First Day of Summer

A calendar holiday

Iceland sets aside one day each spring for the start of summer. The day is a public holiday, and it always falls on the Thursday that comes first after 18 April, which places it somewhere between 19 and 25 April. In the old Icelandic calendar the year was divided into a winter half and a summer half, and this date opens the summer half, beginning with the month called Harpa. The first day of summer is therefore a calendar event: it is tied to a point in the old reckoning of the year rather than to the weather outside.

Parades and events

Public events are the visible side of the holiday. Parades are arranged and organised entertainment is offered in different places around the country, rather than at one central site. Icelanders have the date as a day off, so families and neighbours are free to join whatever is happening near them. In Kópavogur, the day has been marked with public celebration. The programme goes ahead whatever April brings, because the date is fixed by the old calendar and not by the weather, and the events mark the days growing longer.

The old calendar

Iceland's old calendar knew only two seasons. Winter held six months of short days; summer held the other six, when the sun hardly sets at all. Summer therefore started well before the weather softened. Late April in Iceland can still feel like winter, and the records bear that out: in Reykjavík, the capital, the mean temperature on the day has dropped below freezing in fourteen of the years recorded from 1949 to 2015. The date was kept because it named a real change in the light, not a change in the air.

Frost and belief

An old belief gave the day a weather sign to watch. A good summer was thought to be certain if frost arrived just before the first day of summer. The way to look for the sign was to set water out in a bowl overnight; if it had turned to ice by morning, the summer ahead was expected to be fine. Alongside that, the day holds a plain meaning. The winter of short days is finished, and the light is stretching out again.

How First Day of Summer is kept

The whole country shares the holiday, and it is a day off. On the first Thursday after 18 April, parades and organised entertainment are staged in various places around Iceland. The night before belongs to an older custom: water was set out in a bowl, and frost in the morning was taken as a sign of a good summer. The public events then run through the day itself.

When and where

It falls once a year, on the first Thursday after 18 April, which puts it between 19 and 25 April. The date is not fixed to one number in the month; it is set by the rule of counting forward from 18 April, in keeping with the old Icelandic calendar. It lasts a single day.

It is kept in Iceland, where it is a public holiday. Celebrations are not confined to one place: parades and organised entertainment happen in various parts of the country, and Kópavogur is among the towns where the day has been marked. Reykjavík, the capital, is the place whose April temperatures the records describe.

What First Day of Summer means

To those who keep it, the day turns the year from its dark half to its light half. The short days are behind them and the long daylight of summer lies ahead. The name says summer even when the air is cold, because the old reckoning counted the seasons by daylight rather than by warmth. Hope attaches to the day as well: an old sign was watched for on the night before, and it pointed to the summer to come.

Questions people ask about First Day of Summer

See also

NowruzThe Iranian new year at the March equinox, kept with fire, greenery and picnicsIndian national calendarIndia's official civil solar calendar, designed to bring unity to timekeepingLosarThe Tibetan Buddhist New Year festival of renewal, offerings, and family feastsUgadiA South Indian New Year feast celebrating life with sweet, sour, and bitter tastes

Good reading and sources

• First day of summer (Iceland) on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.