Sankt Hans Aften

the schedule was posted my favorite swimming spot

Even though it is a secular celebration, the date of sankthans or Sankt Hans birthday is why the holiday is 24 June.  It is celebrated the evening before, just like Christmas is celebrated on Christmas eve.  Most celebrations include a bonfire, with (but usually without these days) a witch doll at the stake, a speech, and singing.  We had read about a gathering at the city park, but the fire was being lit at 10:30pm, when it would be dark.  We chose the gathering by the water because it would be beautiful and because the fire was being lit at 9pm.

lighting the torches

along the way

We were not planning to join the walk from the nursery school to the bonfire, but as we cycled pass A. saw a classmate so he and I hopped off the quad and went to investigate.  We felt lucky that they gave us torches (or fakler) to light and we joined the group on the 15-20 minute walk to the beach.  I didn't see anyone burn any clothing, hair, or anything inappropriate.

the cards to catch the wax also had instructions

Even though I had seen pictures of bonfires it was amazing to see it in person.  I was glad it had rained the night before and that there was a large body of water close by, but despite the fact that there wasn't really anybody obviously watching the fire or the kids, all was safe.

throwing the torch onto the fire

We left before the festivities ended, but we were there for the singing of Den danske sang er en ung blond pige (The Danish song is a young blond girl is the literal translation) and Midsommervisen.  

You can hear just a snippet in this video (a first for this blog and after watching it again I can see that maybe it might be the last!).

Some people arrived by boat, including this one that might be from the Viking Museum.

As we were leaving we noticed this backlit cloud, which looked like a Viking Ship to us.