Friday, November 30, 2018

Christmas Spices

A Lovely Scent in the House at Christmas Time.......




Viggo Johansen, Familiejul , 1881, Hirschsprung-samlingen
A very special scent during Chistmas time is the aroma of clove, vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom. Most of the spices we use today- and especially around Christmas - origin from the Far East, one of the reasons why the Arabs during the Middle Ages and later the Dutch grew very rich on the spice trade. The Arabs dominated the world's spice trade from the eleventh century
Antique Persian spice box
while the Dutch were the dominating part about six centuries later. For hundreds of years spices were so expensive that only rich people could afford them. They were kept in a locked box to which only the lady of the house had the important key in her bunch of keys. Today spices are available to everyone, and especially around Christmas the kitchen is a place with a lovely scent that fills the whole house.







Clove/Nellike/Eugenia caryophyllata
Clove is dried flower buds from an evergreen tree, originally from the group of islands, the Moluccas, but it is also cultivated in other tropic places. Clove was one of the first spices arriving in Europe. It came with the Portuguese after the discovery of the sea route to India.

The custom placing clove in an orange derives from the nineteenth century where people placed the clove-covered orange in the closet to make their clothes smell good. Today we often hang the clove-orange in a red silken band at Christmas. It is best to cover the orange in full with cloves. In this way the orange will not rotten but will be completely conserved and continue to spread its delicious scent in the room for a long time.

Many lard the pork roast with whole clove, it is also good in a roasted smoked ham, eventually finished with a mustard glazing, a custom for the Swedish Christmas-Ham. Clove has a very strong taste and is easy to overdose. It has to be used with care and suit the other spices in a dish.

Grounded clove is used for baking and in various delicatessen and in Christmas cookies and many sorts of spiced cakes. It is also good in fruit dishes and in stewed fruit and it gives a perfect finishing touch on apple-pies. Grounded clove is also good in strong soups and sauces - or put two whole cloves in an onion to boil it together with the dish. Whole clove is especially fine in vinegar pickling and in green pickled tomatoes, hips, pumpkins and plums - and it is indespensable together with the other good spices in the Christmas Punch (Juleglögg).

Old advice: Spice oil rubbed upon a sore tooth is said to remove the worst pain - and chewing a couple of whole cloves reduces the urge for alcohol. No guarantee!




Vanilla/Vanilje/Vanilla planifolia
Vanilla comes originally from Mexico. The Totonaco-indians were the first to use it, they considered it a gift from the gods. Later the Azteks used it in chocolat. In the 1500s the Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez brought vanilla to Spain and then it spread throughout Europe, but in the beginning it was used mainly in cocoa-drinks. First around 1600 vanilla became an independent spice. The first time vanilla is mentioned in Denmark was in 1770 in a book about Natural history.The biggest production today comes from Madagaskar. The vanilla sticks are dried seed capsules from a tropical orchid, vanilla planifolia. The fine flavouring is extracted in a complicated process and the genuine vanilla is rather expensive. Bourbon vanilla is considered the best , followed by Tahiti-vanilla. A good vanilla-stick has to be dark, soft and lustrous. The seeds and the fruit pulp is scraped out from the vanilla-stick and used in creme, icecreme, fruit-dishes, baking, pickled green tomatoes and pumpkins.


Vanilla sugar is made from vanilla seeds and sugar.Vanilla-essence is dealed in small bottles and easy to dose. The empty vanilla-stick keeps the scent for a long time -put it in the sugar jar and the sugar can be used as vanilla-sugar. The vanilla-stick can also be halved and cooked in milk for pudding - or simmer with the milk for hot cocoa.

Vanilla is indispensable in the dessert-kitchen like the salt is in the salt-kitchen. Like salt vanilla brings out the taste from other ingredienses. Vanilla-stick is usual in desserts and cakes, but is also delicious in general baking and a thrilling spice in hot dishes where it is not expected, fx in poultry together with orange, basil and onion.

Vanilla is used in cakes, icecreme and candy all over the world. In Mexico vanilla is also used in sauces and in Paris in perfume. The sweet and strong taste of vanilla is good for more than cookies and dessets. The spice is also used in sauces and fish soups, since it brings out the full taste of the whole dish. And the lovely scent of vanilla is easy to recognize and it also brings good memories of Christmas time and the Christmas kitchen.





Cinnamon/Kanel/Cinnamomum zeylanicum.


The best and the most expensive cinnamon is from Sri Lanka. The spice is the bark from a tree which after peeling and drying rolls together into a little reed. Another cinnamon species is the Cassia-cinnamon which derives from China and mainly is cultivated there. The genuine cinnamon from Sri Lanka is easy to recognize since the reed is light brown and in more layers, while the Cassia-cinnamon-reed is dark brown and only has one layer.

