On the 23rd of June in Denmark people come together to celebrate Sankthans/midsummer with big bonfires where you burn witches (pretend ones!). People sing songs, there are speeches and probably a few beers!
People make snobrød (literally ‘wound bread’) which is dough wound around a stick and then it’s cooked over the coals of the fire. Making snobrød is a delicate balance, get it too far into the heat and it will go black – not close enough and you’ll be eating almost raw dough. If you’re lucky, as a child you had atleast one snobrød that was completely scorched black on the outside and almost raw on the inside. Good times. ;-)
An old tradition was for girls to pick flowers and put them under their pillows so they would dream of the man they would marry. Medicinal herbs collected on this night were also particularly powerful. It’s a night full of magic. :-)
Obviously, I have no need of flowers under my pillow, so instead here are some flowers I picked on Friday. They are so beautiful. And red & white of course are the colours of the Danish flag. Yes. I am feeling slightly homesick at the moment… Even after almost 8 years in England, there are some things that I miss a lot in Denmark. Like the long, light summer evenings at this time of year. Sure, it goes dark, but there is still a little hint of light at the Northern edge of the horizon. Magic.
I loved the long summer days in Anchorage, no night until late August, early September.