Wednesday, June 30, 2010

corner view - summer





it's been here quite a while by now. the summer, the heat, the sun. we have been going to the beach for months, we have made bonfires in the evening, played with water in the garden. we even got tired of it some days and stayed in doors during the hot afternoons with the air-condition on.

but one thing that reminds me of summer, the summers of my childhood, is sankt hans, the celebration of the shortest night of the year. this always seemed to fall just about the time where school was out for the summer, and the excitement of vacation, long days at home or away was in the air. looking into those flames of the sankt hans fire it was like time changed. endless weeks ahead filled with promises of something different with no clocks, no bells.

for the last five years we have celebrated this tradition of sankt hans on a beach here in israel with other mixed danish-israeli families. it's a danish tradition to burn a witch on the bonfire, and so do we. yes, i know, not very politically correct, and a macabre reminder of those dark days in europe where "real" witches were burned, usually strong, independent women (and men) with knowledge. or just plain unlucky humans caught in local power struggles and jealosy.

nowadays it's just a doll, and as i told the kids, it's a magic doll. when she burns she travels with the smoke all the way to bloksbjerg where she will become a real witch and dance happily through the short night with her witch friends and the giant trolls. of course they are all good witches and good trolls in my version. i hope it helped them deal with the scary, but spectacular sight of the doll on fire.

for more summer, pick up your broom and fly on over to the lovely jane of spain daily

btw, the kids were very excited and brought pictures to their kindergarten of the witch burning. they talked about it at the morning gathering, and i don't even want to think about what the other parents were thinking when their kids got home and told them about the danish people that are burning witches at the beach. oh dear.

17 comments:

  1. I saw this on flickr, and I've been meaning to leave a comment there, but I just haven't had the time! What I find very interesting about the danish celebration is that it focuses on the night, the shortest night, whereas we celebrate the longest day - actually, we don't at all, neither formally nor traditionally, but we do a lot of talking about it:)

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  2. Oh how lovely that you camped out at the beach. It looks wonderful.

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  3. I like the way you talk to your children. You explain things so sweetly... and rituals are so wonderful to celebrate, sort of like crossing the threshold from one place to another :^)

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  4. that is so wonderful that you celebrate this with the other danish-israel families. So great for your kids.

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  5. woooow! are you that many out there? i should have looked for a midsummer feast in swedish tradition..
    burning witches, also quite impressive, never heard of that from our neighbors :)

    which makes me think of antichrist, have you seen it?

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  6. Love those beachy summers! We don't get much heat here on our coast.

    Happy Corner View day. :>)

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  7. we have bonfires too and we celebrate sant joan where I come from. traditionally everyone would gather in streets, plazas or beaches to commemorate this pagan event with revelry around bonfires, traditionally lit to ward off evil spirits. so there, "witch" burning too ;)

    in amsterdam, I normally attend a swedish midsommar organised by friends at the park, which involves a flower may pole, games and stupid quantities of alcohol.

    yay for summer and traditions.

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  8. this looks like the perfect evening. makes me want to go sleep on the beach...

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  9. wouhaou !! Great tradition !!! So I whish you the best for this summer !

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  10. Nice! We celebrate solstice here too - although we didn't burn a witch, we burned a hay circle to which everyone attached their own little note...they were things we wanted to burn away from the last season. Then we tossed it in the bonfire! :)

    Lovely images of beach and sand. ahhhhh.

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  11. Fantastiske billeder og beskrivelse af den 'gode gamle tradition'. God Sankt Hans :-)

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  12. A wonderful tradition, it is good to maintain and share these rituals when far away from home, especially for the children. It looked like a great evening on the beach.

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  13. how i love learning something new here. thanks trinsch! and your photos are wonderful!!

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  14. oh did i get a laugh out of your last paragraph!!

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  15. It's fascinating that Swedish and Danish
    midsummer celebrations are so different. I knew about the Danish bonfires but I didn't know about the witches. And :-) to your kids stories in kindergarten.

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  16. Ha! I love your explanation to the kids of what happens to the doll after it burns. Very cool. :)

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