10 DANISH HOLIDAYS WE LOVE: The Holiday Calendar in Denmark Explained
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- 10 DANISH HOLIDAYS WE LOVE: One Year of Holidays in Denmark Explained
#Denmark #Danmark #DanishCulture
In this @RobeTrotting video, we take you through a year of Danish holidays and traditions. We focus on the Danish holidays and traditions that are unique and different for us as expats living in Denmark.
New Years Eve comes with a fixed schedule across the country - queen's speech at 18h, a long dinner, then shortly before midnight everyone watches “90th Birthday Party”. Midnight traditions include jumping off of the couch and lots of fireworks.
Fastelavn is like a Danish version of Carnival to mark the start of lent, like a kids-oriented blend of Halloween and Mardi Gras. The most famous tradition is to slå katten af tønden or knock the cat out of the barrel. This is basically a Danish pinata, with candy inside for kids to knock out.
As Americans in Denmark, our favorite part of Fastelaven is the pastries!
Easter is next, and compared to other parts of Europe, Easter is relatively low-key in Denmark - people may go to church, but you don’t see the public passions like in other countries. Like most Danish holidays it is centered around booze like Påskebrygs and snaps.
The Queen’s Birthday is worth mentioning, but not a day off of work. Traditionally people will go to Amalienborg to sing to the Queen on her birthday - April 16th and all Royal birthdays are celebrated with Danish flags all over the country, from buildings to buses.
Great Prayer Day or Store Bededag in Danmark was first established under Christian V in 1686 to consolidate some minor saint days as part of the Reformation. Basically, he wanted to reduce the number of saint days in the spring, and move away from the old Catholic calendar. Great Prayer day also starts the Spring holiday season where we get 3 long weekends in April and May with Ascension and Whit Monday.
Labor Day is on 1May, and trade unions have the day as a holiday, but typically not white-collar workers (even though most are in a union)
May 5th is Liberation Day, marking the end of the German occupation of Denmark during WW2. But the celebration comes the night before. At 8:35pm on May 4th, the BBC broadcasted that German forces in Denmark had surrendered, effective the next day, but Danes could not wait a day to celebrate after 5 years of occupation. Danes still place candles in their windows every year on the evening of May 4th to commemorate the liberation.
Constitution Day on 5 June marks the signing of Denmark’s first constitution in 1849 and the most recent one in 1953.
Sankt Hans Day is in June and is Denmark’s version of Midsummer. Sankt Hans is the Danish name of John the Baptist and the memorable part of the tradition is a giant bonfire on a beach or lakeshore with the effigy of a witch - and burning the witch sends them back to a witch meeting on the Brocken in Germany
Christmas in Denmark is called Jule and it’s fantastic. Even though there aren’t any legal holidays between June and December, a lot is going on in Denmark. There are festivals and music events along with other traditions.
Christmas markets and street decorations are a big part of Juletime in Denmark. Danes celebrate with their family on 24 December, which is different for us.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Intro
0:38 - New Year's Eve (Nytår)
2:48 - Fastelavn
4:21 - Easter (Påske)
5:29 - Queen's Birthday
6:28 - Great Prayer Day (Store Bededag)
7:45 - Labor Day (Arbejdernes Kampdag)
8:23 - Liberation Day (Danmarks Befrielse)
9:01 - Constitution Day (Grundlovsdag)
10:38 - Sankt Hans Aften
11:45 - Summer and Fall festivals
12:39 - Christmas (Jul)
14:20 - Final Thoughts
Nytårsaften Speech - Det Danske Kongehus
Fastelavn - Unknown author unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Politken Headline - Randers Library, www.randersbib.dk/nyheder/nyh...
Grundlov, Dinner for One - Constantin Hansen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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Not just any bread on Store Bededag, you have to get hveder!
Hej Emil, you're right and we (go figure) learned this key fact RIGHT after we filmed this video, but at least we are prepared for today haha. Hope you have a great long weekend 😀🇩🇰
And not the whole grain version. That just tastes wrong
Varme hveder
@@RobeTrotting If i recall right the reason 4 we eat the bread is because the bakery sold the "hveder" the day before so you coud reheat them on store Bededag because they where closes. and because they are so tasty many people eat them the day befor :D
@@seq112 yes, it is correct - the bread was baked the day before the holiday because they where closed. In the early days bakeries developed a new type of bread different from normal daily one which lasted longer- these breads were simply called 'hveder', named after its main ingrediens wheatflour/ 'hvedemel'.
I love that you said “the way WE do it here in Denmark.” You guys are Danes at heart already
As a Dane I here by announce You as "Danes of the 1st order" You may now drink your beer from the bottle!
As an expat Dane living in Sweden I've learnt, that Hveder, which can be bought everywhere in Denmark these days, is impossible to find abroad.
So I have just taken my very first homebaked Hveder out of the oven... can't wait to try them tonight!
Lots of smiles to you guys, so glad you enjoy life in Denmark 🌞😊
When it is easter, children often makes "gækkebrev". A gækkebrev is a pies of paper there have been cut beautifully, and written a little poem. The child gives the gækkebrev to someone, and they have to guess who made it. If the reciever didn't guess it, the reciever have to give an easteregg. It is very fun for children to make :)
That is such a sweet tradition! Much cuter than the chocolate and dyed eggs (even if those things also have a place). Thanks for adding this Julie 😀🇩🇰
@@RobeTrotting I told you about it on the poll you pulled up!
