Adolph F. Bergsöe from Denmark visited Iceland in the middle of the 19th century. Upon his return he published a little booklet about Iceland and the Icelanders. He pointed out that new-born Danish babies have considerably more chance of living than new-born Icelanders.
“Three times fewer less-than-one-year old babies die in Denmark compared to Iceland”, he stated. The reason? The most obvious one is the fact a new-born is brought to church to be Christened the day after birth, often a considerable distance and regardless of weather conditions.
Sveinn Skúlason, later an editor in Akureyri, Member of Parliament, and parish pastor, translated the booklet into Icelandic and saw reason to comment on the above. “This is no longer as common as it used to be because the local pastor is called to christen the child in the home of the new-born or, if weather is bad, parents wait for safer conditions before bringing their baby to church.”
Regardless of traditions, it still remained a fact that a child must not die unbaptized. Baptism purified the heart of original sin and afterwards the path into Heaven was clear for the child. When the life of a new-born was in question, parents called for so-called emergency baptism in order to guarantee the forgiveness of sins and rebirth to eternity.
It was the tradition throughout the better part of the 19th century that midwives managed the emergency baptism, but in 1877 it was considered necessary to limit their involvement. A new regulation regarding the duties of midwives stated: “If a pastor cannot be reached, and the father as well as other prudent individuals in the home shy away from performing the baptism, she (midwife) shall baptise the infant and report her doings to the pastor inside four days”.
The above is based on research by the Icelandic Historian Jón Hjaltason and his article “Skemmri skírn”. English version by Thor Group