Ó hamingjusamur dagur

Damn. I missed the wedding.

Jóhanna, daughter of Sigurðar married Jónína, daughter of Leo, in Reykjavik, and I would love to have been there. Jóhanna is 67, was once married to Þorvaldur Steinar, son of Jóhannes, and has two grown sons, one also called Sigurðar. Which makes him Sigurðar Þorvaldurson, I suppose, as well as Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir’s son. He has a brother named Davíð.

Jónína has a son too. His name is Gunnar and he apparently doesn’t have any ðs or accents in his name.

Jónína was born two days after my 14th birthday and is an actress, poet and playwright and has awards in both areas. She has had twelve of her plays produced on stage and television. She has also translated several books from English into Icelandic and has written four novels, two biographies and a book of essays. All of which goes into making her one snazzy lady, in my view.

They were married in church, I’ll thank you to note.

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was once an Icelandic Airlines stewardess, but is now prime minister of Iceland, where she helped make it possible for gays and lesbians to marry. Like her and Jónína, for example. Which they did on the day the law went into effect. Which was Sunday, the day before yesterday.

Not that there’s anything wrong with being a stewardess, but Jóhanna moved on to become one of her country’s longest standing politicians. She has sat in Parliament since 1978. When she lost an election fifteen years ago, she made news by shouting to her colleagues, “You haven’t heard the last of me!” Or something like that. I don’t know how well Icelandic translates through Austrian German where I got that bit.

But the point is she is apparently gutsy. Which is probably necessary these days, given the fact that Iceland, as you may recall, is in the toilet financially. A wholly owned subsidiary, or something like that, of the British banks, last I heard. Despite following her father into politics, she has fought nepotism and has the support of the left and the Greens, forces trying to pick up the pieces the conservatives left the country in when they ran the place.

But that’s all work stuff. This if family stuff. Happy Day stuff. Ó hamingjusamur dagur, if you want to sing "Oh, happy day" in Icelandic.

If you want to send a letter of congratulations to these two lovely daughters of men, sons of other men, now officially wed in now the ninth nation to recognize same-sex marriage (Iceland follows Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden, as well as the U.S. in six states and the Cherokee? No. The Chippewa? No. The Chikasaw? No. The Creek? No. The Coquille Tribe? Yes, that’s the one. As well as Mexico City, six U.S. states, and the Coquille Tribe), you can reach them, I suppose, at the Icelandic

Prime Minister's Office
Stjornarradshusid
150 Reykjavik
Iceland

Tel. +354 545 8400
Fax: +354 562 4014
E-mail: postur@for.stjr.is

Or, you might try one of the following, who I’m sure could get a message to Jónína:

The Danish Playwrights' Association
Danske Dramatikeres forbund
Chairman: Nina Malinowski
Klosterstræde 24, DK-1157 København K, Danmark
Tel: +45-33 45 40 35, fax: +45-33 45 40 39,
e-mail: admin@dramatiker.dk

The Finnish Dramatists' Union
Suomen Nytelmkirjailijaliiton - Finlands Dramatikerförbund
Chairman: Esko Salervo
Vironkatu 12 B, 13, SF-00170 Helsingfors, Finland
Tel: +358-90-135 6191 eller +358-90-135 6796, fax +358-90-135 6171

The Icelandic Dramatists´ Union
Leikskáldafélag Íslands
Chairman: Hávar Sigurjónsson
c/o Hávar Sigurjónsson, Brekkubær 15, 110 Reykjavík, Iceland
Tel: +354-5553991 Fax: +354-5552941
e-mail: leikskald@leikskald.is

The Norwegian Playwrights' Association
Norske Dramatikeres Forbund
Chairman: Gunnar Germundsson
Postbox 579, Sentrum, N-0105 Oslo, Norge
Tel: +47-22-41 13 44, fax: +47-22-42 03 56
e-mail: bangstad@dramatikerforbundet.no

The Swedish Playwrights' Union
Sveriges Dramatikerförbund
Chairman: Rolf Börjlind
Blå Tornet, Drottninggatan 85, S-111 60 Stockholm, Sverige
Tel: +46-8-21 33 10, fax: +46-8-613 39 79,
e-mail: sdf@dramatiker.se


P.S. dottir, even though it looks like English daughter, is apparently pronounced more like German Tochter. Don’t ask me why. Guess when they put the t sound in the l they had to compensate by putting the ch in chutzpah into the double t. Something to do with volcanoes. You know, Eyjafjallajökull , where those two ls are prounounced like tl? Which you can learn all about in an 11-minute tutorial in German, if you like. Just click on http://www.belleslettres.eu/artikel/eyjafjallajokull-aussprache.php