Most actually do it a bit before Easter and the receiver has until the Easter holiday to guess who sent it
And it is called a gækkebrev, because you put a little vintergæk inside the envelope together with the letter.
This is the first flower in Denmark to bloom out of the frozen soil after winter (I think they’re called snowdrops in English 🤔).
The vintergæk reminds us that the long winter is soon over, and you pick it for the person you want to send a gækkebrev to. You press it and send it just before Easter, so the person have until Easter to guess who it’s from. One of my favorite holiday traditions ☺️
@@nicorae84 i
It also sounds kinda like gætte or guessing. And also at drive gæk med nogen is a (mostly older) way of saying playing tricks on someone
Remember the kids got a week off in october - efterårsferie... Old tredition "kartoffelferie", because the kids of the farmers had to help with the harvest
and everytime we have to run for some reason (at least at my school)
Efterårsferie er ikke helligdag :) .
@@Nuunu88 Det er fastelavn heller ikke? :)
@@Hondarama nej?
@@Nuunu88 Det troede jeg ikke det var, men kom sgu lige i tvivl og tjekkede, og jo ganske vidst... Det er sgu en helligdag.
Så lærer man sgu noget nyt hver dag.
Dog mener jeg ikke at Dronningens fødselsdag tæller som en helligdag, og den er givet vis nævnt i videoen. Det er dog en flagdag, så de fleste (hvis ikke alle) offentlige bygninger hejser dannebrog den dag. :)
Watch the TV series Matador or the movie series Olsen-banden, and make an episode about your experience.
Would love to watch that ...
Kæft Olsen banden er god
They have the complete series on DR (also produced for DR, which was the only Danish TV-channel at the time). It's such a wonderful and popular series, where you follow the people in a small town. There are two main families and lots of interesting characters - 24 episodes over a period of 18 years starting in 1929 and produced from 1978 to 1981. I think, I have watched it at least 15 times and I ended up buying the series.
Most Danes can recite lines from the series and remember who said what 😊
Im 32 now. When i were a kid, on Fastelavn all of the kids would dress up like kids on Halloween and we would go from door to door and sing while we would shake a container with a coil slot and a few coins in it and when people opened the door we would get either coins or a fastelavnsbolle (the puff pastry). I think there is like 3 different songs to sing, if you went from early morning to late in the evening you could get a fair amount of money, like 100$ were i lived. That was a huge amount for a 8 year old, and we alwais went with siblings and/or friends.
ooh i remember this! amazing childhood memories! :DD
The complicated Danish holiday calendar.. A mix of old norse, catholic, protestant and regular national holidays.. It really shows that Danes embrace holidays like no other.. When a religion or culture passes by we snatch the holidays we like and add it to an already varied holiday calendar.. One more step to being happy, is when you can see a holiday getting near and you know it means a day off from work :D
Hej Jimmy, that's such a brilliant way to sum it up. I wish we added those words. It is really cool how each culture or religion from history had a lasting impact on the holiday calendar 🇩🇰😀
And yet there's a lot of resistance against adding one or both the Eids (Islamic), sadly.
I lived in Malaysia; they go all in on holidays! The Muslim Eids + Muhammads accension day are public holidays. As they respect other religions, when the Chineese go home to celebrate New year, the business world stops, and you might as well go home too. That goes for the Hindu festival days also: when the manual workers don't show up, nothing works and you go home too. And finally, being Christian, you're entitled to take time off for Christmas and Easter.
Happy Holidays :-)
That's smart! 😅
If we didnt have such a varied holiday calendar it might also be hard to explain why we still "beat the cat in the barrel" at fastelavn or why we (modern day westerners) still burn thousands of witches each year.
I've been an atheist for as long as I can remember, but I'd hate to get rid of the Danish holidays, simply because they give you days off work at random times throughout the year.
I am actually from Bornholm myself, and I must say I was suprised when you guys mentioned the fact that Bornholm was liberated almost a year later on in 1946. So many people dont know about this, Danes included. On Bornholm it is actually common to hear people refer to the day, the 5. april 1946 as "Den endelige befrielse" or "The final liberation" in English since Bornholm were the last greater part of Denmark that was still to be liberated prior to that day. Some people even chose to practice the candle tradition on that day instead of the 5. maj. Another thing is that while the rest of Denmark was celebrating liberation on the 5. may 1945, Bornholm was actually bombed (as pretty much the only place in Denmark during the war) a few days afterwards, being on the 7. and 8. may, as part of the Soviet invasion. Since this part of history is usually forgotten, you can be sure that any Bornholmer certainly would be impressed and appreciative if you brought this up to them, as it shows our story haven´t been forgotten yet!
Oh and great video as always, love the small skits during your explainations. : )
Some other parts of Denmark was bombed (though not as thoroughly) during the war. By English bombers. There are plagues in Århus university of workers that were killed during a raid in... ugh, 41? 42?
@@Sigart don't forget the bombing of "Shell huset" and "The french school" in april 1945
I was glad/surprised to see this mentioned, it's rarely ever brought up.
I was really surprised. My grandparents left Bornholm shortly after the war ended (after the Russians left) and went to Zealand. My grandmother especially was never the same again. We've never celebrated May 4th as the liberation day, hence we didn't have candles in the window on that evening.
Ah, en anden bornholmer...
Tbh holidays in Denmark is more "thank god i'm off from work" than a traditional celebration like other countries have.
That’s a good observation. We have noticed that too and a lot of the “minor” American holidays are like that too.
