We talk about and celebrate Sankt Hans Aften at Tivoli in 2022. Instagram - / travelinyoung00 Facebook - / travelinyoung Website - Merch - travelin-young...
I love this . It made me remember the last one I went to any years ago with my late friends. We went to Frederiksberg have. It was full moon and we walked home and hadÆbleskiver. They have past like most of my Danish family and friends. That is what happens when you get old. But great memories. Wish you had played the song. Thank you for great memories.❤️🇺🇸🇩🇰
Summer solstice is June 21 which has the longest day. June 24 Sankt Hans is the day with the latest sunset. But the difference is less than a minute. #astrofacts
By Country Day you mean National Day, right? Denmark is one of only two countries in the world, that doesn't have an official National Day. The other is United Kingdom. Grundlovsdag (constitution day) is considered sort of a semi National Day, but personally, as a dane, I have never heard that term being used on Sankt Hans. It's a fairly low key event and not even a public holiday - not anymore. In order to get people away from the pagan midsummer traditions, the church came up with the idea to combine it with the celebration of the birthday of John the Baptist, which according to the Bible, the Gospel of Luke, was 6 months before the birth of Jesus, which means June 24. The celebration takes place the night before. Bloksbjerg is the danish name for the mountain Brocken in Germany, where witches according to tradition gather at midsummer. King Christian 4, who you have talked about before, who build so many things, was a notorious witch hunter. Something rarely mentioned about him.
You should also try one of the many beaches, where there are also bonfires, on Skt. Hans. It is spectacular, with the water in the background reflecting the light from the fire. And often you can see several bonfires, along the beach. Very nice and cozy 😊 (Ohh, I see that I'm not the first one to suggest the beach. But that just underscores, how many people likes to go there ☺️)
Find a bonfire on the coast, it looks great with the sea as background. You could take a boat trip along the coast, up Øresund and the top of Sjælland. That would look great. I live in Kerteminde, it is a coastal town, and we have bonfires on the beach. Someone had put a lot of Putin pictures on the bonfires, so now we know he is at Bloksbjerg.
I love the Summer Solstice 🔥 It's my favorite day of the year! 💗 Some real 'adventures' you've had! I can imagine your shock at seeing the witch burning! 🧙🧹 There are many options, but you could try: 1. going to Ribe Viking Center, for Skt. Hans and watch the Litha celebrations - the Asa do not use witches; for obvious reasons, they use flowers (like Tivoli apparently did) 2. visiting Frederiksberg Have, of course 3. a boat trip from Vedbæk to Hundested and watch the bonfires from the sea hello from Hundested 🌸🌱
Oh no, Dear. True, it's a nice party on the 23rd - but from there on, it's down hill. Our daily pleasure of checking, how much longer the day is, suddently turns to pain. Now, you'll have to wait half a year, before you can re-launch counting up: 2 minuttes, 5, 10 minuttes, 3 hours, 7, 11 hours! And then, down we go :-(( But Sanct Hans, San Juan, John the Baptist, who ever... It's Summer Solstice up North - It's Magic
@@ane-louisestampe7939 It's the same disappointment for anyone, whether it's 1 day of Christmas or the New Year celebrations...you have to wait another year for it to come around...circle of life, right?! 😉
My feed on any kind of social media is always filled with dad jokes about how to take care of brooms and avoiding bad weather, ranging from innocently witty to downright lewd XD Ohh, one of my favorit topics! To an extend Sankt Hans is kinda the celebration of witches in Denmark and especially for the kids it is treated more like the burning is a send off (to Bloksbjerg where all the witches gather on Sankt Hans) rather than killing. Denmark is one of the only places in the world where the witches were burned (in the US they were hanged, as you probably know) and it was extensive, though oddly not as bad as in other places. The processes lasted from 1540 and the last witch was burned in 1695 (interesting because it actually predates the reformation and the witch burnings were generally a lutheran protestant thing). It is estimated that around 2000 trials were carried out over those 150 years but unlike in other places upwards of 50% were actually acquitted. Fun fact (or not so fun, depending on your point of view) one of the most famous events during this period was the Copenhagen witch trials of 1590 that ended with 17 witches being burned at the stake. Basically Princess Anne of Denmark was on her way to marry the Scottish king however her ship ended up in a storm and she stranded in Norway. King James VI of Scotland (later king of England and Ireland) traveled to meet her but when they were set to return to England another storm shipwrecked them. The Danish court who was very up in arms about witchcraft insisted that it had to be witches. This set off not only the Copenhagen witch trials. Not to be outdone and finding himself ever so inspired the Scottish king decided to have his witch trials as well and from 1590-1592 around 70 people were convicted and killed for trying to kill the queen. When James was crowned king of England he brought these extensive practices with him, causing the cases to skyrocket. In Scottland alone upwards of 4000 people were tortured and burned as witches and it is estimated that the number is a bit over 2000 in England.
