Danish Traditions.

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Danish Traditions at Christmas!

There is something special about a Danish Christmas. The short days and long cold nights may have something to do with it, and when you visit people in their homes during the month of December you get into the Christmas spirit as soon as you step into their decorated homes.

In many homes during December people are busy making Christmas decorations, one of the Danish traditions at Christmas, and when you enter a home you are greeted with the smell of pine needles and candlelight, and a lot of places the aroma of freshly baked biscuits is hanging in the air as well.

"Nisser" and Christmas.

The “nisse” a mythical little creature, is an old Danish tradition as well. Legend says it is an old little man dressed in red and gray with a white beard and usually with a wooden spoon in his hand, he was believed to be hundreds of years old.

One of the Danish traditions was to put Rice porridge out for him at Christmas Eve, to keep the friendship with the “nisse”.

The kids have an Christmas calendar that is opened the first time on the first day of December, they come today in a variety, some with a picture and some with chocolate and one window is opened every day until Christmas eve.

There is also a Christmas calendar made by a Danish television station. Every night in the month of December until Christmas Eve they screen half an hour of a story about the “nisse”, and a new series is made most years.

The Christmas television calendar was such a big hit that today there is an adult’s version made as well. And today this is part of the Danish traditions at Christmas.

Danish Dough Fritters (Æbleskiver) is also a Danish tradition during the month of December, the best way to describe them is that the dough is similar to a pancake mix but baked in a special pan so they come out like small round balls, some are made with a slice of apple inside that’s where they get the name apple slices, in Danish they are called "Aebleskiver".

They are served with jam and sugar or icing sugar.

The apple slices are usually served with a glass of “Gløgg”, Gløgg is another Danish tradition at Christmas, originally from Sweden, It is made by heating up red wine and adding a bit of snaps or brandy and spices like cardamom, cinnamon and sultanas and pieces of almond.

The bakeries are busy too, making their ”Berliner” and “Klejner”. Berliner is similar to a jam donut but the filling is prune jam instead of raspberry jam and Klejner is a pastry cooked in oil. There is also the traditional Christmas cake, cookies and Christmas cakes made out of Danish pastry.

Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th of December in Denmark, all shops usually close at lunchtime. However during the month of December most shops are open Sundays and the last week up to Christmas most shops have late night trading.

Roast Pork or Duck?

The big decision on Christmas eve is whether to have roast Pork or Duck. If the family is big you are in luck, they may have both.

Christmas Eve is usually celebrated with family and starts with traditional roast pork with crackers or a roast duck. Served with caramel glazed potatoes, white potatoes, red cabbage and gravy.

The dessert is usually Ris a l'amande, a kind of rice pudding, served with cherry sauce, in which there is a whole almond hidden, whoever finds the almond win a price.

The Christmas tree used to be decorated on Christmas Eve, and not shown off to the rest of the family until after dinner, but in most homes today it is a part of the decoration leading up to Christmas.

After dinner, the Christmas tree lights are turned on and the whole family hold each others hands and walk around the tree singing Christmas carols.

After a few Christmas carols the gifts are handed out either by someone dressed up as santaclaus (especially if there are small kids) or a member of the family and coffee and almond cakes, marzipan and chocolate is served while the gifts are been opened.

The two following Christmas days 25th and 26th of December are public holidays where most shops are closed, apart from the service stations and a few corner shops.

The Christmas days are usually celebrated with a family and friends get-together over a Danish smorgasbord with beer and snaps (aquavit) and it is quite common that a setting lasts anywhere between 3 to 6 hours and sometimes even longer.

Most work places put a Christmas party on during the month of December and again here the traditional food to be served is the smorgasbord with plenty of snaps and beers.

New Year’s evening!

Most of the shops close around lunch time on New Year’s Eve. The traditional dinner on New Year’s Eve is either boiled cod or a green cabbage a bit similar to spinach served with caramelised potatoes and glazed ham or sausages.The dinner on New Year’s Eve is served with beer and snaps as well.