@@RobeTrotting that's the more common way our holidays are seen today. But they all have deep and important historical and cultural roots that has been lost to many over the years and are more a tradition today than an honest holiday celebration for the holidays sake.
Most of our bigger and important holiday celebrations stems from our transition from our Norse Asatru ancestry to Christianity. Of those Easter, Christmas and the midsommer fest of Sct. Hans are the 3 most important ones. Incindentally these 3 all tie into our pagan ancestrys celebration of the turning of seasons. They are each placed at important solar event times. The first two are the Equinox, Summer and winter solstice while the third is the celebration of the light on the longest day (this meant that the time for harvest was close).
For a long time, it was very difficult for Christian monks to make any kind of headway into Norse society because Christ was such a foreign concept for the war and battlelike mindset of Norse culture. Eventually coexistance by settling and trade made it possible for the monks to lean into our culture. Eventually a king adopted the faith and the transition began in earnest. To make it easier, much of what we had of celebrations were co-opted like all the other pagan faiths across Europe had theirs co-opted too. Since paganism regardless of origin all had similar dates for similar feasts and celebrations tied to seasons made it easier for Christianity to implement the changes to so many people at the same time. But I digress.
There's a reason why we don't celebrate Christmas (across all of Scandinavia). We celebrate Jul. Jul, is a modernised (Germanized) form of the Norse word Jòl, which has received a more widely known bastardisation today known as Yuletide aka juletid (Christmas time in translation). Yuletide or Jòl was a period of feasting days celebrated around the winter solstice to celebrate the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and thus the coming of spring. The season of rebirth and also the most important season in Norse culture too, by the way.
In Denmark, Christmas traditionally starts on the First Sunday of Advent (so in late November or early December) and most people wait until then to decorate their homes.
Yup, but most stores starts putting out christmas stuff already in Efterårsferien or right after, so mid-October
@@BGSKG83 Pretty sure føtex already start in August or September :(
@@AceHighAlbion I've been working in Bilka for 5 years, but I guess it will go for Føtex as well(I rarely go there so won't know for sure). They might put some candy out or maybe 'leftovers' from previous years a week or so before, but they won't give it full space until halloween is over
I get irrationally angry when I see Christmas chocolate in the stores before Halloween is over. So...every year.
Regarding the lit candles on the Christmas tree in Denmark, my Dutch boyfriend FREAKED OUT when he saw it the first time, he was worried about fire safety. My German sister in law had to leave the room when we were dancing around the tree, because she was laughing out of pure shock. We told her in advance, but I guess she just couldn't handle watching the real deal 😅
Otherwise you can go with electrical lights and just have them on every night for the next week or so. It's quite nice.
according to my dad, he and my mom stopped putting real candles on the tree because my oldest sister would hit the tree and set herself and the tree on fire when she was little. All my siblings are quite a bit older than me so I have no recollection of this and have only ever seen electrical lights on trees
I am danish for 47 years and only saw lit candles in the early 80s. Since everywhere I go, people in DK use electric candles. Maybe in Copenhagen they are careless 🙂
My favorite holiday is definitely “Ringridning” which is exclusive to the southern part of Jutland. It’s a day of parades, competition, “ringrider pølser” (which is a sausage, that you won’t find anywhere else in Denmark), fun costumes and great times.
Ringridning was back in the mediaval times and renaissance practice in All of Denmark. It was a training/jousting that knights did
But only the southern Denmark is still doing it today
mm en god ringrider :)
You should try to go. It’s fun!
I have lived in Denmark all of my life and have fucking never heard of this XD.
Sounds great though. Random and stupid just how I like it!
But ringridning is not a holiday though, it's just a kind of celebration/event/cultural thing .. I'm all for it (har boet i Aabenraa) .
One of the great thing especially for the kids is from December 1st to the 24th there will be a fictional show and there’s new ones every year with one episode per day and you just follow the story that’s usually centered around Christmas like someone is threatening Christmas and some kids need to save it perhaps with the help of elves(nisser). So there is something to look forward to every single day of December
the best one is, the julekalender
@@bjrn7660 that or jul på vesterbro
Im very impressed by some of those Danish pronunciations! Probably one of the best videos from you guys if you ask me, interesting to get an American view on all this and a lot of facts about Danish culture
Thank you Marius! It's funny but sometimes when we don't try too hard it sounds better (more natural probably) 😂
So glad you enjoyed the video! It's also great for us because we get to learn a little more from the comments 😀🇩🇰
Since you mentioned constitution day, you might want to know that on June 15 is Valdemars day, that’s the day when we celebrate the danish flag “ Dannebrog “ with flag parades.
Ah, yes - we did experience that once and have a similar holiday in America, "flag day" - so original haha - but we forgot to include it 🇩🇰😀
@@RobeTrotting I do think that perhaps you should make a difference between holidays and days of. As you yourself says we do have a lot of days of based on Christian selebration like Christmas, Easter etc. But if you look at the education system, primary Schools they have if we starts in January usually the days of until the first Monday in January then they have the winter brake in either week no. 7 or no.8 then there are all the Christian days of like Easter, great prayersday. Etc. Then the summer Holliday comes in the end of June and are usually 6 or 7 weeks long, in that period it’s common that the parents get their three weeks summer vacation, then school starts in august and then in October in week 42 the children gets Efteraarsferie, in the old times called Kartoffel ferie ( Patato Holliday) because the children should help with the harvest of the crops. Then it was school until Christmas usually from around the 21 of December until the first Monday of January. If you look to the parliament they have sessions from the first Tuesday of October until 4 June 2021, in that session they have three without session weeks 42, 7 and 10 and two weeks around Christmas and one week around Easter. So days off are many things in Denmark.
