Funerals
A secular funeral is a ceremony that is both a celebration of your loved one’s life and an honourable farewell. It pays tribute to your loved one without religious connotations and recognises the grief of death, whilst also celebrating the life and heritage of a loved one.
Humanist funerals endeavour to keep the ceremony as personal as possible, focusing on the loved one lost. Secular funerals are available to everyone, no matter their religion and/or philosophy of life.
Secular funerals commemorate the decedent with respect and love. They don't adhere to the established end-of-life practices, conventions and traditions of a particular religion. Siðmennt's ceremonies do not have any religious connotations and focus on the lifetime of memories that friends and families of the loved one will carry on.
The pretext of Siðmennt's funerals should not be religious, and therefore are religious psalms or religious poetry not appropriate. This convention has expectations in special circumstances that should be discussed with the celebrant. Those who want their funeral to based on religion are kindly asked to resort to the relevant religious organisation.
Where can you have a secular funeral?
Secular funerals can be conducted in any suitable accommodation, such as Iðnó, Hannesarholt, Fáksheimilinu Elliðaárdal and other fitting buildings. Chapelles and churches that were financed by the burial-grounds fee (ísl. kirkjugarðsgjöld) for example the ones in Fossvogur and Akureyri, are public property and serviceable for everyone.
Our celebrants try their best to cater to the wishes of the deceased and their loved ones. Siðmennt does not seek to organize a funeral in a church or other religious buildings, but will fulfil any requests. Please bear in mind that the state church usually does not allow for Siðmennt's ceremonies to be held in their buildings.
After you've sent your inquiry Siðmennt will contact you within one day.
The celebrant will meet with the closest family to learn about the deceased's passage through life and commemorate their life.
Please note that Siðmennt is not an operating funeral service. Because of that you will have to contact a funeral service to take care of the practicality regarding the funeral.
Cost
The cost of a secular funeral with Siðmennt in 2023 is as follows:
Cost of funeral: 80.000 ISK
Coffin laying ceremony: 17.500 ISK
An independent function that is held on a different day or time of day than the funeral. If those two ceremonies are held at the same time you will not pay extra for the wake.
Burial: 17.500 ISK
If not on the day of the funeral, the price of a burial is 17.500 ISK
Travelling fee: 184 ISK pr kilometer
If the funeral is not within the region of our celebrant
Included in the cost is the service from Siðmennt as well as the work of the celebrant.
Members of Siðmennt
Funerals for members of Siðmennt or their children (0-17 years old) are subsidised fully.
The deceased has to have been a member of Siðmennt through Þjóðskrá or have paid the annual membership fee for the discount to go through. Relatives can contact Siðmennt's office to get information about a possible membership of the deceased.