Last year, Lars and I experienced the festivities of Sankt Hans Aften on the island of Funen, where his mother lives. Lars was a bit disappointed. He didn’t know anything about the local traditions and was unaware of some important details. For example: he didn’t know at what time the bonfires started. Or if there were any bonfires. We ended up driving to a lot of places; sometimes we missed the beginning of the festivities, other times we discovered that there weren’t any bonfires at all.
Since it was my first time that I experienced Sankt Hans Aften I wasn’t disappointed at all. I was very excited and it was actually one of the highlights of 2012. But when Lars started telling about the bonfires on Zealand – where he had lived for many years – I became curious. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt. This year we would see the bonfires on Zealand.
We arrived on the island around 5.30 pm. Lars and I decided to go to the south and work our way up north. Our starting point was a small town called Kalvehave:
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“Kalve” means “calf” and “have” is “garden”. We didn’t see any calves though, but instead we ended up in a pretty harbor. The bridge you see in the background connects Zealand with the island of Møn, which is known for its cliffs.
It was too early for the bonfires. We did see some of the preparations. People were getting ready for dinner in a big tent near the water. And we could also see the pile of wood. I didn’t take any pictures though, since I felt we were intruding.