Most holidays’ in Denmark, are just an excuse to drink 😂 - Yeah, we like to get our drink on.
This is why we love to celebrate hehehe
You forgot to mention that we have kransekage with our champagne when the clock strikes 12 on New Year's Eve.
Oh no, how could we forget?! We've had it almost every year too! We'll have to try a full New Years video as it gets closer and properly include it!
@@RobeTrotting It was a little funny because you mention how we have baked goods for so many of our holidays when you talked about Fastelavn, but totally skipped it for New Years. 😆
Another tradition that isn't a real holiday but still marked every year, is Lucia Dag on December 13th (and yes, there's a traditional baked good specifically for that day as well. 😉) It's a tradition we share with the other Scandinavian countries like Sankt Hans/Mid Summer is.
@@betwixttales swedish saint. and we have christmas ornaments with origins in Sweden and Germany.
@@betwixttales eh the baked good is mostly only in Sweden. I don’t know any Danes who get anything specific. And in schools the kids will walk with candles and we will have a Lucia bride (traditionally the tallest girl) who leads the walk who has 4 candles on her head in a wreath. And there’s a specific song they sing as well. Although most schools and kindergartens use fake candles but I remember having to have real candles on my head as a 4/5 year old and worrying about it tilting and burning my hair
@@thedanishcatgirl3205 We did at my school. But it was perhaps a little different from most.
Any girl from 4th to 10th grade could volunteer to be in the parade, along with a single boy, who carried a lantern and was dressed in a woolen shirt and red hat. The Lucia girls had breakfast with the boarding school kids, and had to get whatever they needed (more milk, a lucia roll, butter e.g.). We then sang a Swedish Lucia song walking into the morning assembly, getting on stage, and sang the Danish song, walking out singing the Swedish song again.
All the girls in the parade didn't have regular classes that day, but we would go to senior homes in town and sing for them, getting to go home around noon, no matter if we had classes later than that.
Fastelavn still feels so confusing to me (as a Canadian, now with a 2 year old son). We just had Halloween!!! What do you mean I gotta buy another costume?! 😂 Great video!
Halloween has only really existed in Denmark for a decade or so, but the introduction of Halloween _has_ lessened how much energy people put in Fastelavn.
😂😂😂That's so funny, Erin! We would have been super spoiled having two Halloweens so close together growing up.
😂👍
Fastelavn (or shrovetide) was a holiday originally invented for the same purpose as Pancake Tuesday: It's just before lent, which means a 40 day fast (you can even see the similarity of some words, here XD). That meant that all your spare flour, eggs and milk had to go and also any other foodstuffs that wouldn't preserve and wasn't appropriate for lent. Hence the rhyme used. (sweet buns used for fastelavn would be made with milk rather than water)
..Just some random historical context. >
Halloween is only a beginning thing here in Denmark. It’s still seen as a comercial holiday that the Americans invented. In Europe October 31st have always been about All Hallows’ Eve, where we honor and remember those who died. Fastelavn is a remainder from Catholic times, where we were fasting around the same time.
The morning of fastelavn children wake their parents by singing and hitting them with a fastelavnsris, which is made with the new branches of shrubs. The branches are decorated with candy.
That is so cool! We didn't know that 😯
and children walks around from house to house and knock and says "slik eller ballade (trick or treat) to get money or candy
@@RobeTrotting it used to be the farmhands and kitchen maids out in the countryside who were given an excuse to flirtatiously pester their crush lol
Noone actually does that anymore though
@@havrefrasss Uh, that depends on which part you say they do not. There are still children who wake their parents that way, and there are still children who dress up to go for candy or money - not so many during the pandemic, but even during the pandemic there have been children who did.
A tradition my family did for easter when I was a kid was easteregg hunt. The easter bunny (well, just my mom, haha) would hide chocolate eggs around in our garden, and me and my sisters would always go out in the morning to find these easter chocolate eggs. It was pretty fun!
I, as a Dane, only now realize that the weirdest thing about Denmark is how people have actual many small fires (candles) on their real-tree Christmas-tree, on the most important family day. Only now do I realize how bonkers that is (EDIT: Considering there are hyper-active kids fussing about the place and there are gifts under the tree)
Funny how looking at it from the outside gives insight
We always wondered that too but it’s a neat tradition. We just always worry about pets and kids running around the tree that lighting candles on it and dancing around it while tipsy seems… brave 😂 🎄 💨
Real fire on Christmas trees? Now I really wanna talk to EMTs in Denmark! 😆 (Idk what Danes call them but in America, EMT stands for Emergency Medical Team (the guys who come when you call 911 for ambulance).
I think that's rare now adays though. 8 out of ten use electric lights.
As a dane, your videos are like my guilty pleasure. I know it is a bit selfish to hear about my own country, but i love seing your perspective on denmark, since our culture is very different :D
Store Bededag, is known for eating hveder, but the night before. As long as I can remember is has been my job to make the cardamom powder from det whole cardamom. And then my dad would make fresh baked hveder 😊
When I was a kid in the 60s, the Kings birthday was a day off from school. And remember the extra holiday on Thursday before Good Friday, MaundyThursday.
Actually they used to put a live cat into the Fastelavn barrel. My dad remember this from his childhood. 😱😅😂
Sankt Hans bonfires are not only on shorelines, but throughout the entire country.
