GETTING TO KNOW THE DANES

Sankt Hans Aften

Being in Denmark around the 23rd of June will enable you to experience the bonfires in celebration of midsummer. This particular tradition offers insight into the Danish culture of cosiness or “hygge”.

While in Denmark, you should not miss out on an enjoyable and fundamental Danish tradition. This is the evening when the Danes celebrate what has come to be known as "Sankt Hans Aften", which can be translated as the evening before the day of Saint John the Baptist.

History: Those who know that Denmark is a protestant Christian country may wonder why people would honour the predominantly catholic custom of celebrating the day of an individual saint such as John the Baptist. Actually, this tradition has its roots in ancient, pre-Christian folklore, but it was adopted and quietly transformed by the church when Christianity became the official state religion back in the year 965.

After the reformation of 1536, when Denmark adopted the protestant faith, the desire among ordinary people to celebrate Sankt Hans was still so strong that an act outlawing the tradition in 1743 went by unobserved and was quickly withdrawn.

Originally, the cause for celebration of midsummer arose from a pagan belief that in the period around summer-solstice nature would have reached a peak in the sense that humans, plants, soil, trees and even springs were filled with energy coming from the sun and that from this point on nature's energy stores would deteriorate as the hours of daylight and sunshine gradually decreased.

For pagan mystics the days around summer-solstice were thus the best time to go out in the countryside and cut herbs and plants for use in their concoctions. After Christianity had made its entry into Denmark, such activities were generally frowned upon, and people tended to believe that gathering together and lighting huge bonfires would be a good way to ward off evil spirits and witches, who might otherwise bestow evil curses upon their land or their animals. At the same time, however, many people believed that this night proved a particular good time to visit one of the many holy springs of the countryside, as the water was supposed to be charged with very special healing qualities on this night. Several other rituals including dressing up the livestock with special decorations made out of leaves and twigs were carried out by superstitious farmers in order to protect their cattle from incursions of evil spirits.

The modern day tradition: Over time, the tradition of lighting bonfires dominated and other rituals gradually withered away as people preferred the cosiness of gathering around a warm fire. Songs and music had always been a part of this tradition, but during the 19th century the traditional folk songs were replaced by patriotic songs. The most well-known of these is "Vi elsker vort land" ("We love our country") also known as the "Midsommervise" ("Midsummer song"). It is sung at every Sankt Hans-celebration across the country, and was written in 1885 by the Danish poet Holger Drachmann. The original version had music by P. E. Lange-Müller. In 1979 the Danish pop icons in the band "Shu-bi-dua" composed a new melody for the song, and since then either version has been in use at Sankt Hans-celebrations all across the country.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it became common to affix a figure resembling a witch on top of the bonfire. This tradition came from Germany, and some Danes regard this particular part of the tradition with mixed emotions as it evokes memories of the horrible persecutions and "witch"-burnings carried out in Denmark and other European countries in the 17th century. However, this custom is only a small part of the overall tradition, and it is easy to forget about the negative associations once you immerse yourself in the general atmosphere of cosiness surrounding the celebrations.

The most recent addition to the Sankt Hans-celebrations is the custom of the recent high school graduates to meet up at the bonfires to throw their lecture notes into the fire and to generally enjoy their last party before going on summer holidays. In the weeks before Sankt Hans, these students will have finished their last exams and will have been celebrating at numerous parties with their classmates. They are easily recognisable as they will be wearing their traditional white caps with red or blue rims and a black peak for the last time on this evening.

Tips on how best to experience the celebrations: If you are not so lucky to have been invited to a celebration by a Danish friend, you can still enjoy much of the atmosphere on your own. Probably the best way to enjoy a Sankt Hans celebration is to go the coast. The many villages along the Danish coastline will all have their own Sankt Hans bonfire, and you should be easily able to find one by either driving around or asking at the nearest tourist office. The bonfire is typically lit at any time between 8 and 10 in the evening, so it is a good idea to arrive a little early and to bring along a rug and a picnic basket with food and some wine or beer to enjoy while waiting for the bonfire. Some people even bring along the small barbeque grills that can be used only once and make their own barbeque on the coast while waiting. (Remember to take your garbage with you. Polluting the coast is severely frowned upon in Denmark.) Just before the bonfire is lit there will be a so-called Sankt Hans-speech typically performed by a prominent member of the local community. Typically the mayor or another local politician, but artists and writers have also been known to do these speeches. The topics of the speech will center around Danish history, traditions and values, and how society is changing today, but that many of the traditional Danish values are still relevant in a modern day context. When the speech is finished, people will typically proceed to singing the Midsummer Song and the fire will be lit.