I can confirm. My wife and I hiked to the top and took the train down some years ago. For those wondering we didn't come across any witches (burned or otherwise) but Harzen is also a popular destination for motorcyclists wanting to enjoy the scenic, hilly and winding roads.
I haven't been to a Sankt Hans event in quite a while, but I remember we used to burn a witch on the fire. That is, a more cartoonish version with some dressed up kindling riding a broom, preferably aimed at Bloksbjerg. So more of a Halloweenish feel to it, than anything serious.
We used to celebrate Sankt Hans at with/at my dad’s workplace. He’s a firefighter. The firefighters used to stuff the witch with fireworks called heksehyl and small rockets, so when the fire got to the witch she would be launched from the bonfire. Also one year they had a hard time to get the fire lit, like you experienced - tho the firefighters my dad’s work had flamethrowers ready and well they got the bonfire lit. Never underestimate the ingenuity of firefighters.
For the view, the best place to be is on a coastline or a lake, where you can see the different bonfires along the coast. In your neighborhood that would be either at Vejle sø (Holte Station) or Lyngby Sø (The rowing club I think). Official bonfires sometimes are allowed to have fireworks as well.
Skt.Hans scared the sh*t outta me as a kid. The locals would put heksehyl into the figurine and I thought the witch was really screaming even though my parents assured me it was just fireworks and a doll. This year I wore long striped socks. Cuz I would have definitely been burnt. ;) Some people ( like me ) do still celebrate the summer solstice without any national feelings or christianity. It "just" a celebration of long summer days and light. And the magic that is a bonfire. :D
I know you went to see Middelaldercentret, but you should really consider going there on Skt. Hans evening. Besides the fire, the also fire the "blides" with fireballs, which is an amazing sight to see.
If you can get a little further next year, and if the weather is good, try to go to "Byparken" in Roskilde. It is a beautiful place next to the harbor, where many people gather for Sankt Hans to have a picnic, listen to music and there is a big bonfire and everything is free, - but unfortunately the witch was missing this year :)
Det var et lille bål i Tivoli. I skal finde nogle danske hillbilly venner. De plejer at gemme alt træ og haveaffald i løbet af året og så brænde det af på Skt. Hans.😁 Spektakulært!
I'm happy we're in a process about re-evaluating the witch burning part of it. I'd also be happy if it was just called Midsommer, as it's been called for centuries before "Skt. Hans". I hope that a de-Christianization of these holidays becomes more of the norm, or that we at least prioritise and emphasize teaching children where these holidays actually come from.
You should observe the bonfires along the shores. Not only along the coast but as well along the shores of a number of lakes in North Sealand like Lyngby Sø, Bagsværd Sø and Furesøen. I did celebrate Skt. Hans aften to gether with 10 friends on a boat on Holbæk Fjord.
Please take note that Denmarks official "country day" happens to be "Grundlovsdag" on June the 5th, celebrating the ratification of the Danish constitution of June 5th 1849, when Denmark as a state, transposed from absolutism to "representative parliamentarism". The date June 5th was chosen because one year prior, on June 5th 1848, Danish forces under General Hedemann, repulsed a combined Hanoverian/Prussian assult on the Dybbøl Heights during the Danish War of 1848. Prussian General Wrangel, commander in chief of the 10th confederate German Corps, chose the date June the 5th, to assult the Danish positions, because of the birthday of the Hanoverian King Ernest August 1 on that specific date, thus assuming that under the pretext of holding a military parade in the event of the kings birthday, the Danes would be less suspicious about the upcoming assult.