But "throughout the country" is also pretty much the shorelines when you think about it... ;)
Remember to go to the baker for "hveder" today - it's the evening BEFORE Store Bededag, that you eat hveder:-)
Well... Watching Freddie Frinton at new years is a tradition, not only in Denmark, but in Sweden, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Switzerland and Austria too... and in Norway at December 23rd. The english title is "Dinner for one".
If you do a video about other traditions in Denmark, you MUST NOT forget the Confirmations and High School graduation traditions. VERY important!
Awe. The tradition for Danmarks Befriesle is lovely. ❤️
A very nice presentation of our customs, love it.
to add onto store bededag (great prayer day), the traditional bread eaten is called hvedeknopper, which is a fine white roll that you usually toast before eating.
you should try easter on ærø, everybody goes to the beach, no matter the weather, to boil eggs and grill some sausages and meet with family and friends. it is the only place in denmark with the tradition
Hej Kirstine, we only recently heard about this and it sounds like such a great tradition. We just may have to make that trip one year 😀
@@RobeTrotting if you do, make sure to book your ferry ticket well in advance, because otherwise you're not getting there, due to all the ærøboere living elsewhere who's going home to boil eggs. Also, probably bring eggs, because they're close to impossible to buy on the island in the days leading up to Easter 😂
Oh pleasantly surprised that you guys included the Bornholm fact- as a Bornholmer that makes me oddly proud since I’ve always felt like it was a small part of history that tended to be overlooked or left out. 😁🙌🏻
Those of us who are interested in history care. And I know for a fact that Bornholms lament during the continued occupation is a well known fact in circles outside off traditional historical teaching.
The bread smack in the face really made me laugh. Good stuff you guys 😄👍
this is brilliant, so cool from a danish perspective
In my rækkehus line, Everybody got out at 4/5, pm. We have chips, soda and fire small heskehyl and otherstuff. It was/is held in an open garage. When it gets dark we go inside and there is like 30 minutes for the speach.
Sounds like a great celebration! 😀🇩🇰
Thats a great traditions
you forgot our version of "trick and treat" at fastelavn, where the kids dress up and goes from door to door singing a song and get some money from each place, in the old time the money was ment to help poor families get through the vinter until spring where farmwork starts up.
I so enjoy your videos guys 😁
Have a great storbededagsferie 😉👍🏻
Great video guys. Love it! Cant wait to see the next one.
My family used to go for picnic doing påskefrokost. It was so fun.
One of us
10:04 You talk like us and I think, feel like us, love it. :D
and it was kind to mention Bornholm's situation during liberation.
Subscriber 66 here! Almost 6000 subscribers already! You guys are amazing! Every time I watch a new video I have a new favorite! I love the idea of how most Danish holidays involve bakeries. I don’t live in a big city so we don’t have bakeries like you do. I learned to bake bread during the pandemic and now love the smell and taste of freshly baked bread. Keep up the great videos!
Thanks for another great video! The candle lights in the windows on liberation day is quite significant. As the Germans ordered the Danish citizens to install "blackout curtains" during the war. On the day of liberation all the Danes tore them down and burned them on the streets and again there was light in the danish windows.
Yes, we learned that the burning was part of the celebration after the surrender. Quite a beautiful tradition, even if it's born from tragedy. Thanks for adding some important background information Lasse 😀🇩🇰
Cool!
U2 had to have a medal for be sooo danish ..... Love you. Kurt
Yor are forgetting "Kristi Himmelfarts dag" and "Pinse"
Really cool that you really know a lot, both about Denmark and other countries. Very cool :)
Easter was usually just me and my brother trying to find the chocolate or candy my parents hid all around the garden, either in the morning or the night before , that was it and it was fun, and of course those cute letters with flowers and poems
Just love you guys, you are so much fun and I feel the same as an American and it so cool you guys love it as much as me :) Thanks!
Thank you so much, love right back to you and it's awesome that you feel the same way about Denmark. It's just such a great country to live in 🇩🇰😀
You guys are very well versed in Danish history, I must say. Color me impressed.
Always enjoy your hyggelige videos and your take on things here in Denmark. :-)
Thank you very much! 😀🇩🇰
I remember that my grandmother and all my great aunts would throw out their brooms just before midnight December 31. When she still had a wood burning stove Bestamor would break the broom and burn it in the stove.
One thing i love about the Queen's speech, is that I know people who are against the monarchy, but are still appalled at the idea of intentionally missing it.
Easter here in the southern islands, we go to the beach and start a campfire, and cook things there like snubrød, marshmellows, and sausges.
No military parades on constitution day, but we do have 5. september. No official holiday as such, but this is the day where soldiers deployed in the last 12 months are on parade in front of Christiansborg.
In 2019 it rained for an hour, so we were soaked, but still nice to get some recognition. :)
I glemte kransekagen til nytår. Det er en STOR dansk tradition
When it is Grundlovsdag in my part og Denmark, we have something kind of like a parade, where we decorate our cars, bikes etc. And drive around the whole island, and after that we all meet in the forest where there is music and food! It is my favorite time of year!!😂😍👌🏻✌🏻
Yes
In my family St. Hans aften, is a special day. It was my grandfather and grandmothers wedding day, so it was made so that most of the family got together in their cottage for the same dinner menu every year. After the passing of my grandparents the tradition has lived on, so for the younger generations this holiday is as important and as filled with tradition as Christmas.