Cinnamon was known as a spice for thousands of years. In the Old testament cinnamon is mentioned as the most distinguished of all spices and a gift for gods and princes. The Chinese knew about cinnamon about 4-7.000 years ago - it is mentioned in the earliest Chinese herbal books. The Chinese call it "kwei" - and it is mentioned in the Chinese emperor's herbal book from ab. 2.700 b.c. and again in the herbal book "Rha-ya" from ab. 1.200 b.c.
Cinnamon came to Eruope in the 1400s.


Cinnamon is especially in England used for adding a fine sweet taste to hot buns, fruitcakes and raisin-apple dishes and spiced wine. Both whole cinnamon-reed and grounded cinnamon is used, the grounded cinnamon mostly for baking purpose. Cinnamon is also used in stewed fruit and in various pickling - and for the Christmas punch, (juleglögg) and toddy. Grounded cinnamon in apple pie and mixed with sugar strewed upon the rice porridge. A mix of grounded cinnamon, nutmeg and clove is often used in spiced bread and cakes, and the same mix is good in a dish with fat meat. But cinnamon can also give a fine effect in fish dishes and fried meat dishes. In India cinnamon is commonly used in meat- and rice dishes and as an ingrediense in the spice mix garam masala and in curry-mix.

An old advice: Cinnamon prevents wind in the stomach. And if people strewed cinnamon and cardamom upon a buttered roast piece of bread it was a good means against indigestion.


Cardamom/Kardemomme/ Elettaria cardamomum
Cardamom is the seeds from a tropical plant from India. The small seeds are inside triangular capsules , they are dried and used either whole or grounded. The grounded cardamom is the cheapest, but there is a grounded variety called "decorticated" made from the seeds only.

Cardamom is fine together with orange and lemon either in cakes or in various orange-desserts, and it is an important ingrediense in curry mix and in garam masala. An extra additon of cardamom to a curry dish brings out the good taste. The spice is also a good ingrediense in forcemeat for poultry eventual with parsley. But only in small quantities.

Commonly used in yeast bread, spiced cakes, apple dessert, panncakes, patés, and as mentioned also in oriental curry dishes and in some forcemeat dishes with parsley. In Scandinavia and in Russia cardamom is used for promoting the taste of Liqueur, and in the Middle East coffee is made tasty and spicy with a couple of cardamom-seeds. Some spiced buns (Krydderboller) with cardamom are very popular in Denmark.


Through 3.000 years cardamom was used in Chinese medicine. It was imported to Greece in the 4th century b.c. and was later used by Greek physicians. The English herbalist William Cole described in the 1700s cardamom as the "seed above all seeds" and told that it removed a phlegmatic temper, both from head and stomach.








copyright grethe bachmann


Friday, November 23, 2018

December Traditions built upon Superstition and Omens.....

December
Christ's Month/KristmånedSuperstitions and Omens



Now we are soon in the tvelwth and last month of the year, but in ancient times while the Julian calendar ruled it was the tenth month of the year. Decem means ten in Latin. The medieval Danish name was Kristmåned (Christ's Month), the month where you celebrate the birth of Christ.


Ploughed field, Fulden.

The farmer had to finish his ploughing in the first days of December. After this he brought liquid manure to the winter rye and fetched thorn and staves for building and repairing the fences. If the meadows and the moors were frozen, he cut willow twigs for his furlong fences -and if he had no longstraw for his roof repair, he fetched reed in the frozen meadows and marshes.
He also had to repair the watermills and the sluices. Indoor the farmer family was concentrated around the Christmas preparations, but the whole family helped each other to repair tools and make twine and ropes. There was no time for laziness in the farmer's family.

Weather omens were serious matters then, not just something to make fun about. If an omen said that a cold and snowy December promised a fertile year and a good summer, then the farmer wanted cold and snow. A mild month with rain and fog made him worried. But else the weather omens were few in December, although three unlucky days kept people inside the house - the 6th, 11th and 18th of December. The 6th of December was Sct. Nicolai's Day, and if the weather was good it would be good the rest of the month. If the 8th of December (Sct. Anna's Day) came with thaw the whole winter would be mild.

The night between 12th and 13th December (Sct. Lucia) was a dangerous night. Before people went inside in the evening the whole year's work had to be finished and all crops be under cover, or else they would be destroyed by de underjordiske/the underground people (trolls, pixies etc.) It was an exciting night for the young girls on the farm. It was possible for the girl to see her future fiancé, if she held a lit candle in each hand and looked into a mirror while she spoke a verse:

Luci du blide
skal lade mig vide:
hvis dug jeg skal brede,
hvis seng jeg skal rede,
hvis kærest' jeg skal være,
hvis barn jeg skal bære,
i hvis arm jeg skal sove.

