Iceland and Lutheranism

» biogardener - A subject to explore

Yesterday, I attended a wonderful concert in Winnipeg's First Lutheran Church, and I learned much about the Lutheran church which I had not known. This would be something which you might like to explore, John.

The concert was given by a renowned girls choir, Unglingakor Grafarvogskirkju. The girls are aged 11 to 15 years. They sing for the service in their church once a monthh.

Here is what the program says about the church:

The parish of Grafarvogur is the largest congregation in Iceland, counting 20,000 members. It is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iceland. Grafarvogur is a suburb of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. The church of Grafarvogur was dedicated in the summer of 2000. Four pastors work for the church together with numerous lay people.

One of the pastors of the church had come along with the choir and introduced the songs along with a lot of history. I sat beside him and was able to ask him a lot of questions.

First of all, I learned that Lutheranism was brought to Canada not by Germans but by Icelanders when they settled in the Interlake district of Manitoba all the way south to Minnesota. This is the region which the choir was visiting from Gimli, the centre of Icelandic culture in North America south to Minneapolis.

Secondly, I am wondering whether the denomination may be thriving more in Iceland than in any other place of the world I know of.

Thirdly, I knew that Lutheranism is prominent in Scandinavia, but I now wonder how an isolated nation has preserved their traditions. It was quite obvious from looking at the faces of the girls that they were all old Icelanders. In any other choir I have ever heard there are faces of many ethnic backgrounds present, including Asian and African.

Have you ever done any studies on this, John. I would love to read more about it.

-- posted by biogardener

Permalink Print Discussion Join the latest discussions

» H2O - Re: A subject to explore

In response to A subject to explore posted by biogardener:

Thanks for the tip, Traute, I will look into it some more. The Nordic nations, which colonize Iceland and Greenland, had become Lutheran at the Reformation. Johannes Bugenhagen, whom I wrote about very early in my topic history, was sent to organize the Nordic congregations joining the Reformation. In the process he adapted the common service to give it a Nordic cultural flavor.

I will certainly look into this some more. As to Gimli, I recently read about the "Gimli Glider," which will make an appearance in my Airline Liveries topic.

How was the concert? What songs/hymns were sung?

John

-- posted by H2O

Permalink Print Discussion Join the latest discussions

» biogardener - Icelandic flavor

The music was great and well accepted. It was obvious that the girls were very tired, yet they sang 23 numbers plus an encore after a standing ovation. They presented a cross-section of modern music, folksongs, and hymns, and none of the sounded anything like German or Scandinavian music. Scandinavian music resembles German music to a great degree, because traditionally, Scandinavian composers used to study in Germany. Well, the Icelanders certainly have music which is typically Icelandic.

Icelandic food also is different from the food of other European countries. Manitobans, of course, are used to it, because we have a greater number of Icelandic people than any other place outside of Iceland. I took several courses at the Icelandic Department at the University of Manitoba.

Later on this month, Gimli will host the annual Icelandic Festival, Islendingadagurinn. You can read about it here.

-- posted by biogardener

Permalink Print Discussion Join the latest discussions