Sankt Hans: A Danish Celebration

CELEBRATIONS

Midsummer Eve Bonfire on Skagen’s Beach by P.S. Krøyer
Image | Peder Severin Krøyer Google Cultural Institute

A painting from 1906 by the Danish painter P.S. Krøyer, with people gathering around a bonfire on a beach in Skagen on the northern tip of Denmark, depicts beautifully the ambiance of my favourite celebration in Denmark: the eve of Saint John, June 23. Danes will go to these public events, either to a beach, or on the shore of a lake, in a public garden or on a square. There will be speeches by a well known, local person like a mayor, or a TV and radio host. Large community bonfires will be lit, people will gather around, bring beer, or a full picnic. You will see families, friends, old and young. I love this evening of meditating the fire, the warmth, the togetherness.

Traditionally, the Midsummer hymn «Vi elsker vort land» (We love our country) is sung at every Sankt Hans bonfire. The lyrics are written by the poet Holger Drachmann in 1885, and the hymn is a declaration of love to the midsummer season. First, Drachman describes Christmas, then spring and autumn. All lovely seasons of course, but not as delightful as midsummer and St John's Eve. He expresses the love for the warm summer nights that seem to go on forever…but on St John’s Eve, the days will become shorter, and the darkness is coming. 

Here a few lines lines from the hymn translated in English:

« ..but the most beautiful wreath becomes yours, Saint Hans

It is bound by the the hearts of the summer so warm, so happy

but the most beautiful wreath becomes yours, Saint Hans…

...Every town has its witch, and every parish its trolls,

we will keep those from our lives with fires of happiness

We want peace in this country, saint Hans, saint Hans!

It can be won where the hearts never become doubting cold

We want peace in this country, saint Hans, saint Hans!

It can be won where the hearts never become doubting cold .. »

In this video you can listen to the song, accompanied by a selection of Danish paintings:

The Eve of Sankt Hans is tied to the feast of Saint John the Baptist (Sankt Hans in Danish, “Hans” being the diminutive for Johannes), who was born on June 24th, but Danes celebrate on the eve before. This celebration has though existed a long time before Denmark became christianized in the 10th century. Originally, it was the summer solstice being celebrated, a fertility festival with several customs and rituals connected with nature, the wish for good fortune, and the hope for a fertile harvest in the autumn. 

The summer solstice on June 21st, is the longest day and the shortest night of the year. The celebration is an ancient practice celebrated in many countries particularly in the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, England, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Russia and France. For instance, in Sweden the “Midsommar'' is a national holiday, and most celebrations will take place on the Saturday between June 20 and June 26. Traditional food would be potatoes with herring or smoked fish, and of course akvavit (a liquor made with potato and grain) and beer. The houses are decorated with flower wreaths, and there will be bonfires. Swedes will dance around the midsummer pole and sing popular folk songs. In Norway the celebration is called “Jonsok” (John's wake) and will include bonfires, and sometimes mock weddings, to symbolize new life and a new season.

The Vikings visited sacred springs to drink the water or bathe in it to heal diseases, and they had bonfires as a protection against evil spirits and negativity. During the Middle Ages people would gather curative herbs (that supposedly were even more miraculous if gathered on that special night) as the summer and nature are at their peak moment. Other rituals especially for unmarried women would be to take water from a sacred spring, pour it in a bucket, and when the midnight bell stroke, the women would be able to see the image of their future husband in the water. Another way to see your future love was to pick nine different flowers on Saint John's Eve, put them under the bed pillow, and during the night, the unmarried women would dream of their future husband.

From the 1920s, there would be a straw witch on the Danish Sankt Hans bonfires—some say to remember the Church’s witch burnings in the 16th and 17th century, but it is a fact that the tradition with a witch on the bonfire came to Denmark with German workers. The witch is linked to the belief that this evening has evil spirits very present, that witches were flying in the sky on their brooms. The bonfires would be an efficient way of sending the witches off to Bloksbjerg (the mountain Brocken) in northern Germany, often associated with legends about witches and devils.

The mountain is linked to another celebration with bonfires, the “Walpurgis Night” on the eve of April 30, supposedly the night of a witches’ mass on the mountain. You can find Walpurgis celebrations in different variations in several northern and central European countries, for instance in Sweden, the Valborgsmässoafton. This goes back to the pagan feast at the end of the long wintertime mixed with the Christian influence in the form of remembrance of the Anglo-Saxon saint Walpurga, a Christian missionary in Germany in  the 8th century, among other things known for her work to ward off witchcraft.

In Denmark in recent times, the burning of a straw witch on the bonfire has been seen as controversial and inappropriate, a symbol of a male dominated cultural heritage, a negative vision of women, and there are several talks and articles about how this tradition should be abandoned.

For many religions and cultures, fire is seen as a rebirth, a form of cleansing, which brings us back to the pagan importance of the worship of fire, primarily associated with the Zoroastrians and their fire temple. In the ancient Greek philosophy, fire is one of the four classical elements, associated with energy and passion. There is also the Greek myth about Prometheus stealing the fire from the gods. The Romans had the goddess Vesta whose symbol was a sacred flame, and in the Slavic countries there is the spirit of fire Svarog. There is  the Olympic flame, the use of an eternal flame on WWI memorials. And the list of the importance and the symbolism of the fire, and how it has been celebrated goes on…

But what will always stay with me are the Danish summer nights, on that special evening, the mixed feelings of pure happiness and a bit of melancholy, knowing that summer nights will get shorter.