ends on a Saturday between the 18th and 24th of February. The first day of Þorri is called Bóndadagur or "Husband's Day/Farmer's Day", and  is dedicated to men (formerly only farmers). In my family (and many others) , the women bring the men breakfast in bed on this day - just as the men will do on Konudagur - Woman's Day (if they know what's good for them). ...
The tradition of a Þorri feast is an ancient one. It has its roots in old midwinter feasts, Þorrablót, which the advent of Christianity could not quite abolish, although the way in which it is celebrated has changed. This month falls on the coldest time of the winter, and therefore it is no surprise that Þorri has become a personification of King Winter. He is usually portrayed as an old man, tall and grizzled, who is as cruel to those who disrespect him as he is gentle to those who show him respect. Some have suggested that the month is named after the legendary king who united Norway into one country. Others think it is derived from the name of the thunder-god Þór (Thor), and that this was his feast during the pre-Christian era in Iceland.... "

More on this celebration, and a menu of traditional and non-traditional food items, may be found here.

Þorrablot

"The month Thorri starts in the 13. week of winter, 19.-25. January. This is often the hardest winter month. So, in the last decades it has been traditional to have celebrations, Thorrablot (blot is the name of the old heathen "masses" in honour of the old gods), where people mix up old traditions and new traditions, and have generally a good time.

Individual traditions can be different in details between neighbourhoods or groups that are having the Thorrablot, but the blot here was wonderful as always. All day long we the women at Langhus were preparing the food that our group was going to eat in the evening."

This article at Icelandic Horse includes a sample menu of foods that served at a Thorrablot celebration, for those of you outside Iceland who are thinking of what to prepare for your own celebrations. The author notes that while the foods may not seem appetizing to the unfamiliar, they are partly eaten in remembrance of the days when Icelanders did not have refrigerators or supermarkets and had to rely on what little was available during the  hardest and most difficult part of the winter season, when winter stores of food would begin to deplete.  The full article may be read here.