How were Icelandic sagas used for entertainment in Icelandic households?

In Icelandic households, the reading aloud of stories was a common pastime known as sagnaskemmtun (literally "saga entertainment"). This practice, which persisted from the 12th century into modern times, served as a primary form of domestic recreation and effectively replaced the traditional art of storytelling.1

During these sessions, a wide variety of written narratives were shared to entertain the household, including secular, sacred, historical, and legendary works. While the primary goal of the saga writer was to provide aesthetic pleasure, the literature also served an edificatory role, helping listeners better understand their social environment and themselves through the fates of their forebears. The Icelandic church generally viewed this tradition with sympathy, and many of the authors who composed these works were themselves priests or monks.12