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Danish Weddings (Part Two)

May 16, 2013

So, in Danish Weddings (Part One), I told you about the Danish marriage ceremony.

Now that we’ve said “Ja!” (Yes!) to each other and are officially married, what next?  Well, let’s get the party started, selvfølgelig! :)

Danish weddings involve lots and lots (and lots) of kissing.  You’ll need to keep your wits about you!

Keep your ears open:

Ching, ching!  Ching, ching, ching!   Someone starts tapping a knife on their wine glass or plate.  Then everyone joins in.  Ching, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching, chiiiiiiiiiing!  And you don’t stop making the noise until the Happy Couple get out of their seats, stand up on their chairs, carefully reach out towards one another (careful, mind you don’t fall!) and kiss.   Mwa!  And skål! (Cheers!)

Repeat at random.  Over.  And over.

Keep your eyes open:

You also need to keep your eye firmly fixed on the Bride and Groom.  If, at any point, the Groom leaves the room to go wee-wee, then it’s open season on the Bride!

The men dash over to her, and queue up to give her a kiss.

 

Given that we are in liberal Denmark and there is full equality, the opposite applies selvfølgelig if the Bride leaves the room.  Then all the ladies have a chance to go smooch the Groom.  You might want to make sure that the Bride and Groom are drinking plenty of water, so they’ll need to leave the room often.  Otherwise you’ll just have to lure them out under false pretences.  Perfectly acceptable!

Join me next time for the next round of Danish Wedding traditions!

Diane :)

 

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Posthus Surprise – Aalborg

May 16, 2013
Dear UCN’ers,
Few days ago, I decided to go to the city center in order to send a letter to my family in Poland, hand out some books that I borrowed from Aalborg Library, and of course make some shopping (sales, obviously! Well, I am very good at it, pss!)

When I came in to our Aalborg Post Office (Aalborg Posthus Algade) which is on Algade 42, close to the Student House, I experienced a nice suprise.

 

But, well, starting all over again – I went to send a letter, with my thoughts that
1. I go inside
2. Take out my number to stand in a line
3. When my number is shown, go the the lady
4. Pay 8kr for the stamp and 3kr for the priority one to Poland
5. Say “Tak skal du have” and go away
However, my plans have changed when I came in, Oh, my God it was a great surprise for my ears! I’ve heard the Post Orchestra. Everyone playing on the instruments were dressed in post office clothes and it all looked just great.
No more talking, just look at it :

 

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Christmas in Denmark

May 16, 2013

Happy New Year Everyone!

I suppose most of you are in your home countries, am I right? That was always the case for me.. However this year I decided to stay here in Denmark. Why? Well, I have my last project to hand in on the 7th of January and I wanted to stay and focus just on that. Nevertheless, I also wanted to experience Danish Christmas spirit! :)
Christmas Calendar Candle
Today I am going to introduce you a bit closer to the Danish Christmas Traditions ;) But in exchange I would like to know what are your Christmas Traditions in your home countries? :)
In Denmark christmas starts in the beginning of December, where the families are taking part in count-down to Christmas Eve, by partly lightening up every day the Christmas Calendar Candle.
In most homes Christmas starts with lightening Christmas tree candles, where the family dance around the Christmas tree. I know! Sounds funny right? They hold each others hands and walk around the tree, singing the Christmas Carols and hymns. We do not have this tradition, that is why it is surprising for me, but HEY! I would like to try that and I think it really connects the family together:)
Of course, there are also Christmas gifts under the Christmas tree, and the same as in Poland, they are distributed on the 24th of December. Just after the Christmas Dinner. And trust me – looking for Christmas gifts is just crazy in Denmark! It all starts up in the beginning of December when you meet mass of people with full bags of presents on the beautifully decorated with fir garlands and lights  Aalborg’s streets.
You are probably thinking what is served for dinner? Well, I need to disappoint here some polish readers (where we have 12 traditional dishes) but in Denmark it is usually roast goose, duck or pork with sour-sweet  red cabbage and carmelised potatoes. This year I was eating it on the second Christmas Day at my friends house in Kongerslev (20 km away from Aalborg)
roast pork in crunchy crackling – love it! – It is often served in our School’s canteen, you need to try it! :)
Ris a’la mande
 On the dessert, there is a tradition in Denmark to serve a delicious Christmas rice pudding, its cold with a warm cherry sauce. Yummy,  Really! Ris a’la mande is mixed with small pieces of almonds, however it is very popular to put the whole almond inside and the person who is going to find it is going to get a Christmas gift, usually marzipan package :)
Summing everything up, I had a very good Christmas Time spent together with my beloved man, my parents who came to visit and my favourite danish-polish couple of friends who are very close to me from the beginning of my journey in Denmark. Let me know how did you spent your holidays?! :)
For me, Christmas is all about spending time with your family, what do we do then? Play the games!:)
Visiting my friends in Kongerslev (Jola, Klaus – everything was amazing.. :) )
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A Photography Exhibition – Mundus Lenses: Denmark from an International perspective

