Christmas Meeting 1888

The Christmas Meeting 1888 (Faroese: jólafundurin) is considered as the official start of the Faroese National Movement.

On December 22, 1888 the only newspaper at that time in the Faroe Islands, Dimmalætting, carried the following notice:

ALL AND EACH

are invited to gather in the house of Parliament on the second day of Christmas at 3 o’clock in the afternoon where we will discuss how to defend the Faroese language and Faroese traditions.

The invitation, signed by nine prominent Faroemen, marked the inception of a new era in Faroese history - the rise of the National Movement.

In spite of a raging storm and slushy roads, a large crowd of people gathered in the house of the Løgting that afternoon. Speeches were made and patriotic songs were sung. The highlight of the meeting came when the poet Rasmus Effersoe recited a battle hymn written for the occasion by young Jóannes Patursson. The message of the lengthy poem was evident in the first stanza:

Now the hour has come,

when we must join hands

and rally around

our native tongue.

Ours is the duty to safeguard this most precious cultural heritage, which is suffering such abasement in its own country that it doesn't stand to be saved without the will and effort of the whole nation.”