This is considered to be a very beautiful and cosy moment as everyone will be looking into the fire and at each other. Families will be there and the little kids will be fascinated by the flames and sparks of the fire. The students will be present and will be singing, dancing and drinking, and they will be busy throwing their lecture notes into the fire. Boats will be in the water admiring the bonfire from a distance. If you take a look along the coast you will see numerous small fires. This is a sight, which reminds Danes that they belong together, and that Denmark is a country with many open shores - both geographically and in the figurative sense. Fireworks may also form a part of the bonfire, if the local city council or harbour authority have decided to spend the extra money, but this is by no means essential.

It is of course also possible to enjoy a Sankt Hans-bonfire without going to the coast. In Copenhagen, for example, there are numerous bonfires across the city. The Tivoli Gardens have organised one in the last few years, and there is also one in "Fælledparken" (The Commons) and another one on the lakes of Copenhagen.

The Vikings and the Viking Plays

In exactly the same way that the Vikings left their traces throughout Europe’s history, on a smaller and less aggressive scale they left their mark on the island of Zealand.

Zealand’s unique geography, with its two incisive northern fjords effectively acting as maritime motorways from safe harbour to open sea, provided the ideal settling place for the seafaring, warlike and surprisingly business minded race known as the Vikings. In fact, a growing number of scholars have suggested that the very name Viking could derive from vik, meaning an inlet, fjord or bay.

As a visitor to Zealand, Copenhagen is an excellent base for forays into the surrounding towns and cities on a quest for traces of our Danish forbears. You won’t have to look far, either. From sausage stand logos to the finest restaurant menu cards, the omnipresent horned helmet symbolises the Danish awareness of their illustrious past as warriors, explorers and empire builders. If only the graphic designers and marketing men responsible had made a trip to the National Museum in central Copenhagen.

There, they would have discovered that the Vikings didn’t have horns on their helmets - rather an elongated nose protector which doesn’t have quite such a romantic ring to it. The recently modernised museum houses permanent national collections of Viking treasure troves - including silver decorations plundered from as far away as Russia and grave finds from Denmark. The Vikings’ often overlooked talent for monumental architecture has an exhibition room to itself as has the impressive collection of the their characteristic rune stones. In the museum gift shop it’s possible to buy replicas of the more famous pieces of Viking jewellery in both precious and non precious metals.

If it’s the real thing you’re after, then take a trip out of Copenhagen to Zealand’s other prime Viking sites, Roskilde and Frederiksund. If you have the use of a car, then explore some of the more off the beaten track delights of the fjordland countryside, with its countless Neolithic barrows and Viking age ship tumuli, not to mention some of Denmark’s most picturesque Kro or inns.

Half an hour from Copenhagen lies Roskilde. A city of both kings and Vikings, the cathedral is the final resting place of no less than 38 Danish monarchs. It was the easy access to the natural harbour at the end of the fjord which led the Vikings to establish a town and commercial centre here, and this is borne out by the discovery of five Viking ships in the fjord which can now be seen in the purpose built Viking Ship Museum. On the new museum island there are workshops and conservation projects, ongoing reconstructions of Viking ships and the possibility of going sailing on the fjord in a copy of an original Viking longboat.

To reach Frederiksund from Roskilde in a particularly Viking style, you can sail with the ferry, Harald Blåtand along the original Viking route, passing along the way the old navigation channel at Skudelev, where the ships displayed in the museum were found. They had been deliberately scuppered in the channel to prevent invaders from reaching Roskilde.

