Last night the Danes celebrated "Skt. Hans Aften", a cosy night that comes each year on June 23. Skt. Hans, a Nordic tradition, is celebrated in connection with the summer solstice and it helps us to say "welcome" to summer!
De fleste mennesker i Danmark fejrede i aftes med venner. De havde en bål med den traditionsrige heks på bålet at sende væk "onde ånd" så der var mange bål overalt i Danmark i aftes.
Most people in Denmark celebrated last night with friends. They had a bonfire with the traditional witch on the bonfire to send away all of the evil spirits so there were many bonfires all over Denmark last night.
Selvfølgelig bålet er "at hygge sig" i stedet for lys fordi det er ikke mørk i Danmark i juni til MEGET SENT! Faktisk er det aldrig "fuldstændig mørk" under en dansk sommer aften! Dette billede er fra kl. 23.30 i Herning i aftes.
Of course the bonfire is really used to "make things all cosy" and not for light because it is not dark in Denmark in June until VERY LATE! In fact, it is actually never completely dark during a Danish summer night. This picture is from 11.30pm last night in Herning.
8 comments:
In the midst of all the grumbling on Skt Hans, here is one positive, happy post!
I was just reading the article in the Herning Folkeblad - I'm so glad you had a positive experience moving here! I do hope you still feel that way. I also hope you're making progress on the job front - I'm sure that must have been the hardest part of your moving! Glad you stopped by! ;)
Sigh. It's so bright here. Last night I lay awake thinking, Why can't it be dark out? LOL, I should remember that for next winter!
Kelli, do you black out your windows?
MMmm, I probably wrote one of the grumbling posts Paula refers to, (were there more? ;) ) but that isn't to say I wasn't very postive and happy to do so, LOL.
Moving swiftly on :P
Skt Hans is one of the more interesting and engaging Danish festivals, as is multi layered and has a good story to it (witches, John the Baptist, solstice undertones etc).
It's only when one has been through it more than a few times that there is a possibility to be a tad jaded by the proceedings. I still find Skt Hans Day interesting, even if we choose not to take part in the fest itself :)
I LOVE all this light! I find it amazingly invigorating, the late night light. At midnight the sky was a beautiful sapphire colour, and the bats were out in force, swooping about catching their dinner! We went and had a wander in a meadow, and it was amazing to be out and about at midnight with no absolute need for a torch.
But argh..even though I adore autumn, the solstice does remind us that now the days will be curling in shorter. I say, let's make the most of this light!
Ah - so this is how you celebrate midsummer! I believe that in some parts of Sweden, they still light bonfires, but for the most part it is maypoles, herring and alcohol...
This year was a very abnormal Skt. Hans as the tradition is that it p*sses down all evening and everybody gets miserable :-)
The pictures were great of the night sky still lit up - thanks for sharing. I hope you enjoyed a great Skt. Hans Aften! :-)
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