Gamlárskvöld (GAM-laurs-kvuld), literally "Old Year's Evening" in Icelandic, is a great time to be in Iceland! No matter how big or small the town is, you can count on seeing lots of fireworks on New Year's Eve. This is also a time to be with family and friends, so Icelanders will watch a special New Year's Eve show together before going back outside to set off fireworks and celebrate the start of the new year.
New Year's Eve is the only time of year that fireworks are allowed in Iceland, so Icelanders love this chance to light up the sky. Fireworks start early, but it gets quiet close to 10:30pm. That's because the end-of-year musical comedy, Áramótaskaup (AU-ra-MO-ta-SKOIP), or "New Year's Spoof," is about to begin. It has run every year since 1966. Nearly everyone in Iceland watches Áramótaskaup! It makes fun of events and news from the year. I could relate to some of the jokes, like the ones about traffic jams and the weather, and I laughed a lot.
Once the show finishes at 11:30pm, everyone goes back outside for more fireworks. I went outside to the Ísafjörður harbor at about 11:45pm to watch. The closer to midnight it got, the more fireworks I saw.
