Sankt Hans Aften

Sankt Hans is the Danish celebration for Midsummer.  It's quite an old holiday, celebrated back during the Viking time.  They would have a big bonfire to ward off the evil spirits.  Driving around during the evening, we saw a ton of bonfires all over the place.  In the 1920's, a new tradition emerged of making a "witch" out of straw and burning it on the fires.  It is thought to commemorate the witch burnings from 1540 to 1693.  This witch burning is also thought to "send the witch away" to Bloksbjerg Germany where the Great Witch gathering is thought to be held. 
We were invited to a Sankt Hans party by the Olsen's in our ward.  It was quite the event.  They live in this awesome country house with a lot of land.  There were a lot of kids for our kids to play with, a trampoline, land to explore, horses to ride and yummy food to eat.  And the huge bonfire, of course!  We didn't "burn a witch", but the bonfire was really fun.  We all stood around and sang some traditional Sankt Hans songs.  It was really a fun experience.  We missed going to any bonfires the last 2 years and were glad to have gotten to experience it this year. 

 Cooking snøbrod (Danish twisty bread) over the fire remnants.