Midsummer and midwinter were significant, even vital, loong before chrstianity reached northern Europe. Most americans do not realise, what latitudes, we are talking about! Looong before christianity was introduced, it was understood that the ever increasingly shorter, darker days and longer nights would not continue unto the death of all things living, but turn into more light and a continuation of life. And the celabration of this can still be fould in christian celebrations. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in winter - historically correct, except for the date, which was chosen in reflection of Nordic midwinter. I have been in Bethlehem in winter and longingly thought of my godfather's warm and cosy cowshed, while passing US industrialised franchises for burgers and chicken in disgust. As clever politicians, the missionaries of christianity of course used local customs and sentiments for their own purposes!
I think its because Walpurgis night or witch night (Valborg in Danish) was a holy night between 30th april and 1st may. According to German folklore the witches met that night at Brocken/Blocksberg , Harz mountain range, Germany. Though not sure why 2 different dates in Northern Germany and Denmark - or if a Danish king again merged 2 holy days together, as with store bededag . Saint Walpurg (Sankt Valborg) is a saint you pray to since 870, so that witchcraft will not fall upon you. Her day was marked with a burnfire on the night of the 30th of April
Can you explain what the cost is about moving from europe to denmark and what needs to be done before moving to denmark? I live in belgium and want to move to denmark someday, but rlly dont know how much it would cost. I hope you can give some tips Love the vids
Danish Wikipedia says: "Bloksbjerg eller Brocken er det højeste bjerg i Harzen, Tyskland, med en højde på 1.141 meter. Ifølge Goethes Faust (1808) er Bloksbjerg hver Valborgsaften centrum for den årlige heksesabbat. Bloksbjerg er efter murens fald blevet et velbesøgt turistmål, hvortil man kommer med Bloksbjergbanen (på tysk: Brockenbahn). Banen er en smalsporsbane, som benytter damplokomotiver." "Bloksbjerg or Brocken is the highest mountain in the Harz Mountains, Germany, with a height of 1,141 meters. According to Goethe's Faust (1808), Bloksbjerg is the center of the annual witch sabbath every Valborg evening. After the fall of the wall, Bloksbjerg has become a well-visited tourist destination, which can be reached by the Bloksbjerg line (in German: Brockenbahn). The track is a narrow gauge track, which uses steam locomotives."
It's interesting, when I grew up I always celebrated Sankt Hans in northern Jutland, with my grandparents, and there was never a witch. The witch thing was a surprise to me when I heard of it as a teenager, even though it is part of the Sankt Hans song. I wonder if this was a regional thing or a specific idiosyncrasy of my grandparents, who were both very feminist.
I grew up on Lolland in circles that would never consider putting a witch on the Sankthans fire either. Not particlularly feminist but rather people who went to church on most sundays. I also only heard about the witches as a teenager, and I remember being somewhat abhorred and mystified by it. I still prefer the fire without a witch. While the tradition is certainly not universally accepted, it seems that the more outspoken opponents are often either on the feminist or the church-going side. It would be interesting to hear if there are other witch-free circles, though. By the way, the song only mentions that witches and trolls should be 'kept away with bonfires of joy'.
This year I was finally back at my local Sankt Hans celebration which I have missed the last couple of years. First of all the weather was really great which it NEVER is on Sankt Hans then when we had to sing they got out a little band with some wind instruments which they don’t normally do and I also didn’t have to listen to a speech. Definitely a good start after the Covid break. One thing that was a little sad was that they didn’t have the witch unlike other years. I get how it might be perceived badly by actual real life witches but first of all I don’t think there are a lot of those here in Denmark unless modern Asatroende counts and it’s not like we are killing them we are just sending them to the witch mountain. I can probably get used to it but it feels weird. About the holiday being patriotical I will say it is a little bit to some extent. Parts of the Midsommer song is about how we love our country and will defend it. At the event we also sang “Danmark nu blunder den lyse nat” which celebrates the Danish summer and includes the wonderful line “byger der går og kommer/det er den danske sommer” it translates into “rain that comes and goes/that is the Danish summer” byger is specifically a short period of rain usually very powerful but then it stops as quickly as it came. A part of the patriotical feeling might just be that old songs liked to have patriotical elements in it and since we use those songs on the holiday that carries over
I don't think there is a direct connection between nationalism and skt hans. But the tradition of coming together as a community with song can also be related to the 'alsang' - literally 'communal singing' which was part of the the passive resistance to the nazis during the WWII occupation. From 1940-43 these events drew thousands of participants with a selection of songs similar to the ones sung at Skt Hans.
