Cakes, biscuits, sweets and chocolate! Most part of us even doesn’t imagine the life without all these tasty things. But do you know the answer to the question “When is National Biscuit Day in 2024?” – Frankly speaking, a great amount of contemporary people haven’t heard about this special occasion yet. For them it will be a great surprise to find out that delicious biscuits and cakes have their own special day. But in Iceland local people realized the dream of many sugar eaters and have dedicated the day especially for the biscuits.
History
When is National Biscuit Day in 2024, calendar in Iceland explains you without any problem. – This special moment, which is called by the way Bolludagur, is held on Monday, which is the seventh week before Easter and two days before the Lent beginning. Initially the holiday was brought into Iceland from Scandinavia in the late 19th century.
Before the Great Lent local men and women usually organize huge feasts with generous meals. But in the 19th century the holiday was changed a bit and since then the people haven’t even imagined the holiday without a special kind of cake. These biscuits are filled with whipped cream and covered with sweet glaze. And that was the very first day of a new tasty celebration in Iceland. It is kept every year all over the country. The date is fixed: two days before Ash Wednesday, on Monday.
Meaning
What does National Biscuit Day mean? In Iceland any person is always ready to answer you the question “When is National Biscuit Day 2024?” It is on May 29th. Why? – The matter is that they are waiting for it with impatience. But frankly speaking in other corners of the world there are similar events and carnivals. But here you will find some unique types of celebration. For example, there is also a well-known tradition of whipping by branches, which goes back to ancient pagan rituals of awakening the nature forces. But if in other corners of the world you should beat your friends, acquaintances, domestic animals and trees, in Iceland the local children usually joke whipping their parents. This holiday is adored by small Icelanders very much, because this is the only day of the year when you can hit your parents with small twigs shouting ยซBollur, bollur!ยป. Why do they use this word? – The matter is that bollur is the name of the special cake. And according to the local belief, how many times you shout it, as many cakes you will receive.
By the way, some specialists are sure, that originally the custom was a bit different. – A person had to beat himself/herself with a small twig, thinking about the passion of Christ. But, as a rule, in the course of time all the traditions change, and after a few centuries are usually transforming into something new. Whatever it was in the past, today’s Biscuit Day in Iceland is considered to be a very happy holiday, loved by all children and adults.
Definition
Many people probably wonder what kind of a mysterious cake Bollur is. In fact, all of us have already tried it as nowadays it is possible to purchase this dish in any confectionery. Are you surprised? – That is our common รฉclair. But we can’t but mention that Iceland is a homeland of this delicious cake with sweet dough, custard inside and sweet icing on the outside. Of course, there are some differences between the more common all over the world รฉclairs and traditional bollurs. But in the case, you are going to celebrate this special holiday somewhere else, not in Iceland, you can take the first ones without any problems.
By the way, there are many recipes for these biscuits and all of them are considered to be old and really unique. Frankly speaking, nowadays you can find a great amount of recipes and instructions for their preparation. And each chef says that he does Runeberg biscuits in accordance with the classical tradition, created in the times of the famous poet and his well-known wife.
Interesting Holidays:
Tradition
It is celebrated by eating different varieties of buns and muffins, which are traditionally filled with jam, have whipped cream on and have covered with icing. On this day in all the bakeries in Iceland offer a wide range of ย rolls and buns. Some of them are traditionally baked at home. And together with it, Iceland got the tradition of making the so-called bakery bouquets, which have the special name bolluvรถndur (or bollyuvัndur) in this country. It is necessary to mention that their appearance is really amazing, as they consist of multi-colored strips fixed on a stick.
Don’t worry, according to the travelers’ points of view, you will understand, what day National Biscuit Day in 2024 is some days before the event. In what way? – You see, all bakeries and grocery stores will be filled up with traditional tasty and so delicious things. They usually appear before the holiday and please all lovers of sweet pastries for about a week.
National Biscuit Day Facts
Also there is one peculiar feature, this day in this part of the world there is a custom to organized bright and colorful children’s marches. All the kids of the city should go marching along the streets, singing funny songs and begging for tasty cakes in bakeries. You can hear comic quarrels with confectioners. The scripts and funny answers to these arguments are created in advance, of course. Merry laughter sounds everywhere. Once upon a time there was a very popular tradition that had a really funny name “Beat the cat out of the barrel”. But now, unfortunately, it has been changed into Ash day. Only in the town of Akureyri the local people prefer to keep the old ways. That is why they celebrate National Biscuit Day in the most traditional way.
Finland: what do they celebrate at the Day of Runeberg: a day of a cake or an honor of the poet?
In general nowadays traditional biscuits called Runeberg are more popular among the contemporary people than the works of the Finnish poet.On February 5 in Finland locals usually celebrate the Day of Runeberg, who is considered to be the national poet of the country.
In Finland there is a beautiful legend that one day the clever and skilled wife of the great poet pleased her husband on his birthday, baking for him some unusual biscuits. For the recipe that lady used the products available in the house.
According to another version, Frederica, the wife of a man, whose house was visited by many guests, was very economical lady. Her famous biscuits she made from the breadcrumbs, gathered in the special bag. Those product rests remained on the board after fresh-baked bread cutting or slicing.
In fact this very delicious dessert was invented in the town of Porvoo, the homeland of the poet, by Finnish confectioner Lars Asteniuksen in 1840. Johan Ludvig Runeberg adored eating this type of cake for breakfast with a punch and told about this tradition to his friends and acquaintances. The man did it so colorfully and emotionally that people remembered the cakes better than the person himself.
Whatever it was, Finnish dessert became especially known with the name of the great poet and his wife – a cake (or a biscuit) of Runeberg.
That is why you can understand that the answer to the question “What is the date of Biscuit Day 2024?” sounds different in this part of the world. By the way the recipes of Frederica Runeberg, in particular, the instructions for the preparation of the famous dessert that has her name, but at the same time was not invented by this lady, was written in her cookbook together with some useful tips for housekeeping. It can be sold in almost all bookstores and the local museum in Porvoo.
Despite the entire poet’s achievements, at present the name is usually increasingly associated with the preparation of Runeberg biscuits, which appeared due to the experiments of his wife Frederica. The works of Runeberg gather dust on the library shelves, but the cake recipes are used by housewives all along the country.
At the very end we would like to mention that frankly speaking it is difficult to imagine kinder and more family holiday. And in Iceland, Denmark, and Finland as well as in other countries, children and adults have a lot of fun, organize interesting competitions and, of course, eat incredible and so tasty biscuits.
