Jólabókaflóð

I know about this before and I know we are not Christmas Eve yet, where it happens. But I did want remind you all of this Icelandic Christmas tradition of giving books on Christmas eve. I don't celebrate it, ironically enough, for a simple reason: I have enough books to read at the moment! Like a lot. Not to mention those to reread. I intend to do this until Christmas, between  all the preparations. And you, do you celebrate Jólabókaflóð? If so, please comment below. Maybe I have some Icelandic readers, who knows.

Jólabókaflóð

I blogged about it last year. I made it a word of the day then, I will do the same now. So Jólabókaflóð is an Icelandic term meaning "Christmas Book Flood" and it is the word given to their tradition of giving book on Christmas Eve and spending the rest of the night reading it. I think it is a great tradition which I haven't quite done as of yet, except for the reading book part. This is how I spend myfree time waiting for Christmas to arrive. 'Tis the season to be reading, after all.

Christmas Book Flood

Happy Christmas Eve everyone and to make you wait for the 25, I thought I would share something new I learned today: the Icelandic term Jolabokaflod. I don't have the accents, otherwise I hope I am spelling it right. It means "Christmas Book Flood" and it is a tradition of giving book to each other and spending the rest of the night reading them. As per the image above. I love it and I am tempted to turn it into a new Christmas tradition. I already follow half of it: I binge read during Christmas time. In any case, this is our word of the day.

A Volcanic Memory

I took this picture at the Natural History Museum, because it illustrates this post's topic. It is, of course, lava, as it says on the label. I am a few days late to commemorate the anniversary, but Facebook reminded me that six years ago (on the 15th of April), I was stranded in Montreal because of the volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. It is an Icelandic volcano, hence the mouthful. This is what I said on Facebook that day: "I am stranded in Montreal because of a volcanic eruption in Iceland, The existentialists were right: life is absurd." Now, looking back, I find the event just as absurd. And what I said then deserves to be a great unknown line.

Un volcan et un certain air de déjà vu

Je lis les nouvelles aujourd'hui, et je ne peux pas m'empêcher de penser à l'année dernière. À peine plus d'un an plus tard et un autre volcan islandais se met à faire des siennes. Ce sont grosso modo les mêmes nouvelles, les mêmes images, les mêmes chambardements... Mais ça n'arrive pas à moi. Pour faire changement, ce malheur-là arrive à d'autres voyageurs. Encore heureux que je n'aie pas pas choisi de prendre des vacances en mai!  

Quand même, quand j'étais enfant, mes frères et moi (surtout PJ) étions fascinés par les volcans. Comme par pleins d'autres trucs, mais les volcans ont fait l'objet d'une attention particulière. Ils étaient les lieux terrifiants de bien des jeux enfantins. Maintenant, ils font annuler les vols. Il n'y a pas à dire, ça les rend déjà plus banals.

Eyjafjallajokull, or The Beauty of the Beast

Sorry for this upcoming, unvoluntary and pretty lazy Biblical reference and for stressing my current situation again, but the Eyjafjallajokull is the name of the beast. I am of course talking about the nasty volcano that is keeping us here. A mouthful, which I don't think I could pronounce it actually (copy/paste is useful in many ways). Not so long ago, I was reading (or rereading) Viking mythology, which I blogged about. According to Vikings, the world had been created when fire and ice met. I think I know now where the idea came from, and also how a culture that had a Hell that was artic cold and full of ice had nevertheless fire giants among the enemies of the gods. Surtr and the others must have been born from chance encounters of Vikings with volcanoes. Well, I am not the first one who thought of that. Of course, other civilisations might have come up with their own development into myths of volcanic activities. For the Vikings, such display of fire and ashes in their cold climate must have been even more terrifying.

I have to say, however, that from the pictures and videos I saw of Eyjafjallajokull, it is quite impressive, even beautiful. Volcanoes, like cats, have the grace and nobility of predatorial beasts.

No Journey Into Apocalypse

I think I got this title from Ian Fleming, "Journey into Apocalypse" was the title of one of the chapters of one of his Bond novels, but I can't remember which book exactly. Anyway, today I was supposed to leave Montreal for England. Well, something happened that changed our plans. A volcano got temperamental. So as I said earlier in a French post, we are stranded here because of a volcanic eruption. In Iceland, of all places. One would assume that volcanoes erupt only in the tropics, today's events reminded us that

My wife and I spent the day in a daze, being not quite here but not quite there, and also of course because of the spectacular way nature asserted its power over us. People call such an event an "act of God". As a Godless man of the existentialist kind, I consider such event as absurd, showing a blind but overwhelming force that shatters human plans with violence, yet without rhyme or reason. Still, they are utterly terrifying.

So we will miss England for a few more days. We will also miss the colours of sunset, which the volcano was supposed to make particularly bright. Like Hellfire? The comparison comes automatically to my mind. But I will not see it. I often miss displays of Apocalypse. By that I mean that I witness them from afar, but I am never part of it. I missed 9/11 by then days or so and when I travelled to England later, it was in a plane empty and silent like a graveyard. my wife and I were in Montreal when 7/7 happened. This time will be the same, although we are experiencing the strength of the volcano, even as far as here.

Sur le plancher des vaches...

Alors que l'on s'apprêtait à quitter Montréal avec regret, des circonstances de force majeure nous forcent à rester un peu plus longtemps ici. Nous prolongeons donc nos vacances, même si nous ne sommes plus dans un esprit vacancier. C'est ce qui me frustre le plus dans toute cette aventure (enfin, "aventure", elle se caractérise par une certaine inaction): lorsqu'on a l'esprit à retourner au quotidien, lorsqu'on se résigne à la fin de nos vacances, le congé prolongé n'a rien de plaisant.

Tout de même, se faire annuler un vol à cause d'un volcan, ça donne le vertige. Toute frustration mise à part, il faut admettre qu'on se sent bien impuissant face à pareille manifestation de l'absurdité des forces naturelles. Quand j'aurai digéré le contretemps, j'essaierai de pondre un billet existentialiste là dessus.

Petite anecdote en guise de conclusion: mon petit frère a déjà eu une fascination toute geekesque pour les volcans.