First day

First day here we powered through. We had a luncheon at Vestergade 7 (original DIS building). When we did Denmark’s International Study Program (DIS) there were 400 kids in our program and now 1400 kids come each semester. They have a ton of buildings. So yesterday we played some trivia and had a smorebrod lunch. We found Rob from our class and made friends with a darling couple, Sarah and Chase, from ‘17 and Anna from
‘15. We are the CHARMS. We ended up playing a board game at a board game cafe. We then went down to Nyhavn to see a Sankt Hans bonfire. “It's a cherished tradition with a long history and various activities centered around bonfires and singing the "Midsommervisen".
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. 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.” It’s light out very late here. They did not lit the fires till 10 p.m. We were freezing so we had delicious hot cocoa and also ice cream. Yum! Then walked down the Stroget back to our hotel (Hotel Bella Grande) where I did my first nightly diary reading for Wockley. It is hilarious- it’s my diary from our semester in ‘95. Then showered and bed. Very long day.Read more