St. John's Eve

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Lesson Transcript

Culture Class: Holidays in Denmark, Lesson 22 - St. John's Eve

Hello and welcome to the Culture Class: Holidays in Denmark Series at DanishClass101.com.

In this series, we’re exploring the traditions behind Danish holidays and observances. I’m Michael, and you're listening to Season 1, Lesson 22, St. John's Eve. In Danish, it’s called sankthansaften.

If you like bonfire parties and singalongs, you'll almost certainly enjoy St. John's Eve.

On June 23, midsummer parties are held everywhere in Denmark to celebrate the longest day of the year.

Originally, there were many pagan customs and rituals associated with St. John's Eve. However, many centuries ago, it became a celebration of John the Baptist under Christianity.

In this lesson, you'll learn how Danes celebrate St. John's Eve.

Now, before we go into more detail, do you know the answer to this question:

What superstitions are associated with St. John's Eve?

If you don't already know, you’ll find out a bit later. Keep listening.

During the main event on St. John's Eve, people ignite a "bonfire", or bål, and place a "witch," or heks, on top.

The tradition has nothing to do with the witch burnings, as you may assume, but actually originates from Germany. There, it was believed that witches flew to Bloksbjerg during the evening and night. However, for the Danes, the meaning of the bonfire was simply to scare off witches and evil spirits. Regardless, most people today still follow the German tradition that the witch on the bonfire will be sent to Bloksbjerg.

Besides dancing, drinking, and singing, which still occurs during St. John's Eve, the evening was filled with both good and evil magical forces of nature according to "paganism", or hedenskab.

People picked especially sacred herbs and went to the sacred springs and trees to get some of their healing power. Some also hung garlands up in the trees, so the magic could be caught.

Today, some people, especially girls, wear "flower wreaths," or blomsterkranse, on their heads. This tradition is even more prevalent in Sweden than it is in Denmark.

Whether you celebrate St. John's Eve at a public or private event, it is common for a person from the local area to give a speech before the bonfire is ignited.

After the ignition, there is the singalong, where people sing "The Midsummer Song." The song was originally by Holger Drachmann, but many people choose to sing it with the Danish band Shu-bi-dua's melody from 1980, which has more rhythm. Of course, there are still many who stick to the less popular original version.

Bonfires often go hand in hand with "twist bread", or snobrød, and the St. John's Eve bonfire is no exception.

Therefore, many people, especially children, come prepared with sticks of dough so they can bake their twist bread by the bonfire.

Now it's time to answer our quiz question:

What superstitions are associated with St. John's Eve?

Most superstitions have to do with weather prediction. If it rains on St. John's Eve, it’s said that it will rain six weeks later. And the more it rains on St. John's Eve, the less the hazelnuts will grow.

Few people believe in these kinds of weather forecasts today, but summer rain would not surprise anyone.