Today is the longest day of the year, and in Denmark we're pretty serious about that. If you look up Aarhus on Weather Underground, you'll see that not only do we have 19 hours and 47 minutes of visible light, but that the sun will neither rise nor set. It will apparently just sort of chill somewhere close to, but not actually below the horizon. Maybe you're having a hard time imagining what that's like. It means that if you go to bed at any sort of normal time, it's not full dark yet, and even if you get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, it's already light again.
Danes like to celebrate not on the actual Solstice, but a couple days later, on June 23rd. That's Sankt Hans' Aften, where you go out and build a bonfire on the beach to keep evil spirits away all year.
Here's our favorite Danish painter, Krøyer, depicting the festivities in Skagen.
This year, though, we're heading down to a different favorite Dane-stination (sorry, I couldn't help myself). Tivoli!
They're having special Sankt Hans fires and lights too--and we'll put some pictures up here soon!
But so you can get prepared, you should know that it's also traditional to sing the song "Vi elsker vort land," (meaning "We love our country") at the bonfires. The verses were originally written by the poet Holger Drachmann--a friend and colleague of Krøyer's--but in the 80s the Danish band Shu-bi-dua made a pop version of the song, which you can hear here.
Finally, just so you know, you can predict the future weather based on Sankthansaften weather. If it rains, for instance, it will keep raining for six more weeks. And if it rains a lot, the hazelnuts won't grow big at all! That would be a tragedy, so keep your fingers crossed for a brilliantly sunny (and virtually sunset-less) day here in Denmark. Happy Sankt Hans to you all!
Danes like to celebrate not on the actual Solstice, but a couple days later, on June 23rd. That's Sankt Hans' Aften, where you go out and build a bonfire on the beach to keep evil spirits away all year.
Here's our favorite Danish painter, Krøyer, depicting the festivities in Skagen.
But so you can get prepared, you should know that it's also traditional to sing the song "Vi elsker vort land," (meaning "We love our country") at the bonfires. The verses were originally written by the poet Holger Drachmann--a friend and colleague of Krøyer's--but in the 80s the Danish band Shu-bi-dua made a pop version of the song, which you can hear here.
Finally, just so you know, you can predict the future weather based on Sankthansaften weather. If it rains, for instance, it will keep raining for six more weeks. And if it rains a lot, the hazelnuts won't grow big at all! That would be a tragedy, so keep your fingers crossed for a brilliantly sunny (and virtually sunset-less) day here in Denmark. Happy Sankt Hans to you all!
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