Frederiksund annually hosts The Viking Plays a tradition since 1952. The season runs through midsummer from mid June to early July, with an elaborately staged episode from the Viking Sagas, complete with full scale burning longboats and a cast of over 150 amateurs. If you book in advance you can get a guided tour of the nearby Viking Settlement followed by a feast of Viking proportions - complete with foaming beer and flame-grilled meat - to get you in the mood for the evenings festivities. The plays themselves are performed in the open-air amphitheatre on the outskirts of the Viking Settlement. Here you can find authentic copies of five pit houses, a plank road and jetty and the latest addition, a Viking Long house. Lively in summer, the town itself is an archetypal Danish balance between the old and new, with pedestrian streets and pavement cafes and bodegas. If you’ve rented a car, the drive from Roskilde to Frederiksund takes you through some of the most beautiful landscapes that Zealand has to offer in the fjordland of Hornsherred, with its idyllic preserved villages complete with common and pond, gently rolling hills and hidden coves and bays.

The open air scene lies in that part of Frederikssund called "Kalvøen", In the same area you will also find "Frederikssund Lystbådehavn", "Frederikssund Hallen" and "Frederikssund Idrætsklub". For that bit of extra assistance, yellow and red striped signs have been posted by all roads leading to Frederikssund city, guiding guests directly to the viking games.

The Viking Plays run from June 20^th to July 6^th, 2003.  http://www.vikingespil.dk/

Ticket sales through Billetnet http://www.billetnet.dk/  or Tel: 7015 6565

Contact info@vikingespil.dk or telephone the Frederikssund Tourist Bureau on 4731 0685

There is a free Viking Market being held on the weekend of June 21^st & 22^nd.

Sat. 14:00 to 18:00 and Sun. 11:00 to 15:00.

Tivoli turns 160

In 2003 it will be 160 years since the King of Denmark gave Georg Carstensen his royal permission to run an amusement park in the heart of Copenhagen. ”When the populace are enjoying themselves they forget about politicking,” the widely travelled Georg Carstensen reasoned to Christian VIII who fully appreciated the wisdom in letting his subjects ride the merry-go-round instead of plotting regicide.

This year, Tivoli will be commemorating the Gardens’ pivotal role in the Danish world of entertainment and its status as a true heavyweight among Danish cultural institutions with a festive array of special arrangements, concerts and new entertainment offers along with a permanent discount on year-round passes (priced at DKK 160).

All in all, Tivoli has more than 2,000 free entertainment events on offer throughout the summer – many of which are provided by one of Tivoli’s four orchestras, the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, the Tivoli Big Band, the Tivoli Promenade Orchestra and the Tivoli Boys Guard Band.

The celebrations won't stop at the unique Tivoli lighting, the contrast to the bustling metropolis just outside the Gardens, the music, and the many amusements. Tivoli’s restaurants will also offer culinary quality and innovation. This year Paul Cunningham, one of the country’s most outstanding chefs, will revive the Mirror Hall as an unparalleled restaurant from the very opening. His new establishment, called Paul, will add yet another quality restaurant to the assortment of offers introduced in the Gardens in recent years.

When Tivoli Gardens opened in 1843, visitors had a choice of two amusements – a horse-drawn carrousel and a roller coaster. Today, there are 25 amusements. Four of these are roller coasters, with the oldest, ‘Bjergrutschebanen’ (the Mountain Roller Coaster), dating from 1914, still the most popular amusement in Tivoli. This year the old “Baljebane” has been renovated, but exactly how won't be revealed at the Tivoli opening on April 11 2003…

Tivoli Gardens are open from the middle of April to the end of September

For more information check out www.tivoligardens.com or call 33 15 10 01

Traditions Celebrated around Easter

Påske: In 2003, Easter commences on Thursday, April 17th (Maundy Thursday) and continues until Easter Monday, known as "Second Easter Day" on April 21st.  This is another period of the year when churches are well attended in Denmark, but material things are also a great attraction to the Danes. On Easter Sunday, families gather for lunch and the table is laid in yellow and with coloured eggs for decorations.  Similar to the Danish "Julefrokost" (Christmas lunch), Easter lunch is no exception and the table is replete with all manner of food, Danish schnapps and a special, potent beer brewed specially for Easter. For the children (and anyone else with a sweet tooth) eye-catching chocolate Easter eggs are often exchanged, although this didn't come into being until the late 1800's. Another lesser known tradition is that of sending a "gækkebrev", (i.e. a letter, usually in verse, in which a snowdrop is enclosed, and where the receiver is asked to guess who the sender is. If the receiver guesses correctly the sender must buy them an Easter egg, however if the receiver guesses incorrectly, they buy the sender an Easter egg.

