Danish Confirmation Traditions.

One of the Danish Confirmation Traditions are that most of the kids in Denmark will confirm their belief in the protestant faith when they are 14 Years old.

The ceremony is quite big, because there can be any number from 10-40 of young people at every church, Confirmations always take place on a Sunday or a Public Holiday, during April and May, a few places in Denmark will have the Confirmations during Autumn.

This day is the young person’s day, usually dressed in a suit and the girls in beautiful dresses, they get heaps of presents and monies and the Dinner menu is in most cases decided by the young person as well.

The day starts at the church at about 10am.

After the ceremony at the church its sort of a relaxing day until dinner time when the family and guests gather over a three course meal with songs and speeches.

The Menu.

Some of the most used menus are.

Entrée: Soup or some kind of Seafood like Prawns Cocktail.

Main: Roast, most likely pork or beef.

Dessert: Ice-cream, fruit or some kind at mousse.

The drinks served are usually red or white wine.

Coffee is served later with a cognac or sherry and a piece of almond cake (kransekage).

It is quite common that there are anywhere between 2 - 5 songs during a Confirmation and sometimes it can take a fair bit of time to get through them all, and on top of that you have all the speeches.

Blue Monday.

It is also a Danish Confirmation Tradition that the Monday after the Confirmation all the young people "konfirmanter" have the day off from school and usually get together and go on a shopping spree.

That Monday is called "Blue Monday".

What Gift do I give to a confirmation?

The gifts given to a confirmation is in the majority money. How much depends a bit on how close you are to the person, are you a family member? Friend of the family?

As a general rule, the amount of money you give as a gift has to be at least the amount that will be spent on entertaining you (The cost of your food and drinks) and then the closer you are to the family the more you would be expected to give.

If you prefer to give something else than money, it may be a good idea to ask the person or her/his parents if there are some special wishes.

It can be hard to pick the right thing to give a young teenager, most of them seem to have everything today, or they want a specific model of a laptop, digital camera, iPod or cell phone.

Most people who give a gift, other than money, buy jewelry like a golden necklace or a watch.