Today is
Boxing Day, a holiday traditionally celebrated the day following Christmas Day,
when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts, known as a "Christmas
box", from their bosses or employers.
I recently read about an Icelandic tradition known as Jólabókaflóð (Christmas Book Flood), and I
thought it would be a great tradition to import into North America and
celebrate a version thereof on Boxing Day.
The Jólabókaflóð begins with the release of Bókatíðindi, a catalogue of new
publications from the Iceland Publishers Association. That catalogue is distributed free to every
Icelandic home! Until about 15 years
ago, paperbacks were rare because Icelanders didn't see books as something to
be read and bought cheaply. And the book
in Iceland is such a serious gift that a physical book, rather than an e-book,
is usually given (http://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167537939/literary-iceland-revels-in-its-annual-christmas-book-flood).
“Christmas
gifts are opened on 24 December and, by tradition, everyone reads the books
they have been given straight away, often while drinking hot chocolate or
alcohol-free Christmas ale” (http://jolabokaflod.com/welcome/).
Obviously, Icelanders love books.
An in-depth
article about Jólabókaflóð was recently posted online: http://2seasagency.com/publishing-iceland-reading-national-sport/.
Entitled “Publishing in Iceland Where Reading Is a National Sport”, it
is written from the perspective of publishing but it has lots of interesting
background about the Christmas Book Flood.
And even The New York Times featured an article
on the country that has a nearly 100% literacy rate, where at least 90 percent
of the people read just for pleasure, and where the gift most requested by
children at Christmas time is a book: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/travel/reykjavik-iceland-tours.html?WT.mc_id=2015-DECEMBER-FB-INYT-MC9-AUD_DEV-1201-1231&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=IntlAudDev&_r=0.
Why not
spread this love of books? Though many
of us do give books as Christmas gifts, why not turn Boxing Day into Book Giving Day for everyone? Now, many people spend the day looking for
Boxing Day sales. Why not end the day by
exchanging books and then spending the night reading? That sounds like a perfect way to relax after
the hectic pace of Christmas.
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