Öskudagurinn 2026

“Please do not sing the colour song!” reads a pink Post‑it note at the Library, and the children have to think of another song. Yes, the most popular song of all has to step aside for something else.

“But what should we sing then?” the kids ask, looking at one another. The candy manager suggests a song and gets to hear their favourite – Í síðasta skipti.

The children now run between shops and collect sweets on this wonderful Ash Wednesday. The weather is very good, the atmosphere even better, and they enjoy simply being alive.

As the University of Iceland’s Science Web explains, Öskudagur marks the beginning of Lent, falling on the Wednesday of the 7th week before Easter. Its date is not fixed, and it can vary between February 4 and March 10. This year, Öskudagur is on February 18.

The great day of cleansing

But why is the day called Öskudagur? “Öskudagur has long been important in the Catholic liturgical year, and its name comes from the practice of sprinkling ash over churchgoers’ heads, sometimes using a special brush. Elsewhere it is customary to place ash on people’s foreheads.

As can be read in many places in the Bible, ash symbolizes mortality and unworthiness, but has also been believed to possess purifying and healing powers. Lent is the church’s season of repentance, and the distribution of ash reminds the congregation of their mortality while symbolically cleansing them of sin,” explains the Science Web.

Let us enjoy the photos and the joy of the children.