Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Page 56

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LE NORD
and the annual publication issued by the Icelandic National
Patriotic League since 1919. Among the periodicals may also be
reckoned the Icelandic almanac which has been brought out since
1895 by Ólafur S. Thorgeirsson in Winnipeg. This almanac has
every year printed short contributions to the history of Icelandic
colonization, written by people who took part in the founding
of the first settlements themselves, and it is therefore a source
of great importance for students of the history of the Icelandic
element in America.
Among the societies founded by the settlers, the church as-
sociations have had the greatest influence on the preservation of
national traditions. The first Icelandic congregation was founded
as early as 1875 in Shawano County in Wisconsin, but it was
soon dissolved, as most of the settlers moved to other localities.
When the larger settlements were formed, the organization of
parish life was one of the first tasks which they took up. The
first Icelandic church was built in 1884 at Mountain, North
Dakota, and a few years later, the first Icelandic church in
Winnipeg was inaugurated. In New Iceland several congre-
gations were quickly established, but their growth was disturbed
by the religious dissentions which since then have been a constant
feature of the religious life of the Icelandic colonies in America.
In 1885 fourteen congregations united to form the Icelandic
Evangelical-Lutheran Synod, which ever since then has been the
greatest religious organization among Icelandic Americans. Some-
what later, Unitarianism began to gain ground among the settlers,
but this sect never gained as many adherents as the older church
community, and in the 20th century it united with a liberal
branch of the Synod which had seceded from the parent church,
whose views have always been severely orthodox.
These dissentions have, of course, in some ways done some
harm to the solidarity of the Icelandic Americans, and have
somewhat hampered their cultural activities, but on the other
hand they have also had a stimulating effect, because both par-
ties have exerted themselves in the publication of various
periodicals, etc. The two weeklies in Winnipeg also joined in
the fray, and, rather surprisingly, it was the Conservative “Heims-
kringla” which supported the Liberal congregations, and the
Liberal “Lögberg” which became the organ of the orthodox
Synod. It would, however, be futile to deny that these disputes
have scared away people from parochial life, and in the result