Religions and languages in Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands have two official state languages, which are Danish and Faroese. The study of the Danish language was a prerequisite to get an autonomy granted by the Danish kingdom for its overseas territory. Danish is taught in schools. It is also used in conducting business correspondence, official publications, by media outlets and in compilation of official documentation. Faroese is the native language of the local population. At the legislative level in Denmark, it is recognized as the language of national minorities, although it is spoken by almost 99% of the local population on the territory of the archipelago. Linguistic scholars from all over the world distinguish the Faroese language from many other national linguistic units, as a full-fledged language structure that is not threatened with extinction in the next hundred years. This is regardless of the fact that only the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands speak this language.

Faroese language, along with the Danish, is employed when teaching in educational institutions. In some regions, the dialect of the Danish language, the so-called Nizhny Novgorod Danish, has become quite widespread. It is often called the language of Goethe. However, overtime, the dialect is replaced with classical literary Danish language. The indigenous Faroese themselves speak Danish with a rather big accent, although this does not hinder communication between the two ethnic groups. The oral speech of the Faroese can be partially understood only by the Icelanders, because both linguistic units are part of the Scandinavian languages. Many Icelanders have to study the Faroese to really understand it, and use dictionaries to translate printed publications in any case.

When it comes to the formation of narrowly focused branches, the Faroese language has a clear influence of Danish, and it borrows international terms much easier than other Scandinavian languages. The autonomous government of the Faeroe Islands today pays great attention to preserving the present Faroese language, which was native to the indigenous population of these Scandinavian territories. And, most likely, due to the fact that the Danish authorities are not in a hurry to strip the Faroese of their ethnic language, there is no hostility or open confrontation between the two peoples. With regards to the religious situation, unity also prevails in the Faroe Islands. To date, about 94% of the total population consider themselves believers and belong under the Finnish folk church. To date, it is one of the autonomous forms of the Lutheran Church (a branch of Christianity). Copyright www.orangesmile.com

It is worth noting that Christianity itself appeared on the territory of the islands at the end of the first century. Until then, the people of these islands worshiped pagan gods and on their individual islands had their own rituals and symbols. In the year 1015, King Olaf the first became the king of Norway, which at that time was the ruler of the Faroe Islands. He was known throughout the world as an ardent supporter of Christianity and coming to power, did not miss the moment to turn the entire local population of the Faroe Islands in this faith. In the second and third centuries, there were still open confrontations on the territory of the islands between the Old Believers and Christians. However, today the local population practically does not remember about the pagan past and lives according to Christian customs.

That notwithstanding, of course there is still a certain imprint of paganism on the islands. For example, on some islands, people still believe in the existence of elves, gnomes and other mythological creatures that were considered real in paganism. The religion of Christianity on the Faroese is not developed and even people who consider themselves believers rarely go to churches and temples, despite the fact that there are a lot of ancient Christian shrines left on the islands. The remaining 6% of the local population of the country either consider themselves atheists and do not believe in the existence of higher powers, or are adherents of other religious confessions, particularly Judaism and Islam. However, their number in the state is insignificant.