dancing and beer

As if their life wasn’t difficult enough.

All kind of dancing was prohibited from the beginning of 18^th century until the end of 19^th century. In the north something tends to either be totally missing (like the day in winter) or in abundance (like day in summer). People who lived far from each other run together when some farm organized an event that was called dance evening. Everyone wanted to get out of it as much as possible. During one of the wildest party arguably 19 children out of wedlock were conceived. The church reacted to this by banning dancing as something especially sinful. Very popular were parties known as Jörfargleði that were held each year in a farm called Jörfi. It is the neighboring farm. Looked decent when I drove past.

Beer was prohibited during 1915-1989. In a weird way the prohibition was decided by a plebiscite. Initially totally dry law was first alleviated in 1922 when wine was allowed back on table. Spaniards refused to buy Icelandic fish unless Icelanders buy their wine in return. In 1935 all alcoholic beverages except beer with more than 2.25% alcohol content were legalized. Difficult times forced people to drink vodka instead of beer and party wildly during trips abroad. 1^st of March 1989 thing were back to normal (since celebrated as "Beer Day").