I was stationed at HQ BALTAP (NATO command at Karup) from 1989 to 1992. We had both the US and Danish holidays off plus if the Danish holiday fell on a Tuesday or Thursday, we had the corresponding Monday or Friday off too.
It's great to see how expats experience danish holidays.
I wonder if you could do a video where you compare how birthdays are celebrated in the US vs. Denmark.
We always jumps in to the new year. 😊And kiss the one you love for good luck in the new year and a thanks for the year that is gone.
Love your videos.
Oh, and my favorit hollyday in dk is Sankt Hans. 🥰
Love your your explanation about the Danish holidays. We celebrate 6 January in our family The 3 wise men or the end of christmas. Lid the real christmas candles the last time, eating christmaspudding with a hidden bean in it and moving the christmastree outside. In the evening we burn a holy wise men candle. In our home we decorate the tree with seeda and peanuts for the birds so day can enjoy the christmas tree also .
Having been to Copenhagen 14 times (with my next visit booked for late October) I totally love how you two have settled into Danish life, the locals are really awesome and I've made several amazing friends there. As for the Danish flag being displayed everywhere for royal birthdays, we don't do that here in England as there is always an element of offence to it to our 'uninvited guests' (you know what I'm referring to). If I see you guys in Copenhagen in October I'll buy you both a beer in the Hard Rock Cafe.
You guys have marked chapters in this video 😍 Thanks for that!
Jeg kan godt lide dine videoer! hahah I am trying to learn the language! 😅 Enjoy this big weekend 😊
Love all your videos Gentlemen. :-)
Thanks so much, happy you like them and thanks for the kind words 😀
Thanks for the videos, like your polite openess and comparissons our cultures between 😊
Noticed your likes on the danish pasteries, 'fastelavnbollen' - which may I say is to find in two main types- one is the classic yeastbuns from the old days and the others are often found at the bakeries made with Danish puff pastry/ 'wienerbrød'.
Another danish sweet you've might come across is 'kransekage ' and 'overflødighedshorn' on New years - sometimes ordered in other special occassions aswell such as round birthdays, weddings and babtism, but mostly they are a main character at new years just around the timeshift together with some nice bubbles 🥳🎉
About easter/ 'påske', and easterlunch/ 'påskefrokost' - spot on with the traditionel food and alcohol.
This holiday is the most important christian time in Denmark for the churches and marks the end on fasting- therefore households gathers to feast and break period of fasting, in fasting, it was not allowed to eat eggs, which is why the traditional 'påskefrokost' incoorporates a lot of egg dishes 🐣
- I see why you might compare it to thanks giving 😊 with the gathering of families and friends on a meaningfull day... some people in Denmark are beginning to embrase this holiday custom in November too, with turkey, football and cranberries ...
not to mention Halloween to the children, who really dig that they can dress up and get sweets two times a year now - with the Danish tradition fastelavn in February included... 😅
Hej drenge :) I glemte pinse. Tak ellers for jeres skønne videoer. Det ville være fedt, at møde jer en dag :) Hilsen Sebastian
Didnt you forget Kristi Himmelfart (13 May 21) Great Video. Love you guys.
Cool to see another perspective on these holidays.
To me as a Dane they are normal, but when you guys talk about them I can see how they would sound weird to people abroad.
We Like 👍 it
❤️&✌️
As a kid in the 1980s we would dress up in various costumes and make up at fastelavn and walk around the neighbourhood/town to knock on doors and if people opened we would sing a fastelavns song while shaking a can with coins in and people would usually reward kids with a few coins either for the costumes, the performance or just as a tradition. Usually we would use the same costume for the event at school where the minor classes would have a gathering for barrel bashings and costume prizes.
the dressed up demon goat in the background gives me the chills, but other than that. Great vid!
- I've never heard of the pots and pans thing on new years eve. 🤷♀️
- Sankt Hans: The tradition of burning the witch on the bon fire came with german workers in the early 1900s (must be why she's sent to a german mountain? 🤷♀️). They had a tradition of burning a witch as a symbol of expelling all evil, as in: All the bad things that you wanted to keep away from the crops and harvest. So it's basically a hope for a good harvest. 😊
Hej Karina, many thanks for clearing up our two biggest questions after filming this! 🇩🇰😀
We read in blogs all the time that "Danes ring in the new year by banging pots and pans" and we're always puzzled and thinking "nope!"
Now Sankt Hans makes so much more sense though! Even more excited to (hopefully) be able to celebrate it this summer.
@@RobeTrotting I've heard of some families doing this as a tradition, but never experienced it either.
Older video, but I wanted to add: look up the history of skt. Hans. It's very fascinating and is actually remembering John the Baptist (Johannes Døberen in Danish, Johannes = Hans). The death of John the Baptist has been depicted in tons of beautiful art and paintings and he was quite an interesting person.
Woah as a swedish person I am super suprised over how many things culturally we have in common seriously like when our royaltys birthday is I didnt know you put your flags on the buses as well, the tradition of a huge bonfire to scare away witches and welcome the spring and that you watch Donald ducks christmas as well, I am half danish as well on my moms side so its fun to learn something about your second country and culture
Well.. sweden have been part of Denmark in Medieval time - just like Norway. No surprice that we actuelly have such thing in common 😉
You remembered Bornholm, nice move....👍
And we can’t wait to finally visit Bornholm too 😃🇩🇰
This may be very specific to where I live but we have something called a “flagallé” basically meaning flag alley. The purpose of this is that a group of volunteers will put up big flags in the street on special days like the queen’s birthday. And by big flags I mean half the height of a street light so big. We actually have holes in our sidewalks to accommodate this tradition and you can also pay the flagallé to put up flags when you’re getting married or celebrating a special birthday. Again, I think it’s just a very local tradition but I thought it was interesting to mention since I haven’t seen it anywhere else.