May 14, 2013

Students stages their photos in the hall of the Rådhus

As Friday is already taken for the Friday Bars, and Saturday is booked for the Eurovision -where probably Denmark will win – , this Wednesday, tomorrow, we invite you to our Photography Exhibition Inauguration at Rådhus, from 16 til 18.

What is Mundus? Mundus refers to the Erasmus Mundus Master degree in Journalism, Media and Globalization. As the Master is taught in English, students applies from all over the world. The result: this year, 44 countries have been rapresented.
Some of the students decided to participate to the challenging Photojournalism workshop taught by Imal Ashimi, Afghani photojournalist, currently enrolled at DMJX. From January il mid March, we covered both theoretical and practical issues on photography, dealing with skills to develop and subject to find for our final photo journalism story.

The main theme of our exhibition is Denmark: some of us, in fact, have never visited the country before moving to start the Master. Most of us decided to portray what striked us most at its first sight. It can be Kapsejlads, the diversity of food, or the sea. It can be something really normal in the eyes of a Dane, some small details that is part of traditional daily life, but that, from a foreign and far aways eyes seems incredible, yet incomprehensible.
In the exhibition as well, a Dane : Emilie Luckman ( one of the three danish students taking part in this MA degree) spent some of her nights googleing around Aarhus, to look on what the city is like when it sleeps.

On Wednesday 15th, at kl. 16 there will be a small reception and speech from the authorities, but the exhibition will go on til the 29th of May, during the opening time of the Rådhus.

Come by if you are interested in seeing young journalism students photo stories, or if you simply want a cookie.

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Danish Weddings (Part One)

May 13, 2013

Yay, it’s wedding season!  :)   As my regular readers will know, I’m constantly amused and amazed by the quirky traditions of those crazy Danes.  From hitting barrels with baseball bats to sending secret snowdrop letters, tradesmen removing their shoes and marcipan pigs…  And Danish weddings are no exception – hooray!

Danish wedding anno 1975

Danish wedding anno 1975

Now, unfortunately, statistics say that over 40% of Danish marriages are doomed to end in divorce.  But, hey, many Danes go on to remarry – so let’s look on the bright side…even more weddings! ;)

So where does it all start?  Well, you can either get married in the Danish church (which also, by the way, performs same-sex marriages – halleluja! – an idea supported by a large majority of Danes) or at a civil cermony (usually at your local town hall, but can also be your back garden or at a hotel).  And you can - selvfølgelig – also choose to go the whole hog and do both!

The ceremony itself is short and sweet.  Forget all those toe-curling Hollywood film scenes where the bride and groom bumble through their marriage vows…  There are no lines to learn!  Those practical Danes get straight to the point.  The priest or mayor will give a little speech then ask you two questions: 

  • Do you take Morten/Christina to be your husband/wife?
  • Will you love and cherish him/her until death do you part?

.

And if you reply “Ja” (Yes) to both questions, you’re married – simple as that!

Oh, and don’t be surprised if the flower girls or ushers turn out to be the bride and groom’s own kids.  It’s very common for the Danes to get married after they have kids, not before.  Sometimes they even kill two birds with one stone and have a joint wedding/baby christening…

Join me next time when we’ll be getting ready to celebrate!

Diane :)

 

 

 

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