Hen day

I am coming to find out that the American tradition of a bachelorette party is quite unusual. That tradition is modeled on the bachelor party in that it involves going out with friends (usually to strip clubs or something vaguely racy) and getting really drunk the night before the wedding (well, the weekend before is actually more common, especially for bachelorette parties; a hung-over groom is one thing, a hung-over bride quite the other). The symmetry of a bachelor/bachelorette party pre-models the ideal symmetry in the marriage; bachelorette parties are a sign of women's liberation. I suppose I ought not simply suggest that is why they are not thrown here in Iceland, but for whatever reason, they are not. Instead, Icelanders, like the English and the Australians, have Hen Day. Some weekend before the wedding, the bride's friends secretly plot to kidnap the bride-to-be from her bed, unbelievably early in the morning, and then make her go around all day long to various places they picked out, dressed in whatever ridiculous clothes the friends make her wear. In my hometown, and perhaps elsewhere in the U.S., we had a tradition like this too, but for a girl's 16th birthday (if I remember correctly - boy that was a long time ago!). Funny how traditions morph and change through time and place, with each existing tradition inspiring some variant somewhere else.