Wedding Ceremonies after Leaving the State Church in Iceland

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In 1996, Iceland created a civil union law (staðfest samvist) for same sex- couples presented as an equivalent to marriage but deprived of major rights concerning filiation and access to church wedding. In 2010, a gender-neutral marriage law was adopted. The gap between the two laws shows a long fight for equal rights and access to wedding ceremonies by the State Church. Iceland is a highly secularised country but still has a State Church. People who chose to marry, marry in church. That’s why claims for equal rights included from the beginning access to church wedding and not a mere civil union. However, different Churches started very soon to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples. In reaction, the State Church adopted a blessing ceremony but for same-sex couples only. Since 1996, people started to leave the State Church whom they belong by birth. The communication explores the meaning of equal rights (civil union vs marriage) from a symbolic point of view. The research is drawing from semi-directive interviews conducted in 2005, 2009 and 2015. For most of the respondents, the Church ceremony had no religious meaning per se but a symbolic and practical one, it was attached to the church as a “beautiful place” for a special day or the “beautiful singing” by the Church choir during the ceremony. It also meant they would marry like any other members of the family or relatives. In the 2015 interviews, people started to talk about how they organise this special day in different ways after leaving the State Church and how they wish or invent all sort of ceremonies, attached to religious or secular beliefs. It ranges from heathen ceremonies to secular vows.