Listening to: Lover's Spit by: Broken Social Scene
Sankt Hans (St. John's Eve) is in relation to the celebration of midsummer which is June 24 but celebrations in Denmark take place the evening of June 23. It was an official holiday until 1770. It is the day where the medieval wise men and women (the doctors of that time) would gather special herbs that they needed for the rest of the year to cure people.
It has been celebrated since the times of the Vikings by visiting healing water wells and making a large bonfire to ward away evil spirits. Today the water well tradition is gone. Bonfires on the beach, speeches, picnics and songs are traditional, although bonfires are built in many other places where beaches may not be close by (i.e. on the shores of lakes and other waterways, parks, etc.)
Holger Drachmann and P. E. Lange-Müller wrote a midsommervise (Midsummer hymn) in 1885 called "Vi elsker vort land..." ("We Love Our Country") that is sung at every bonfire on this evening. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer).
Yes, I experienced this celebration and to me it is a bit strange to celebrate the burning of witches but that is the thing that most fascinates me about Denmark is the slight strangeness it holds. You have to experience it for yourself to understand. The celebration in relation to American holidays reminded me of a combination of Halloween (regarding the witches) and the 4th of July (fires, singing songs and picnics). That is really the best way I could explain it. My friend and I traveled to Christianshaven an area on the other side of the canals. We went to an outdoor cafe that sits right along the canals. When we arrived a bonfire was burning on a raft and everyone was singing Vi elsker vort land..." ("We Love Our Country"). There were numerous people just gathered all around the edge of the canals and lakes. Wherever you went there were bonfires and parties going on. I have seen nothing like it. My friend's father owns a boat and he had it docked at the cafe on the canal and we took a ride on that. By this time it was close to 11pm and it wasn't fully dark. It was soo beautiful to be boating on the canals at this time.
After the canal ride my friend and I stopped over at one more party which was being held under a bridge with a huge bonfire and djs. It reminded me of something out of a movie at first as I walked under the bridge. Usually under bridges drug dealers and such hang out and it can be dodgy and the scene looked just like that at first sight. Obviously when you get there it is really great and everyone is just having an amazing time. No sketchy people in sight. I took a number of photos and then decided to head home because even though it was the longest day of the year and a nice warm day the night proved to be a bit colder and I was freezing. Just needed to go home and get under my warm covers.
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