fricken frack…i’m not dutch???

Nope…i am danish…really i thought the two went hand in hand….meh oh well…but i like the Danish holidays better any who!!!

DANISH HOLIDAYS

Below you can learn more about the most important Danish holidays.

Christmas

The main festival of the year in Denmark is Christmas. Danes celebrate Christmas Eve which is on December 24 and prolong the Christmas through December 25 and 26. Though many longstanding traditions have disappeared over the years, the ancient custom of the family gathering at Christmas is still preserved.

On Christmas Eve, after a splendid repast (for which the country’s goose population is decimated), the Danish family lights the candles on the beautifully decorated Christmas tree. And after dancing round the tree, singing traditional songs, the members of the family exchange gifts. Some of the family will probably have attended church services in the afternoon; indeed attendances are heavier on December 24 than on any other day of the year. Read more about Christmas.

‘The Christmas season lasts until Easter’ goes an old Danish song. New Year’s Eve is celebrated in a rather more rowdy fashion both at home and on visits to friends – and this is the one evening of the year when every single table in restaurants throughout the country has to be reserved weeks in advance. January 5 is of course Twelfth Night, when the Christmas tree is lit for the last time: the Yuletide season is over for another year.
Fastelavn

The next occasion for celebration on the calendar is Shrovetide – “Fastelavn”. In earlier days it was a period of fasting, but now it is marked by a carnival air and fun and games. Parents are awakened by the children waving specially decorated birch branches – “Fastelavnsris”. The youngsters later dress in a variety of disguises and go singing from door to door with their collecting cups into which the grown-ups can drop a coin or two, if they feel like it. The money is usually converted into a bag of sweets.

One of the games on “Fastelavn” is called “knocking the cat out of the barrel” and it is done every year in Danish schools and homes. All the children – in disguise of course – line up and in turn hit a barrel with a wooden club. The barrel is hanging from the ceiling or a tree and it usually has a drawing of a black cat on its side. The child who “knocks the cat out of the barrel” (makes the last bit of the barrel fall to the ground) is made “king” – this could both be a girl or a boy. The “king” then choses a “queen”. They are given golden (paper) crowns and they rule for the day.
Easter

The Danes take a long Easter holiday. It starts on the Wednesday evening, running through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. It is another period of the year when churches are well attended. But material things of course are also a great attraction to the Danes. At Easter the resut is groaning lunch-tables replete with all manner of food, Danish akvavit and a special, potent beer brewed specially for Easter – and without which many Danes would feel the holiday had been a flop. For the children (and anyone else with a sweet tooth) there are eye-catching chocolate Easter eggs, which have almost ousted the hen’s natural product at this time of the year.
Ascension, “Store Bededag” and Whitsun

After Easter comes Ascension, a normal religious festival, followed on the fourth Friday after Easter by “Store Bededag” (there is no equivalent in the English language), which replaced a number of minor holidays from the Catholic era.

Whitsun, as well as having religious significance, marks the definite appearance of spring: Danes head for the woods early on Whitsunday to watch “the sun dance”.
Workers’ Day

In Denmark, Workers’s Day is always celebrated on May 1 as it is throughout the world. It is a tradition, for those who wish to do so, to take half the day off from work and gather in parks and other public places to listen to politicians and/or other well-known personalities deliver suitable speeches.
Constitution Day

Constitution Day is June 5. It was on this date in 1849 that King Frederik Vll set his signature upon Denmark’s first free constitution. The celebration is marked by a half-holiday and if you did not feel like taking half the day off on Workers’ Day, you usually add the two halves into a full day off on this day.
The Queen’s Birthday

The Queen’s birthday, April 16, is particularly popular among the children: many of them get a day off school. In Copenhagen they gather in hundreds outside the royal palace, waving small Dannebrog flags and shouting congratulations to their monarch (Dannebrog is the official name of the Danish flag). It has become a tradition for the Queen to appear with the royal family on the main balcony to receive the cheers of the crowd.
Midsummer Eve

On the eve before midsummer day, June 24, bonfires are lit to mark the changing season. On top of the bonfire a witch made of wood, cloth and firework is placed . The firework symbolises all the witches’ swift dispatch to damnation where tradition has it they assemble on Midsummer Eve. According to Danish folklore this assembly takes place on Bloksbjerg – also known as Brocken – in Germany.

Midsummer Eve is an opportunity for singing and public speaking. It is a beautiful sight as all along the Danish coastline and on inland hilltops fires can be seen burning long into the night.
US Independence Day

As one of the very few countries outside the United States, Denmark has celebrated American Independence Day, July 4, since 1912. For the most part festivities are confined to a natural amphitheatre in the heather-covered Rebild hills in the north of Jutland. Tens of thousands of Danish-Americans and other guests congregate to celebrate the good relations between the two nations. The highlight of the occasion is an address by a well-known American or Danish-American. The Rebild Festival is frequently attended by the Danish monarch and other members of the royal family.

DUDE … i get celebrate “Midsummer Eve” how friggen awesome is that…and the fact that the Danish celebrate along with the US our independence day…AWESOME…i like being Danish (and its a yummy pastry filled with cream cheese too )

“Covering hair is part of the jewelry of getting married – you get a chattan (groom), you get a ring and you get a shaitel (wig).”
The importance of modesty in dress and conduct is particularly stressed among girls and women in Orthodox society. Many Orthodox women only wear skirts and avoid wearing trousers, and some married Orthodox women cover their hair with a wig, hat, or scarf.

In Modern Orthodox practice it is generally accepted for sleeves to reach the elbows and shirts to cover the collarbone, skirts to cover the knees with or without tights, and not wear pants in the presence of men. Socks are considered optional, based on the concept of minhag hamakom (custom of the community).

Haredi women avoid skirts with slits, preferring instead kick-pleats. They also avoid overly eye-catching colors, especially bright red. Some insist on closed-toe shoes and always wear stockings, the thickness of which varies by community. In some Haredi communities women wear loose vests over shirts.

 My cousin came in from Denver this week to visit our grandmother who, as you all know, has fallen ill.  Several years ago my cousin reformed to Judaism to marry the man she fell in love with.  I have never been knowledable of this religion however when I saw my cousing wearing a wig last night and found out it was part of her faith…well I felt like I knew nothing.  So of course I had to attmept to google it (and it should say something about the company that I work for that every Jewish website is ACCESS DENIED-except Wikipedia).  Anyways last night I found out that only in the presence of her husband, husbands immediate family and her immediate family (dad, mom & sisters…but not sisters husband) is she allowed to display her hair (gorgeous LONG SPIRAL CURLY HAIR) and her skin.  She must b fully covered and under no circumstances show her collar bone!

I have no problems with people’s religious beliefs (as long as they dont involve the killing of innocents….human or animal) so dont take this as a rant.  I am simply saying is WOW THATS LOVE and I am just surprised…never knew that about the Jewish faith…..just thought it was the typical “Kosher” stuff

John is boring, but i would do this too!

K so i found a blog off of a friends blogroll thats called “Garfield Minus Garfield” and its basically the comic strips with out Garfield in which John looks and acts even crazier than he is……but i would so do this too!