Wow, what a cool tradition! What city is this? It would be neat to see this one day 🇩🇰 😊
@@RobeTrotting It's a small village in Midtjylland. If you visit here, Himmelbjerget is not far and with all the beautiful nature the area is known for, I would definitely recommend spending a day walking through the forests and seeing the area ;)) If hiking's your thing that is :)
When you said "we wouldn't have a holiday if there weren't some kind of delicious baked good", I ran them through my head and realized you're right 😅
But thank you for mentioning Bornholm and how we were only freed 11 months after the rest of the country.
In our family we eat dinner first on Christmas Eve, so sometimes it’s 9ish before we open presents 😁
But when my nieces and nephews are there they get to open one present while the adults eat and talk 🥰🎁🎄
That’s so cute, we have nephews and they’re always the best part of Christmas 🎅🏼
Its actually pretty fun bc my birthday is may 5th and im danish also the busses also has flags on special days such as may 5th
My daughter has her birthday on the queen's birthday, so I tell her the all the flags are for her( she is 7 , so she still believes it). By the way great videos 🙂
I've never used pots and pans for anything but cooking, on new years. LOL! I've never heard about that one. I do however, jump into the New Year - it's a must.
Another tradition on the queens birthday is some golden balls flying in the water fountain on Gammel Torv.
If you guys visit Jutland (more specifically Fredericia) at some point, you should do so for the 6th of July! On that day, there is a large military parade, a bunch of speeches, People dressed up in military uniform and old-timey clothes, and even stands selling trinkets and stuff. It's a day that marks the turning of a war in 1849, where the germans tried to occupy the country. Fredericia was occupied but actually succeeded in freeing ourselves from the German forces. It's a pretty cool story, and the tradition of the 6th of July festivities have been celebrated basically every year in almost the exact same way since the 1850's!
Skt. Hans on the west coast of Jutland is spectacular! Here we have the bonfires on the beach, so as the sun sets, you can see the bonfires up along the coastline.
And as for the Queen's birthday? Well, I share her birthday, and I was six years old, when I found out, that all the flags that were up that day (aside from my family's of course) were flying for her. It was a bit like finding out that Santa isn't real ;)
Oh wow! We have to see the west coast skt. hans fires - it has to be super cool looking! And sorry for having to share your birthday - extra dannebro for you and store tillykke til dig 🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
Yeah in the Autumn we only have Halloween and Black friday, but they are adopted american traditions, that some make a big deal of and some don't, and then we have the Efterårsferie, which had a nickname of Kartoffel ferie in the old days, where Kids got off school to help harvest potatoes at their family Farm, there were more farmers back then, but now Kids, students, teachers etc get that week off(week 42 which is in October) but it's not a national holiday just vacation.
Hej Sara! 😀We have learned that our Halloween and Black Friday traditions have made it to Denmark but the Kartoffel ferie we did not know about! I do have a colleague who calls week 42 'Potato Week' so I was familiar with the origin of the harvest. It's fun to learn a little more here 🇩🇰
There is also Mortensaften
@@freyaasferg4194 oh I forgot that sorry.
@@saranissen6210 aha No worrys
Love the video 😂❤️
But... you got to find a now home for the “plant” behind Mike 😂 looked like he had weird hairs coming out 😅
You guys are so wholesome and nice. I've just been binging several videos :D
If you want any tips on nice Danish beers then there's Refsvindinge bryggeri that makes special beers and ales. I don't know where they're sold in Copenhagen, as they're a local brewery on Funen but they're usually sold in mixed bundled packages, so that you can get one of each. Don't know if you've had any of them, but some are quite nice. I personally like Ale Nr. 16 a lot :)
SKÅL!
Very cool...my birthday is May 5th.👍
Reason we eat the bread (hveder) is that on every holiday the bakers back then was still expected to work but before Store Bededag the bakers would bake Hveder so people could buy them the day before so the bakers could take a day off as well. Atleast that is what i was told growing up.
Funny to see an american couple enjoying a beer from Svaneke Bryghus. It's one of my absolute favorite breweries, although I might be a little biased. Cheers from Bornholm!
We have something similar to Thanks giving also. Nothing to do with an event like thanks giving. But we have Mortens aften.
We also have a great tradition of celebrating advent during Christmas, being the 4 Sundays in December. Together with Lucia optog and julemarked makes for a great and hyggelig Christmas in Denmark. Oh and j-dag is (for many) also a tradition.
Not to forget vinterferie (week 7) where kids in school have a week of. And it is pretty common to plan your ski holiday. So many take that week off.
Together with efterårsferie (week 42) where school kids again have their days off.
Ah, yes for sure. We knew some of these traditions - especially J Dag hehe.
Hey
Could you guys make an episode explaining the danish number system.
That would be fun 😊
last year or 2 yers ago it was fastelavn and i was in school there is something called sfo its basically like were you are like its like a lillte school day and you are in the sfo if your parents work like to 2 pm-5pm and we began to slå katten af tønden and i got the first one down and then the 2nd but i could,t have two crowns bc you all so get a crown for knocking the barrel down and we all got one pack of gummies and a glas of saftevand its like a juice but you have to like mix it with water and yeah so good video and keep up the good work.
