Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.04.2013, Page 10

– Continued –
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SKÓLAVÖRÐUSTÍG 15, 101 REYKJAVÍK AND HARPA CONCERT HALL
NEWS IN BRIEF
MARCH
Iceland | Religion
At the age of thirteen, Icelandic youth are given the
choice to confirm their baptism in a holy ceremony.
As Easter approaches, you choose either to become an
adult Christian and be showered with gifts from rela-
tives: laptops, smart phones, furniture, jewellery, camp-
ing gear, airplane tickets, books and hundreds of thou-
sands of krónur in cash—or you choose not to.
If you say yes, your parents will most likely invite
your relatives and the family’s closest friends to an af-
ternoon gathering with a smorgasbord of cakes, coffee
and this thing called ‘brauðréttur’ (“bread-dish”)—
shredded bread baked with a bunch of cheese and ham
and maybe asparagus or bell peppers or (god forbid!)
pineapples. Aunties will pinch your cheeks and your
dad’s friends will tell you that the grand old days of
youth are behind you while you nod and smile. You
have never kissed a girl, never had a sip of wine.
WILL YOU ACCEPT J.C.
AS YOUR LEADER?
This is how it works: Eighth graders can attend class-
es where they are schooled somewhat in Christianity
but more so in ‘adult life;’ questions of ethics and love
are raised and answers proposed within a theological
framework. As I remember it, it wasn’t that overbear-
ing—I was personally of the opinion that Jesus had been
a mentally disturbed person who had nevertheless pre-
sented a wholesome and desirable view of society (my
parents were not exactly thrilled when I went on record
about this in a local newspaper a few weeks prior to
my confirmation)—but a welcome break from math and
Danish. After a while, you can decide whether you’d
like to “accept Jesus Christ as your leader” or not. I said
sure. That’s just what you did unless you were an excep-
tionally moral and/or religious teenager.
But all of this may be changing. The Church of Ice-
land is taking a lot of heat these days and resignations
from the church are a common occurrence. In the nine-
ties, nearly 90% of new-borns were baptised. Between
2002 and 2006, the percentage of new-borns baptised
dropped to 78%, and between 2007 and 2011, the per-
centage dropped again to 69%. A decade from now,
when those born in 2009 are ready for confirmation,
the numbers will probably be considerably lower if the
trend continues. These kids are missing out on some
serious dough—and isn’t adulthood all about cash?
IT’S THE MONEY—OR IS IT?
If you’re not a believer and don’t want to falsely claim
to be one, but you’d still like to mark your entry into
adulthood in a more elegant manner than with a bro-
ken voice, low self esteem, overly elongated limbs and
acne, Siðmennt is here to help. The Ethical Humanist
Association of Iceland, Siðmennt, has been organising
secular confirmation programmes since 1988. They are
expecting 232 teenagers this year.
Views on ‘civil confirmation,’ as Siðmennt calls it,
are divided. “Why be confirmed if you’re not a Chris-
tian? Some people may do it for money or for the pres-
ents. A lot of kids that I know from school are. I think
that’s very strange. I think they’re being sort of selfish,”
my thirteen-year-old nephew Hlynur Einarsson (con-
firmed on March 23) tells me. “I believe in Christ. I’m a
Christian and I believe in God. I want to be confirmed.
Going through all of this is a lot of fun.”
Did Hlynur always believe in God? “I think I’ve al-
ways been a believer. But since I went to Vatnaskógur
[a popular Christian summer camp an hour outside of
Reykjavík] my faith grew stronger and I was more in-
terested. So I decided to sign up.”
NOT SO RELIGIOUS
Although most of Hlynur’s friends are going to be con-
firmed, the kids don’t talk much about the content or
message of Christianity among themselves; they are
preoccupied with gifts, he says. “Confirmation presents
are naturally much more expensive than, say, Christmas
gifts.” Hlynur’s own Bible verse (each confirmee re-
cites a verse) from the Proverbs, echoes his sentiments:
“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favour is better than silver or gold.”
Hlynur is looking sharp on his confirmation day:
Bow-tie, cardigan, white dress shirt, jeans and a pair
of Chuck Taylors. I definitely did not look this cool.
“The ceremony was much more relaxed than when you
were confirmed,” my mother tells me, “not so overly
religious.”
At the end of the day it’s clear that Hlynur is more of
an adult than ever before. Not only may he receive the
Eucharist for the first time in his life, but he also has
money.
The €uchari$t?
by Atli Bollason
...I was personally of
the opinion that Jesus
had been a mentally dis-
turbed person who had
nevertheless presented
a wholesome and desir-
able view of society...
“
„
Your shirt is starched and ironed crisp, just like that five thousand króna bill in your pocket, ready for your neph-
ew’s upcoming confirmation party. You can’t sleep because you know your grandmother’s half-sister’s second
husband will squeeze your hand with force and loudly speak your name with his booming voice. He will look
you in the eye and you will sweat—who is this person anyway? You will have to perform genealogical gymnastics
without blinking. Time to pull out that family tree...
Photo: Ragnheiður Pálsdóttir
belled as containing both lamb and
beef, which is pretty embarrass-
ing. More on the quasi-disturbing
side of the equation, however, is
that testing of ground beef coming
from Sláturfélagi Suðurlands (SS),
Iceland’s largest slaughterhouse,
found more than just the typically
eaten type of bovine in the mix.
The chuck included a wide array
of cows, including bull, adolescent
cows, young cows, etc. Beef that is
consumed as food is meant to be
the meat of adult cows. SS looks to
just be throwing anything it can in
the grinder.
Those party
animals in the
Independence
Party voted at
their annual
congress to lower the drinking age
in the country from 20 to 18. Polls
taken early in March showed that
this wasn’t particularly popular
amongst the general public, how-
ever, as 56% claimed to be “very
or fairly opposed” to the idea,
maybe because of all the destruc-
tion and vomit that one little Beer
Day causes.
That lousy Smarch weather was
causing a stir on the 6th, when
Reykjavík was pounded by a snow-
storm that raged on through the
day, bringing buses to a halt and
prompting the police to issue warn-
ings for people to just stay at home
and read a book. As the day went on
a secondary warning was issued to
SUV drivers that they should also
stay at home because big wheels
do not a superhero make. “[Your
vehicle] doesn’t change anything.
You still cannot run over the other
cars,” said Víðir Reynisson, head of
Civil Protection Iceland.
All around fun
guy and MP for
The Movement
Þór Saari called
for another vote
of no confidence
against the coali-
tion government. It failed.
On to the truly enraging news
that came out in March, it was re-
vealed that in 2008 the governor of
the Central Bank of Iceland, Davíð
Oddsson, and then Prime Minister,
Geir Haarde, were aware of the dire
situation that Kaupþing bank was in
but they still lent the bank 500 mil-
lion Euro without sufficient collat-
eral on October 6, 2008. The bank
failed on October 9, 2008.
But hey, Sigur Rós released a video
for the truly amazing new song
“Brennisteinn” this month. You
should look that up on the inter-
nets, put it on repeat, and enjoy this
lovely weather we’re having.
10The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 4 — 2013