Bolludagur - Bun Day in Iceland

Imagine being a young child sneaking quietly along the hallway towards your parents room, giggling and trying so hard to keep quiet. Your parents are in their bed listening and smiling, but immediately close their eyes and pretend to be asleep as they hear you creeping towards their room. You are armed with a colorful tissue wrapped wand and will be rewarded with a cream bun for each spank given to your parents before they get out of bed. You shout "Bolla, bolla!" ("Bun, bun!") as you wake your parents. Afterwards you all go downstairs for bollur/cream puffs for breakfast.

Bolludagur is always the last Monday before lent, and was by far my favorite tradition when I was younger!

Recipe for the Bollur/Cream Buns

I wanted to share the tradition with you, so I made bolla and a wand to give you an idea of the morning. The thing is my memories and the reality or making the wand are amazingly different! I can't believe how much time went into making it, and can't imagine the amount of patience my mother must have had to make these with three little kids every year!

Supplies to make the wands: Tissue paper, round stick about 18" long, Mod Podge, brush, scissors


Start by completely wrapping the wooden dowel with a strip of tissue, I wrapped with 3 layers.


Here is the completely wrapped wand with the first bit of fringe cut and ready to wrap


Start wrapping with fringe, cut each new bit of fringe a little longer until you finish the center, then cut them shorter again. This will make it more puffy towards the center and taper off at the fringe ends.


Here's a closeup of the completed wand, so you can see the decorative cuts, and get an idea of length.