The birthday "girl" and me
We managed to get home just when rain came pouring down! After 1½hrs of rest, we were out the door again, this time to a friend's 32nd birthday. It was also midsummer day today (the day with the longest daylight in the year), which also happens to be the eve of Saint John's Day (known as "Sankt Hans dag" in Denmark).
The traditional high point of this "Sankt Hans" eve is celebrated by lighting up a bonfire and burning a witch. If someone is suspected of doing witchcraft, she is put on a list which is collated during the year up till midsummer, and this person is then sentenced to burning at the stake on the 23rd of June. Yes...Denmark is a barbaric country indeed, burning people like that every midsummer... .
Ok, ok...the above is not entirely true ;o). They did in fact burn suspected witches at the stake during the medieval period, but that does not happen for real here anymore. They now have a witch doll at the stake instead:
Anyway, they didn't manage to light up the bonfire at the place we were at since the rain had wet the dead branches earlier today so it took forever for the fire to get burning (even though diesel was used as the firestarter). Martin and I didn't want to wait any longer as it was getting too late already, so we left with a couple of friends while the rest stayed back. We did get to see some huge fireworks display before we left though, so that was something at least.
To be honest, I don't know why burning "witches" is something to celebrate about in this day and age. Many innocent people had died in the past because of this, yet we are celebrating this very heathen ritual like it's something we should be proud of. It's almost like wanting to celebrate the holocaust or something, and I'm pretty sure that would not be given the "seal of approval" even with dolls used instead of real people... .
Oh well, that's tradition for you. Now that the longest day is over, the sun will rise later and set earlier :o(. We won't notice the days getting shorter and shorter until only a couple of months from now, so for the moment, it is just psychologically depressing to know that we're going to get less sunlight little by little each day. I just hope the sun will show itself more from behind the rain clouds this summer, otherwise I'll have to carry my big umbrella everywhere I go :o(.
I'm off to bed now. Will leave you with a picture of Martin and me from his aunt's birthday party ;o). Hey, this would be our first "couple" picture on this blog! Proof that he's my man ;o).
