Happy Icelandic Independence day!

(In honor of the Icelandic heritage of our guitarist/lead male vocalist)
Happy Icelandic Independence day!

On June 17, 1944, Iceland was granted independence from Denmark with the
repealing of the 1918 Act of Union.

Due to Denmark being occupied by German forces and Iceland by the British
at the time, Denmark did not have as much influence over Iceland and,
mainly for simplicity, allowed the country its complete independence,
which included the rewriting of the Icelandic constitution and the
transformation of Iceland into a republic. Sveinn Björnsson became the
first president of independent Iceland.

Today, Icelanders celebrate this holiday on a national scale. The
celebration traditionally takes the form of a parade through each urban
area, with a brass band at the fore. After the parade several speeches are
held out in the open. Traditionally there is also Fjallkonan (the woman of
the mountain), clad in the most festive national dress of Iceland, that
recites a poem. She represents the fierce spirit of the Icelandic nation
and of Icelandic nature, this is in many ways an inheritance from the
period of romanticism that was reigning when the first steps toward
independence were being taken. After speeches and other officialities are
over a less formal celebration takes place, with musicians entertaining
the crowd, candy being devoured by children in huge quantities and gas
filled balloons escaping their owners and flying to the sky. It is also
somewhat traditional to expect rain on the 17th of June in Iceland, in
particular the SW part. However statistics will probably reveal that the
incidence of rain on the 17th of June is no more than any other day of
June.

June 17 is also the birthday of Jón Sigurðsson, a major figure of the
Icelandic culture and the leader of the 19th century Icelandic
independence movement.