The burning of the witch ties into the pagan lore. Midsummer -which is actually a Danish word, is the day also where all the witches flies on their brooms to Bloksbjerg (Brocken Hartzen, Germany.) for their annual gathering. With the European witch burnings facilitated by the Church, and religious encroachment, in stead of celebrating a day without witches.... They started burning an effigy of a witch on the fire. Denmark and Scandinavia is truly a melting pot for monotheistic religion and paganism. The winter solstice "Jul" is still called Jul, where everywhere else it's called Christmas. In the 17-18th century, the church tried to get us to call it "Kristmesse" but this was utterly refused. In Valdres Norway there is a stave church, where they discovered carvings of Odin masks at the church attic. Supposedly the church goers divided into groups - One for the Christian god, and the others went up in the attic. Ohh yeah, and all the days of the week are still named after the gods of the Norse mythology and paganism. I would love for you to take make an episode about the religious differences between USA and Denmark - Especially in the light of the recent SCOTUS ruling on Roe v. Wade - Where it's obvious that USA has begun it's decent into madness and Theocracy.
You guys should google the Sank Hans bonfire in Ålesund, Norway. I was there the year they got the world record for biggest bonfire, but im not sure if they still hold the record.
It was actually German craftsmen that reintroduced Skt. Hans in the 1880s. But the witch burning tradition began in the 1920s. It is unclear why this happened.
"hva' si'r du?" I've thrown that one for family, friends, collegues, and customers. Be them Danes, or foreigners, they all agree: that fåking Nordmand (Norweigian) is right! Too right! murmered the Danes, while the immigrants smiled a mix of relief, and "I told you so" Hvert sogn sine trolde (each parish, it's trolls) Yeah...them trolls are from Norway ;-) :-)) :-)) But, yet another very informative video. Keep it up - Hygge!
The part with the witch doesn't originate very long back (historically). It probably started in the late 1800. Witch burnings (the real ones) was a thing of the reformation - not the catholic period. The last one was in 1693 so a period of apx. 150 years. We know of less than 1000 witch burnings - the real number is probably a few thousand - probably between 10 and 20 a year in average. Bad for the witches (which could also be men), but maybe not many compared to all the other corporal punishments.
Denmark does not have a national day, because we have not been under another nation rules. And there for there is no day to celebrate our independence from another country. Even under ww2, Denmark had a joint political dealwhit Germany.
Regarding witch burning: Yeah, the tradition of putting a witch on the Sankt Hans fire was indeed imported from Germany around 1900. Previously the bonfire had no witches, but was simply meant to ward off evil spirits. In recent years some people have started asking if it isn’t about time we do away with this part of sankt hans, due to it’s - arguably - misogynistic undertones and reminiscence of a time in the 1600-hundreds where we executed a lot of intelligent, nonconformist women. I think it’s a pretty interesting discussion, but obviously it can get pretty heated every time you discuss culture and tradition
@@GarmrsBarking Instead of witch burning, what about burning evil people on yearly basis? This year could have been celebrated as the burning of Putin. People get too much hung up on the meaning of old traditions. If that is a problem today, nothing should really be celebrated, inclusive or especially Christmas.
@@GarmrsBarking Yes, because burning an ersatz dummy reinforces and encourages us all to live our terribly misogynistic and "offensive" lives. I haven't in all my life ever thought or met a single person that thought Sankt Hans is offensive, insensitive or misogynistic. When women were genuinely burned at the stake, it wasn't on the simple virtue of them being female. I'm not against modifying or slightly changing traditions or being completely rid of them in certain circumstances, but one should know why they want to remove or change it before they do.
