scenes from sankt hans - a scandinavian midsummer celebration

a midsummer celebration with pagan, hedonistic roots. burning a witch, a ceremony that once meant something positive and strong and feminine, was turned negative and anti-woman by, you guessed it, christianity. we talked about taking it back as a precisely a positive, strong, feminine act. i will no longer hold myself back from the fire, for fear of being sent to bloksburg (where ever that may be). embrace the witch, i say. and the light. and the long, midsummer nights. even if there was as little bit of rain, it wasn't enough to douse our pagan fires. it's a couple of days after the solstice, but it must have originally been in celebration of that. and here we are, still embracing the light and the sense of ceremony.

it's midsummer, so we burn a witch

sankt hans, the midsummer celebration in denmark features the burning of an effigy of a witch. i'm not sure where that tradition comes from, nor why we perpetuate it. but there you have it. that's just how we roll here in denmark.

the weekend thus far

the very first strawberry.

new gin.

scandinavian summer. personified. (depicted?)

a visit from a fox.

gorgeous summer evening

i'm not supposed to type, i know, but the keyboard is elevated now, which i think will help. and i couldn't resist sharing pictures from this absolutely gorgeous summer evening. i made husband take my picture with the nikon while i took his picture with the diana+. we'll have to wait to see how the diana pix turn out.

it was a lovely evening for a balloon ride, as these people no doubt experienced..floating across from our house in a balloon made to look like the dannebrog, the danish flag. we could hear them firing the gas, it was so still and clear.

and one lovely dandelion-like flower. i don't think this is a dandelion, it was taller and sturdier, but i'm no good with plants, so i'm not sure what to call it. i just had to try to capture the waning hours of golden sunshine on its gossamer seeds.