The Old Icelandic Calendar

The Old Icelandic, or Norse, calendar was based around the solstices and equinoxes as these were, and are, very important in these northern regions of the world. Iceland has very short days in the winter and the coming of the Winter Solstice marks the rebirth of the year and the promise of the long days and light nights of the summer. Because of this, the year begins around the Winter Solstice.

The year consists of 12 months of 30 days, with an extra four days in the middle of summer, called Sumarauki. This produces a year of 364 days, i.e. exactly 52 weeks. To account for leap years an extra seven days, i.e. a full week, are added to Sumarauki after five or six Gregorian years. This ensures that each date in the calendar falls on the same day of the week each year. The last time that Sumarauki had 11 days was in 2001, and it will happen again in 2007 and 2012.

The months are as follows, along with their starting dates for the next few years (and the day of the week that they start in brackets):