Iceland Day - June 17

Iceland National Day is an annual holiday in honor of the founding of the Republic of Iceland celebrated on June 17, 1944.

This date also marks the end of the centenary of Danish rule in Iceland.

Iceland is an island nation in the North Atlantic Ocean, located between Greenland, Norway and Scotland, northwest of the Faroe Islands.

Iceland is among the least densely populated countries in the world. Its area is 103,000 square kilometers, but its population is only about 358,780 people, half of whom live in the capital Reykjavik.

The holiday date was chosen to also celebrate the birthday of Jón Sigurðsson, a central figure in Icelandic culture and leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement.

Iceland National Day celebrations

Icelanders celebrate the national day in processions in urban areas, with traditional clothing, against the backdrop of Icelandic folk music and waving Icelandic flags. After the official ceremonies that include speeches of course, the joyous celebrations begin, with lots of music, food and drink and great joy.

Women dressed in traditional Icelandic attire in the capital Reykjavik (Source)

In honor of Iceland's National Day, here are some interesting facts about it:

Iceland has a good football team, which qualified for the international finals of Euro 2016 and reached the quarterfinals. In the summer of 2017, she qualified for the 2018 World Cup. The current ranking of the Icelandic national team in FIFA's ranking list is 40th in the world, as of April 4, 2019. This is a good achievement for a country with so few people. Icelanders also have a unique sport Called "Glíma" - a type of wrestling that originated in Viking.

The national bird of Iceland is the puffin, a sea parrot, which obtains its food mainly by diving into the sea. Papin has a large beak that turns red or orange during the breeding season, and at the end of the season it sheds it and is left with a more modest beak. In Iceland it is customary to eat the sea parrot and its eggs.

Image by Mario Liebherr from Pixabay

The official language of Iceland is Icelandic, which evolved from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings.

Iceland has no family names. They use patrons, the name of the father and then add the name of the son or daughter. Sometimes they use matrons (the mother's name). All first names they give to their children must be approved by a national naming committee that does not usually approve foreign names.

Iceland is the first country in the world to have served as a declared (and gay in general) lesbian prime minister. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir served as Prime Minister of Iceland from 2009 to 2013.

The summer days in Iceland are very long and the light lasts until midnight. In winter, the Northern Lights appear in Iceland, the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) illuminate the sky in colors ranging from green to red and blue.

Many tourists come to Iceland to see its wildlife: huge glaciers and waterfalls (like Dettifoss Falls), volcanoes and geysers. In recent years, tourism has also developed in Iceland during the winter season, and tourists come to the hot baths and snowmobile rides on the glaciers.

Dettifoss Falls, the most powerful waterfalls in Europe (Source)

Iceland has also been producing good pop and rock music since the 1980s. Among the artists who have received international recognition coming from Iceland are the singer Bjork, the rock band Sigur Rós, the band Múm, the singer Emilíana Torrini and the band Of Monsters and Men.

June 17 is also Apples Strudel Day

Niagara Falls Runs Dry Day - March 29th

Niagara Falls is a huge waterfall located on the US-Canada border. Its height is 51 meters (167 ft ). Throughout the year the water flows in the waterfalls in tremendous quantity and intensity, making the place a site that attracts millions of tourists every year.

But, on March 29, 1848, an extraordinary thing happened.

The water flow of the Niagara River was stopped for a few hours because of ice formed up the Niagara River.

The rushing river that is dangerous to approach and not to mention entering has stopped its flow.

People went into the water to take out objects that had fallen on them there in the past.

The phenomenon that happened is called the "Ice Bridge." Sometimes, during very cold and long winters, ice bridges form under waterfalls. The ice bridges slow down and weaken the flow of water, but a complete halt to the falls has never happened, except on this date in 1848.

Some interesting facts about Niagara Falls

Until 1912 visitors to the waterfalls were allowed to stand on the ice bridge and look at the waterfalls, until in 1912 the ice bridge broke and three tourists died.

Every year about 15 million tourists visit Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls is known as the world capital of honeymooners.

If you want to get close to the Niagara Falls and get wet from them, you can take a boat called the "Maid of the Mist".

If you want to look at Niagara Falls from above you can climb The Skylon Tower, a skyscraper located near Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada. This is the tallest observation tower overlooking the falls.

If you want to sleep near Niagara, you can sleep in the nearby town of Niagara on the Lake in the northern part of Niagara, in the territory of the state of Canada. It is one of the most beautiful towns in Canada.

In 1825, Mordechai Manuel Noah sought to establish on the southern side of the falls, on the island of Grand Island, a state for Jews to be integrated within the United States. He bought a third of the island and was given an option to buy the other two-thirds, laid the cornerstone for a settlement called Ararat, but the Jews did not respond to his call to settle the island. A few years later, Noah came to the conclusion that the Jews should settle in the Land of Israel and nowhere else. In 1837, decades before Herzl, he wrote a letter to Western governments requesting assistance from Israel by the Jews.

Annie Edson Taylor, Link: Wikipedia

On October 24, 1901, on her 63rd birthday, Annie Edson Taylor, an American teacher, set out for Niagara Falls to fall from them in a barrel. She is the first person who managed to survive the fall. She did it to make money to secure her financial future, but did not gain much from it. She fell at the falls in an oak and iron barrel with a heart-shaped pillow inside, and came out alive and well, except for a small wound on her head.

Half of the water in Niagara Falls is used to produce hydroelectric energy (electricity generated by water movement) by the governments of the United States and Canada. The Niagara Falls area is the area where the most hydroelectric energy is produced in the world. (Source: Wikipedia)

 March 29 is also Piano Day and Smoke and Mirrors Day