As has been observed, the year of grace 1872 was exceptional. It opened with the finest weather till the equinox, after which it broke and strewed the ground with four feet of snow. Rain endured till the last quarter of June, but the rest of the travelling season was absolutely delightful. Mild east winds prevailed at Reykjavik, and the warmth of the “sirocco,” as it was called, set the citizens speculating upon the possibility of an eruption in the interior. After July 11th the sky was that of Italy for a whole fortnight. The autumn was rough, with heavy gales from north-east to east, and from south-east to south-west; there were also hard frosts about mid-November, after which the weather became as mild as in 1871. Dr Hjaltalín, Land-Physicus or Physician-General of Iceland, was inclined to think that the summers were waxing warmer in Snowland, as they are growing, or are supposed to grow, colder in Scotland.
The travelling season of 1873 was very raw and dry. From the 20th of June to the 20th of July strong north winds prevailed, and from the 16th to the 18th of July there was a considerable fall of snow. August was tolerably rainless, but cold, and winter set in in earnest about the 20th of September.
§ 4. Chronometry.
In these hyperborean regions the light season and the dark season represent the “dries” and “rains” of the tropical zone. The gradual changes from winter to summer, and vice versâ, known as spring and autumn, can hardly exist when the frost often binds the ground till mid-June, and reappears in latter August.[100] Thus the Edda of the old Northmen (Vafthrûðnismál, Thorpe’s trans., st. 27) very rightly distributes the year into only two parts:
“Vindsval hight he
Who Winter’s father is,
And Svâsud Summer’s.”[101]
The ancient heathen year contained 364 days (12 × 30 + 4 Auka-nætr, or Eke-nights):[102] the remaining day, with its fraction, was gathered up into an intercalary week, called Summer-eke, or Eke-week, introduced by Thorstein Surt (the black) about the middle of the tenth century. Of old it was inserted at the end of summer every sixth or seventh year, which then numbered 191 days. The Gregorian style inserts it every fifth or sixth year. Thus 1872 is marked the “first year after Sumar-auki;” the years 1860, 1866, and 1871 being years with “Sumar-auki.” New style was not adopted till A.D. 1700.
The light months technically began with the Thursday preceding April 16,[103] O. S., = April 26, N. S. On that day children received their Sumar-gjöf (summer presents), which take the place of our Easter gifts. The season consisted of 184 days (30 × 6 + 4 Auka-nætr); the eke-nights being inserted before midsummer, which parts the season into two halves, each of three months. Thus in the Iceland almanac for 1872, Sumar-dagr-fyrsti (first summer day) fell on Thursday, April 25; the Auka-nætr ranged between July 24 to 27; Mið-sumar was on July 28; and Sumar-dagr-síðasti (last summer day) happened on October 25. In modern usage the time from April to October is reckoned by the Sumar-vikur (summer weeks), the first, second, seventh, and twentieth; and the calendars mark every Thursday, during the light season, by the current number of the week. The “travelling time” extends from the Invention of the Cross (May 3) to St Bartholomew’s Day (August 24). Meteorologically, summer opens with July. The winter, or dark half of the year (Vetr), began on the Saturday before St Luke’s Day (O. S.), or that Saint’s Day if a Saturday; and, like the summer, lasted twenty-six weeks. The Vetrar-dagr-fyrsti (first winter day) for 1872 and 1873 corresponds with Saturday, October 26. The following are the names of the months (Mánuðr or Mánaðr):
1. January—Icelandic, Mörsugr, “fatsucker;” Anglo-Saxon, Æftera (second) Giuli (Yule), from the turning or tropic of the sun; Old Danish, Julemaaned.
2. February—Icel., Thorri; A. S., Sol monath, from offerings made to the sun; O. D., Blidemaaned, or “blythe month.”
3. March—Icel., Gói;[104] A. S., Rhed-monath, “travel-month,” or “month of the goddess Rheda,” to whom warlike sacrifices were offered; O. D., Törmaaned, or “Thor’s month”—hence Lucan (Phars., lib. i.):