Actually, Sant Hans is not on the correct day for the Summer Solstice. Summer Solstice is actually June 22. My guess is that when the Danes turned christian, the local pagan holy days were "adopted" for a christian holiday, but the missionaries didn't want the christian holiday to be too much of a blatent rip-off, so they moved it one day. The Danish Christmas has a similar story. Winter Solstice is on December 22, on which day the Danes were praying for the summer to come back with plentiful crops by offering gifts to the gods and the sun. It seems that the tradition of putting a star at the top of the tree and hangning fruits, cookies and other edible stuff on the tree is the Danish way of combing a pagan and a christian holiday ;-)
It might fade with time, as the older generation that actually experienced it dies, but in my experience the closest my family regards something as a "national day" it would be the day of occupation in 1940 and the day og liberation in 1945... More or less the only time in history the Danes were not in control of their own fate
Most withes in Europe, including Denmark, went to the great whitch"festival" at Brocken/Bloksbjerg, a mauntainp in East-Hartzen. The rest flew top Mount Hekla in Iceland.
The last St Hans I went to was in Fredericksberg have . The moon was full . We went home and had Æbleskiver at 11 pm. That was awesome. I wish you had played the song. Thank you for a great memory I had with my late friends. Most of my Danish friends has passed. The price of getting old. So it is nice to remember god old days. Thank you.❤️❤️🇺🇸🇩🇰
It seems we have a long standing traditon for dealing with witches in Europe 🙄😂 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zrzMhU_4m-g.html The "witch" is btw. played by John Cleese's former wife Connie Booth aka. the hotel maid Polly from the hilarious English comedy series "Fawlty Towers", which she ( CB that is 😂 ) cowrote with JC. Did you US folks ever get to watch that old BBC series ( 1975 & 1979 ! ), which still holds up well and stands out today as some of the best comedy ever written? If you didn't, you will seriously have to catch up - and please do NOT forget about the equally hilarious "Blackadder" series ( all 4 seasons) from the BBC with Rowan Atkinson ( of "Mr. Bean" fame ). Both series have been rerun on Danish TV several times ( FT at least 10! ), as well on the TV channels of our neighbour countries. And even though many of us in DK know most of the punch lines of FT by heart by now, we still have to watch it and giggle ourselves to pieces once more 😂
Yes, we had both Fawlty Towers and Blackadder in the US. Loved both! Haven’t looked but they may be available in the US through either Acorn or BritBox streaming services.
RU-vid has been really weird and annoying for me lately. It keeps recommending me the same stuff over and over, much of it videos I have already watched.
Yeah, same for me. I purposely use RU-vid on my Apple TV with an anonymous “not logged in” profile to better understand how it recommends content. I now never see thumbnails for our videos or other channels I like but see old random ones I’ve watched or a ton that match a one time random search I made.
I'm glad it's not just me. Then there's hope it's on their side and they'll fix it. Tried a possible fix of clearing my watch history, but that didn't seem to do anything helpful. This video did show for me though, so maybe a good sign.
has been like this for me for years ... there is really no solution ... only clicking on "not interested in this video" when it is the same videos that reappear works ...
sankt hans does not really mean anything to me ... except that was where I lost my virginity under the open night sky back in the day ... I'm celebrating the summer's arrival on May 1st instead ...
I think we should be burning an effigy of money at Skt. Hans/Johannes/Yohanan, what ever was his thing. Because money is power. Give me power over you, and I'll swiftly prove how evil it is. Swiftly, and with style. So, let's all burn evil at s. H.
I would say "Grundlovsdag" is the national day, I mean it's literally a day celebrating the constitution. Unlike the US or other countries we were never liberated so there isn't a day like that (sure we were occupied by Germany during WW2 but we were still independent even then)
up towards the end there was not much independence left but you are right we have never been conquered by anyone only occupied by the Germans and the Swedes have been close ...
Undskyld mig, men som sønderjyde er jeg simpelthen nødt til at bryde ind her... Vi blev "befriet" i 1920, for vi blev besat i 1864 efter Slaget ved Dybbøl. 😊
What is your look on guns......did you owned guns back in USA, are you more calm in Denmark with no guns in the public...and is it something you worry about with family back in us...
I love the bonfire tradition, but I abhor the witch burning. Figuratively killing "the strong independent woman" is just a bad symbolism. And another "tradition" goes with it. Namely the innocent joke men always say to women at this time, something like: "Oh, careful if you go to the bonfire, they might burn you by mistake" and myriads of jokes running the same theme. All meant in good fun, but still reinforcing the idea that women have to behave or else...
Danes have a "robust" take on tradition. At fastelavn we're literally celebrating the tradition of clubbing a black cat trapped in a barrel to death . We come across as bigots, but we really don't mean any harm with it. Sorry.
