Last Saturday the 26th of September was Christiania’s 38 years birthday.

Some of you might know about Christiania, but for those who don’t know that much about it, here is a little general information.

Christiania is a very special place. The whole thing started from when a group of people occupied an empty military area in 1971. Then slowly the spirit of Christiania quickly developed into a hippie movement, collectivism and anarchism. The purpose was to create a place where creativity, openness and freedom was embraced. And Christiania is indeed an artsy place which is full of creativity.

There are around 850 people “legally” living at Christiania, some pursue very self sufficient and alternative lives, whereas others have completely regular jobs in the city. But that’s not really the reason why Chritiania is so famous.

The real reason is that Christiania is an open drug market located almost in the heart of Copenhagen. Christiania’s pusher street has 50 something stall and tiny shops selling all kinds of Hash or other “light drugs”.

These drugs are illegal in Denmark, and in principle they are also being sold illegally in Christiania, but even though the police go into Christiania once in a while, it seems like the drug trade there is more or less commonly accepted.

So on Saturday Rune and I went to Christiania with some of our friends to check it out.

There were really a lot of people, and it was almost too crowed to walk around. But it was also a very relaxed and happy atmosphere, and our friends even did a little clothes shopping. There are a lot of small shops that sell second hand things. In Danish we call it loppemarked. I think one of my girlfriends bought a pretty nice dress for 50kr.

So we drank some Christiania beer and jumped around, screaming at a D.A.D concert. We really had a lot of fun.

Maybe you don’t believe me, but this was only my second time in Christiania in the 7 years I have been living here in Denmark. It’s a very nice place. People are very friendly. So you can always find a lot of fun, no matter when you go there.

I can hardly imagine that a place like Christiania exists anywhere else. Tell me what do you think

By Li Yuan Wu • September 30, 2009

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