Avalon


Come oh traveller to our home
The home of other ways
Travel to Avalon's misty shore
And look at her smiling face.

My island of Avalon lies out there on the other side of the bay. In the real world it is the island of Samsø, but this doesn't matter if the imagination is strong. I like to walk down to the bay at Århus in the morning. The island is often floating on shimmering air out there in the mist.

At present, the celebration of New Year is a major celebration worldwide. Many large-scale events are held in major cities around the world New Year's Eve being accompanied by the largest fireworks events. In the western culture of the 21th century New Year's Eve is celebrated with fireworks and champagne. In Denmark New Year's Eve also often includes marzipan ring cake, the Queen's New Year's speech and on TV: "The 90 year's birthday". The culmination is when the clock at the Town Hall of Copenhagen strikes 24 and the new year begins.

Celebrating New Year's Eve is not an old tradition in Denmark. In the old days people followed the church year, which meant that new year was celebrated on the first Sunday of Advent. Alternatively they could also consider the new year opening on 25. December on the birth of Christ. In the old agriculture society the custom was to eat dried cod and making fun on the evening of 31. December - the farm people might fire blanks or make noise by the help of empty buckets and jars covered in swine-blatter. The fun was mostly like teasing, and in the end the troublemakers had to be caught and invited into the house to have apple-pie, beer and snaps etc.

In Denmark is a special tradition in having boiled cod with mustard sauce for New Year's dinner. This has brought another tradition, in which the tabloid paper "Ekstrabladet" each year gives a prize "Cod of the Year" to a person who has been extremely stupid in the past year. They have never had any difficulties in finding a prize winner!

Happy New Year to Everyone and thank you for your interest and your nice letters in 2009!

Thyra