Some facts. Like you said that on the 16 of April it is the queen’s birthday there are flags on the buses and around and that it also happens on the other royals birthdays, it also happens on holidays like may the 5th.
On Sankt Hans some people actually make witches and put them into the fire so they can burn just like they did back Indsalg af salgstur uge the 1500 hundred and 1600 hundred.
On Grundlovsdag it is also Father’s Day if I do remember it correctly.
And I love that you make videos about how it is here in Denmark and what you like about it, and you guys pronounce the words pretty good.
Good work, and great videos.
I already miss store Bededag 😭
In the southern part of Jutland, we eat "kålpølser" on New Year's Eve. It is served with "grønlangkål" and potatoes, fried in sugar.
Now, that's gooooooood! I am sorry for writing the Danish words, I couldn't find any similar in English.
You should have heard my British husband explaining "lille-jule-aftens-dag" to his family! The day of the little chistmas eve....
Who said "12 days of Christmas"? We just do our best :-))
When young, I thought the Danes celebrating everything the evening before (Great Prayer Day's Evening (it's litterally now) - Sct. John's Evening - Sct Martin's Evening (you misted that one - giggle, giggle) - Christmas Eve), because of impatience or the inevitable hangovers that follow any celebration. But no! It's actually because in the old Norse world, the new day started sunset! Not at midnight, as they had no watches, This day finishes when the sun goes down, ergo the next day starts when the sun goes down.
That i was let to believe it was connected with hangovers, could be because I - as a child - also wanted to "watch the Pentacosta Sun dancing" (se pinsesolen danse), but was told it was only for grown ups, as you have to have been up ALL night, and be fairly intoxicated in order for the sun to dance!
Hej Ane-Louise, thank you for these incredible stories. It makes so much sense now and any Old Norse history involved is such a cool bonus!!! I love the "Sun dancing" tale, it's so cute.
@@RobeTrotting You're very welcome! I'm a chatterbox under lock down, so...
Before Christianity feasts followed the sun: the solstices and the equinoxes - and a bit in between.
Christianity wouldn't have been so successful, had they wanted to cancel our parties, so they integrated.
Christmas is HUGE here, yes, but does anybody know when Jesus was born? A couple of days after winter solstice!
Sct. John is HUGE, it just happens to be a few days after summer solstice.
Easter fits fine, and if not, withsun makes up for it.
As for Sct. Martin, the story goes that he hid in a goose pen, to avoid being made a bishop. But geese are good watch dogs, so they made so much noise, that he was found. On Nov. 10th we eat duck - it is supposed to be a goose, families just aren't so big these days, so duck it is :-(
Supposedly to take revenge on the gossiping geese. Nah...
November used to be named Slagte Måned - Butchering Month: They slaugthered a certain part of the livetock in order not to have to feed them in the winter, they salted and dried and preserve the best they could, but fact was, they didn't get any fresh meet again, unil spring. Except for Julegrisen - the yule pig - that was kept for "Jesus' birthday"
The Irish celebrate Sct. Bridget in February - suspiciously close to an old celtic feast right between winter solstice and spring equinox.
Hygge!
@@ane-louisestampe7939
Mit engelske er ikke godt nok til jeg kan spørge på engelsk 🙊
Men tænker jeg endelig har fundet én der kan svare mig ☺
Jeg ved alle vores kristne helligdage ligger tæt på det hedenske Nordisk Mytologi.
Og da jeg tænker Nordisk mytologi er nordisk, så tænker jeg videre. Hvad har de haft af tro i andre lande, som de kan hænge datoerne op på? Eller hvad har de haft af dage, som kristendommen har brugt? Eller er det bare i Norden det passer på tidligere tro?
@@brittabrandtoft110Alle steder har man fulgt solens og månens gang og "tilbedt" dem i en eller anden form. Uden dem ingen afgrøder! Solen skal man holde sig gode venner med, ellers bryder verden sammen og Månen "styrer" jo vandet, det ved enhver, der bor ved kysten og kender til tidevandet ;-) .
Her nord på, hvor forskellen på dagenes længde er så markant er alle hellige dage knytte til solen. I andre klimaer er de store "hellige fester" snarere knyttet til f.eks. regntidens kommen og gåen, eller når floden går over sine bredder (Nilen og Ganges). Det kan også være dyre migrationer, der er de store årlige markører. Alle steder handler det om tidens gang og dens konsekvenser for vores fødevarelager!
Hygge!
@@ane-louisestampe7939 Tusind tak 🙏🏻 Jeg havde ikke lige tænkt på at det selvfølgelig er naturen, der har styret tidligere tro.
Naturen er klog 🌞🌕🌍 Vi mennesker kan lærer meget, især hvis vi respekterer den 🙏🏻⚘
Concerning New Year's Eve, I've read that people smash plates on other people's doors and bang pots and pans, but I've never seen or heard of anyone actually doing so. Of course, we also have baked goods on New Year's Eve - Kransekage :)
For Easter, it's a common tradition to paint eggs, either before eating them or to hang up for decoration. If you've seen the movie Blinkende Lygter, you might recall the skit where one of the characters is teased because he's having difficulties blowing the yolk out of the egg.
For Store Bededag, as others have mentioned, we have special buns called "hveder", typically for breakfast with the family.
For Christmas, my family always waits with opening the presents until after we've had dessert and danced around the tree :)
On great prayer day, you where not allowed to work before the church service, so the baker did make the finer bread the day before and you warmed them in the morning before service. later on it was eaten on the day before because they are pretty good and freshly backed.