Usually people go outdoors around midnight and shoot the New Year in with rockets and fire crackers. After an hour or so outside in the freezing cold a meal is served (usually open sandwiches) and then it’s time to party to the early morning.

Carnival!

Or as the Danes call it Fastelavn is another Danish tradition celebrated seven weeks before Easter Sunday. The tradition goes back to the 1700s and was originally the start of a period of fasting. But today it is mainly a kid's carnival.

The tradition is that the kids dress up in a costume and they have made a "fastelavnsris", bunches of twigs wound up with crepe paper and decorated with black paper cats.

The custom is to go and wake their parents up in the morning flogging them with the fastelavnsris and singing, fastelavn er mit navn boller vil jeg have, hvis jeg ingen boller får så laver jeg balade. In English, carnival is my name sweet rolls are what I want if I don't get any then I will make a lot of noise.

The sweet pastry rolls are a Danish tradition at the bakeries, they have a large variety of carnival buns, made from Danish pastry, some with fruit and some iced and filled with whipped cream, custard, jam, cooffee or rum flavoured cream and custard.

Another Danish tradition is to hit the cat out of the barrel (slå katten af tønden), it is a wooden barrel filled with fruit and candy. Back in the olden days they used a real black cat in the barrel, and beating the barrel until the cat got out and run away, was a way to drive the evil spirits out of town.

The barrel is usually decorated with the image of a cat, and hung up in the ceiling or in a tree, if outdoors, and the kids take it in turn to hit the barrel with a wooden club until the barrel breaks and all the fruit and candy falls out, the winner is the "queen of cats", after that they continue until the last part of the barrel is knocked down and the child who knocks down the last bit of the barrel becomes "king of cats".

Danish Traditions at Easter!

The Easter holiday in Denmark gives you a 5 day break, and here in spring a lot of people use the Easter time to get into the garden and get it ready for summer. People with holiday homes usually spend Easter here, preparing the home for the summer.

Many shops and homes are decorated for the festive season, the colours, yellow and green and the flowers, daffodils are commonly used. In a lot of homes you will find ordinary hen's eggs which have been blown out and hand painted, decorated and are usually found hanging on some kind of branch, and of cause the chocolate eggs or rabbits we can't forget, they are everywhere.

Another Danish tradition before Easter, is to send someone a letter that is cut out in a pattern, decorated and a so called 'teaser' verse is added. the letters are send anonymous, the signatures are made up of just dots, one dot for each letter in the sender's name. If the recipient can guess who have made/sent the letter before Easter he or she will receive an Easter egg.

Another Danish tradition is to have a soft-boiled hand painted egg for breakfast on the morning of Easter Sunday, usually painted by the kids.

Easter lunch is celebrated with family and friends, and if there are children around, the Easter eggs are usually hidden in the garden or around the house for the kids to find. Again the Danish smorgasbord with beer and snaps is on the menu, the Danish breweries usually make a special beer for Easter as well, which is stronger and tastier than their normal beer, as they do for Christmas.

Whit Sunday, in Danish "Pinsedag".

"Pinsedag" and "2. Pinsedag" is celebrated over 2 days (Sunday and Monday) 7 weeks after Easter, where the Danes celebrate two days of Whitsun, which are public holidays in Denmark.

Pinsedag is in most places celebrated with a Danish smorgasbord and a lot of, especially young, people celebrate until sunrise the next morning.

Saint John's Eve, in Danish "Sankt Hans Aften".

Saint John's Eve is celebrated on the evening of the 23 of June.
The celebration is an old tradition and considered a celebration of the summer solstice.

If you have been to the beach in the days ahead of the Saint John's Eve you would have noticed some large bonfires been set up around the place.

Along the beaches all over the country, and in some parks as well, they light large bonfires on the evening and it usually starts between 8.30 and 9.30.

Before the lightning of the bonfire there may be a speech by a local politician or another local public known person.While the bonfire is burning the Danes sing "Vi Elsker Vort Land" a song written by Holger Drachmann.

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