It’s called Sankt Hans Aften here, the evening before Sankt Hans, 24th June – alias St. John the Baptist whose birthday it purports to be. As usual the locals do it the evening before, like Yuletide, a kind of celebratio præcox, I suppose. And as usual there’ll be no trace of religion, even though it was nicked from the pagans yonks ago.
So we’re going north to stay with friends in Kerteminde on the island of Fynen, to do the hygge thing around a bonfire next to the fjord, although we probably won’t burn the effigy of a witch, the last of whom was so dispatched here in 1693.
And as in North Britain, it won’t be dark until well into the small hours and we’ll skim stones across the water into the setting sun, making a wish or two for the second half of 2012.
Boadicea's Chariot 
There you are my dear giving your movements!
Excellent!
And just so as you know I am giving my rose tea this weekend and am now baking up a storm!
Next week I shall have to brew some spells to make up for it. (More like make strawberry jam!)
PS Have a nice time!
We, of course, are celebrating mid-winter! It’s been sufficiently cold to drag out my UK winter coat… 🙂
Have a great time!
I trust you will be dressed like the gentleman on the left, Janus, with flowers in your hat.
Christina, hope your rose tea goes well. Apparently in Britain the weekend will be spent avoiding rain.
CO, we aim to please! 🙂
Sheona, I was going to remark that gentlemen always dress on the right but thought better of it! I’ll probably need a sou’wester!
Enjoy your weekends, ladies!
We received a letter from the local council last week about bonfires telling us they have received a complaint about us having regular bonfires.
First I looked up the word bonfire, it means big open fire. We have not had one of those for nearly 3 years.
Then I asked what do they mean by regular, they mean every day or every second day.We use an incinerator once every 6 weeks or so for about an hour or two normally after 7pm in the summer and only if people are not in their garden.
Then they confirmed that Bromley council has no by laws against bonfires and we can do as we like.
I do not understand why people get so upset about the burning of a little garden rubbish, normally large twigs, sticks and leaves from neighbouring trees (not ours). Yet the same people impose their filthy BBQ lit by some petroleum substance that permeates the air for miles around every sunny day. I have no objection to food being cooked outdoors on a barbie, but why light it with smelly oil that pollutes the air and the food.
As far as I am concerned I will carry on lighting up whenever I like.
Any excuse for a party, Janus!
I hope you enjoyed your weekend festivities.
rr Agree on the subject of BBQ starter, totally asphyxiating!
Re bonfires, that is the one thing you can’t do here. Too much risk of forest fires in the summer when it goes dry. Anyone that lights up will have a fire engine on their premises PDQ!
All the fire stations, of which there are many with all the buildings being wooden, have large signs in front advising the burn bans, woe betides any that do not toe the line on that one.
But you have to consider that forest fires here are measured in square miles. Behind us are 300 miles of uninterrupted forest.
On the other side of the Cascades in the rain shadow, lightening starts a lot of fires, literally whole mountains burn, they just have to leave it and repel it at the edges away from lived in communities.
Now there’s a thought, burn up your neighbours BBQs!
A goodly summer occupation!
Same here Christina. Light a bonfire after early May and you’ll have the bombeiros (fire brigade) on your door within minutes, closely followed by GIPR, the provisional wing of the National Guard. The financial repercussions are dire for the hard-of-earning.
I too dislike accelerants to start a barbie and generally use newspaper and a few twigs hidden under the charcoal (proper lumpwood, never ever briquettes) to get some embers going. The trick is to avoid any sparks flying out of the chimney. In winter a hardwood fire is the standard and the old-fashioned hole in the ground barbie is almost impossible to beat, save for the same thing done on a deserted beach at dusk with freshly caught fish and bivalves over a hole in the sand, driftwod fuelled, accompanied by a bottle or so of very cold and fizzy.
OZ
COB & Oz same in Greece for the same reasons, and yes that makes sense.
However here it is raining again.
Can’t wait for this drought to finish. 🙂
Home again after a weekend of couldbursts and storm-force winds. The chain of bonfires on the far side of the fjord was duly lit at 9 pm and we could admire them from the comfort of the dining table. The accompanying fireworks were less than impressive given their erratic course and low clouds. The crayfish and baby lobster starter more than made up for them; the Irish lamb and fresh strawberries completed the party.
I’m glad you didn’t make that comment, Janus! I couldn’t possibly have replied to it. It’s some comfort to know that Denmark had the same miserable weather as we did.