FILLED OF THINGS THAT WERE DONE IN FIRST 100 DAYS IN DENMARK (DAY 36)

DAY 36 – June 23, 2009

It’s midsummer here in Europe! And this is a different culture for me so I make sure that I will observe this kind of celebration. But let’s look what midsummer really is according to Wikipedia.

Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place around the 24th of June and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between cultures.

In Denmark, the solstitial celebration is called Sankt Hans aften ("St. John's Eve"). It was an official holiday until 1770, and in accordance with the Danish tradition of celebrating a holiday on the evening before the actual day, it takes place on the evening of 23 June. It is the day where the medieval wise men and women (the doctors of that time) would gather special herbs that they needed for the rest of the year to cure people.

It has been celebrated since the times of the Vikings by visiting healing water wells and making a large bonfire to ward away evil spirits. Today the water well tradition is gone. Bonfires on the beach, speeches, picnics and songs are traditional, although bonfires are built in many other places where beaches may not be close by (i.e. on the shores of lakes and other waterways, parks, etc.) In the 1920s a tradition of putting a witch made of straw and cloth (probably made by the elder women of the family) on the bonfire emerged as a remembrance of the church's witch burnings from 1540 to 1693. This burning sends the "witch" away to Bloksbjerg, the mountain 'Brocken' in the Harz region of Germany where the great witch gathering was thought to be held on this day.

Holger Drachmann and P. E. Lange-Müller wrote a midsommervise (Midsummer hymn) in 1885 called "Vi elsker vort land..." ("We Love Our Country") that is sung at every bonfire on this evening.

5pm, we begun to prepare our things to beach. Jess cooked spring roll and rice. We have apple and apple cider. We are really hungry but we need to wait till we get there. We walked down to beach and had some fun while walking. When we get there, we decided to feed ourselves and taste what Jess made.

Spring roll

Picnic by the beach

The celebration begun at 10pm. There’s a lot of people there esp the kids. They were really excited to see a huge bonfire. Now the bonfire begins! It’s a big fire! We also have this in the Philippines. My friends and family always do this in the beach but this, this a different because it is tradition. We tried to get pictures and video while some people singing a song. I had a good time. I am part of the midsummer of Denmark today. I feel like I am belong now.

a short video of bonfire

MORAL LESSON: Feel like you are one of them.