Bun Day, Bursting Day & Ash Day

What is Bolludagur (Bun Day)?

Bolludagur — Bun Day — falls on the Monday before Shrove Tuesday. It is dedicated to a single food: the bolla (plural: bollur), a soft choux pastry bun filled with whipped cream, glazed with dark chocolate, and often finished with a dot of jam.

The defining ritual of the day is the bolludagssproti — a decorated wand that children make at school in the days before Bolludagur, typically fashioned from coloured paper, ribbons, and cut-out images of buns. On the morning of Bun Day, children race to find their parents still in bed and strike them with the wand before they get up. Each hit earns the child one bollur. The harder and more successfully a child strikes, the more cream buns they secure for breakfast.

Icelandic bakeries open early and sell vast quantities of bollur throughout the day. The average Icelander eats several on Bolludagur. The custom is so embedded that no Icelandic childhood Bolludagur memory exists without a bolludagssproti and at least one ambushed parent.

What is Sprengidagur (Bursting Day)?

Sprengidagur is Shrove Tuesday, and its purpose is stated plainly in the name: you eat until you might burst. The traditional meal is saltkjöt og baunir — salted lamb and split pea soup, a dish so thick and filling that finishing a full bowl is already an achievement.

The logic is the same as the English pancake tradition: Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent, when rich, fatty foods would be given up. In England, this became pancakes — using up butter, eggs, and milk. In Iceland, where preserved salted lamb was a winter staple, the tradition became a feast of that. The goal is not just to eat well but to eat to excess — pre-emptive suffering for the long weeks of Lenten restraint ahead.

Sprengidagur is a meal occasion, not a public celebration. Families eat together at home, the pea soup simmers all day, and the lamb is pulled from its brine. Icelandic supermarkets stock pre-salted lamb portions in the weeks leading up to Sprengidagur.

What is Öskudagur (Ash Day)?

Öskudagur — Ash Day — is Ash Wednesday: the first day of Lent and, in Iceland, primarily a children's festival built around two customs.

The first is the öskupoki — a small bag of ash — which children secretly pin to adults' backs without being caught. The ash references the liturgical meaning of Ash Wednesday (ashes as a sign of mortality and penitence), transformed into a mischief game. Adults who notice children attempting to attach the bag can try to thwart them; adults who walk around all morning with an ash bag on their back without noticing provide entertainment for everyone who saw it happen.

The second is a costumed shopping-centre tour: children dress in fancy dress and go in groups from shop to shop, singing songs in exchange for sweets. Shopkeepers expect this and stock up. The tradition bears a strong resemblance to Halloween trick-or-treating and to the Spanish and Latin American tradition of Día de Carnaval costume parades.

Öskudagur is not a public holiday, but schools arrange costume days and the ash bag tradition is actively practiced across the country. It closes out Iceland's three-day Shrove season on a note of cheerful subversion — appropriate, perhaps, for the morning Lent begins.

When are the three Icelandic Shrove days?

All three dates shift every year because they are pegged to Ash Wednesday, which is tied to Easter — a moveable feast calculated by the lunar calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Shrove Tuesday traditions

Sources & further reading

• Bolludagur, Sprengidagur, Öskudagur — Icelandic customs guides
• Iceland Monitor: A Guide to Iceland's Three Carnival Days
• Guide to Iceland: Bolludagur, Sprengidagur & Öskudagur
• Nordic food traditions — Nordic Food Living