The Couples' Ball in Fáskrúðsfjörður is now for everyone 25 and older

“The population composition here has changed as in many other parts of the country and twenty percent of the population here are immigrants,” Eiríkur Ólafsson, chairman of the “Couples' Dance” committee in Fáskrúðsfjörður , told mbl.is.

The conversation centers on the change in the established arrangement of the historically rooted Couples' Ball of Fáskrúðsfjörður, which history stretches back 120 years to the year 1900 when a coffee party was held in the town on the first weekend of January each year to say goodbye to those who then departed to start the fishing season.

Requires a minimum number

The change now means that the ball will be open to anyone who has reached the age of 25, regardless of marital status. However, Ólafsson notes specifically that younger people living together or married are of course welcome but for those who have not yet found a designated other, the ball will be open to all who have reached the age of 25.

He says that experience shows that the new inhabitants of the country have not been active in attending the dance in general, not until the second generation comes of age. “It takes a minimum number of people to support the band and other acts, and that’s why we’re making this change. The attendance has been downwards over the last few years and that’s the reason we’re opening it,” the committee chairman explains.

The second reason is his insistence. “When this started it was a coffee party to bid farewell to the people starting the fishing season, and usually, of course, they were the breadwinners of the homes. Then it gradually developed into a couple’s ball. But we do know that at the time, divorce was hardly possible after the people started their own home – if only for economic reasons,” continues Ólafsson.

The committee held a secret survey

As the years went by, divorce became more common. “And then it caused a pain for people who had been married for decades or two, and they got divorced. They had maybe worked on committees and whatnot, but then one day they were not allowed to go to the Couples' party. In fact, widowers and widows were always allowed to attend, but this is the other reason we’re opening it,” says Eiríkur.

This year’s ball will be unusually late, or at the end of January, but has generally been in the first weekend of the new year. This will be the first Couples' ball in the new format, and Eric says the committee has been conducting a secret survey among those who have attended the ball over the past decade, and the result has been to make this change, which Eric states, however, is not really a major one.

“Different times often call for different methods, but this is not a big change,” the committee chairman concludes, adding that people living in Fáskrúðsfjörður take priority as guests but people from the town who have moved away are also welcome as well as people in neighbouring communities.