Kristi Himmelfartsdag, Store Bededag and Pinsedag: After Easter comes Ascension (Kristi Himmelfartsdag), a normal religious festival, followed on the fourth Friday after Easter by "Store Bededag" (there is no equivalent in the English language), however literally translated it means "Great Prayer Day".  This was introduced in 1686 to replace a great many days of prayer and penance, and people fasted until the church service on Great Prayer Day was over. The day is an official holiday, but nowadays only the popular tradition of eating hot wheat muffins is a time-honoured custom.

Whitsun, as well as having religious significance, marks the definite appearance of spring: Danes head for the woods early on Whitsunday to watch "the sun dance".

The Queen's Birthday: The Queen's birthday, April 16, is particularly popular among the children: many of them get a day off school. In Copenhagen they gather in hundreds outside the royal palace, waving small Dannebrog* flags and shouting congratulations to their monarch (*Dannebrog is the official name of the Danish flag). It has become a tradition for the Queen to appear with the royal family on the main balcony at Amalienborg Palace to receive the cheers of the crowd.

Workers' Day: In Denmark, Workers's Day is always celebrated on May 1 as it is throughout the world. It is a tradition, for those who wish to do so, to take half the day off from work and gather in parks and other public places to listen to politicians and/or other well-known personalities deliver suitable speeches.

BAKKEN

Having opened over 400 years ago (its roots can be traced back to 1583), Dyrehavsbakken (also called Bakken) is the oldest amusement park in the world, and you can be sure to find plenty of entertainment and high spirits. Danes have been coming here for generations, and to many Danes, Bakken is the embodiment of the national spirit.   Entry is free, and there are more than 150 attractions to enjoy and a good selection of restaurants/cafés/kiosks.

During Winter the park is closed, but since the '60's it has been a tradition that motorcycle riders meet on Nørrebrogade at 19:00 on the day Bakken opens for the new season, and ride up to Bakken in convoy. Approximately 8,000 riders participate, so it is quite a spectacle. 

The amusement park has been growing and evolving year after year amongst the ancient trees and wonderful historical surroundings of Dyrehaven, the former Royal hunting grounds in Klampenborg.

History of Dyrehavsbakken
Following World War II Dyrehavsbakken became a refreshing and jovial village for adults who enjoyed its bohemian atmosphere and light-hearted fun. The golden years of Dyrehavsbakken may be gone, and few are the aging survivors of the 'good old days' when the Bakken Sangerinder (the Bakken girls) were rough and provocative and Denmark's first famous Drag Queen Mona Lisa built his reputation in Bakkens Hvile (restaurant-cabaret). Today Bakken is best enjoyed by children and teenagers.

Around Bakken
Bakken's setting in Dyrehaven, one of Denmark's prettiest natural areas, is unique. Only 10 km north of Copenhagen, stags and deer graze freely nearby. You can start the day with a lovely tour of Dyrehaven on foot or by horse and carriage before joining the lively party atmosphere of Bakken A great cultivated forest, Dyrehaven (the Royal Deer Park) is within easy reach of the city of Copenhagen, and is extremely popular with nature-walkers, cyclists and riders on horseback.

The park has 13 separate entrances and the paths begin as you enter through the familiar red wooden gates. If you are approaching the park from Copenhagen, you can take the S-train (Copenhagen electric metropolitan railway) to the idyllic wooden station at Klampenborg, which also has a large car park. As well as one of Copenhagens more beautiful and popular beaches, Bellevue, just around the corner.

In 1760, the German forester, Johann G. Von Lange, introduced several varieties of new trees. Today, many of the park's trees hark back to this period. Dyrehaven is known for its large open plains interspersed with small clusters of oak, beech and thicket. Here visitors can spot grassing deer. The animals have eaten the leaves so that the undersides of the large, oval treetops have become completely flat.

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Last modified: April 03, 2002