A new horse has joined our herd at Reykjavik Zoo! Her name is Fjöður which means feather in Icelandic. Fjöður is from Ólafshagi, she is 18 years old and her color is called “móálótt”. Our other horses, Þytur and Kólfur have welcomed her into their herd.
In Iceland we often count an animal’s age in “winters” so technically Fjöður is 18 winters old. This is an old Icelandic tradition and even people’s age used to be counted in winters. Before the Roman calendar came to Iceland with the church, Icelanders used their own calendar where the year was divided evenly into winter and summer. The year started at the beginning of summer where both humans and animals celebrated the winter coming to an end. Even though the Roman calendar is now in use, the summer here in Iceland is still celebrated on a Thursday between the 19th-25th of April every year and winter begins on a Saturday in the end of October.