Luci you gentle one,
let me know,
whose table cloth I shall spread,
whose bed I shall make,
whose sweetheart I shall be,
whose child I shall bear,
in whose arm I shall sleep.




The night before Christmas the stables were cleaned extra thoroughly and the livestock had plenty of clean bedding and extra fodder. The superstition said that the animals found their tongue on Christmas Eve, and if everything wasn't quite allright then they would speak evil about their master and his house.

The family also had to consider "the underground people", and it was necessary to do a lot of preparations in order to prevent their destructive power. The farmer had to put steel above the stable door, and the teeth of the cattle had to be rubbed in salt and soot, (poor cattle!) to prevent the underground people from harming the animals. Plough, harrow and other tools had to be indoor, when Jerusalems shoemaker - the Wandering Jew - was out walking that night. If he rested upon a forgotten implement, then nothing was able to grow in that field the following year.

All things made of iron had a great power, and besides the steel above the stable door the farmer had to put a solid scythe into the corn pile, an axe into the dunghill and a big knife into the eaves.
Overall were dangerous creatures at work, numerous tales were told about helhesten(a ghost horse with three legs), trolls, witches, evil minded pixies, vætter (elves) and other dangerous underground people, who were the cause of misfortune to people who did not take precautions against them.



The farmer's wife and the farm girls had to see to that all clothes had been washed and dried before Christmas Eve - all clothes had to be indoor. The saying was: Den der klæder gærder i julen skal klæde lig inden året er omme. /He who dresses the fence in clothes during Christmas must dress a dead body before the end of the year.

The Christmas dinner went on and on - and on. Many believed that he who first stopped eating would die before the end of the coming year. This must really have been a hard nut to crack. They had to stop eating at the same time!

Often people put an extra, lit candle in the window. It had to show all wayfarers where the farm was , but it also had to lead the departed of the family, when they visited their home this night. Some put an extra setting on the Christmas table.

Many of our Christmas dishes come from the pagan solstitial celebrations. The special tradition where the farmer puts porridge upon the loft for the Christmas pixy is probably even older than this - probably from bondestenalderen (4000 bc) . In this period porridge was offered to friendly gods who lived by the settlement.

The Christmas pork roast is an old tradition too, way back to the pagan sacrificial celebrations before Christ, when the biggest hog (gilded orne) was sacrificed to the fertility god Frej, (Frodi) so that he would bring "year and peace" to the farm.



Christmas Day was a very important time. The farmer was dependent on the weather like the farmer has always been and still is. He had to imagine the weather in the year to come. In the morning the farmer cut twelve grooves (for the twelve days of Christmas) in a beam in the ceiling, and around every groove he made a chalk circle. Every day he wrote signs in a circle - if it was raining he wrote dots, if it was storming he wrote stripes and so on. He marked every circle with a sign which he himself knew the meaning of and which he had learned from his father. When Christmas was over he could easily see how the weather would be in the next twelve months. Actually a long-term forecast of that time. Today our long-term forecasts on TV are somewhat more advanced, but this doesn't mean they are more reliable. When I remember my umbrella the sun starts to shine and when I forget my umbrella it rains cats and dogs.

On this first day of Christmas it was not allowed to walk about in the farm. Fodder for the livestock were ready for several days. The farmer had to keep away from the grindstone, his wife had to keep away from the spinning wheel. Sewing and knitting were also forbidden, both this day and the rest of the Christmas days. If people crossed this line they were almost sure to get swellen fingers the next year. On every one of the twelve Christmas days it was widely forbidden to make practical and useful things, except when it was necessary to supply the fodder for the livestock and other necessary things.



Most omens were taken the night before the festival and the farmer was very interested in the weather on the last day of the year. If it was raining on exactly this day (Sylvesterdag) the harvest would be a difficult one. Furthermore he took a slice of bred on New Year's Eve, smeared lard on and cut it in four. Those four pieces were put on the floor. The chained dog was brought into the room and held back while the farmer pointed at the bread slices one by one and told the dog: "This is my rye, this is my oat, this is my wheat and this is my barley". The dog was loosened and the bread slice he eat first told the farmer which kind of corn would bring the best yield in the following season. And the next slices the dog eat were also put in order in the farmer's mind. So if the omen later showed to be wrong it wasn't his fault. Maybe he thought it was the dog's fault!

The young farm girls played fortunetellers. One girl went outside the room, and the girl who wanted to know about her future took four little bowls. The first one was placed over a tiny bunch of soil , the other above a ring, the third above a comb and the fourth above nothing. Then the girl outside was called upon and she pointed on one of the four bowls. The soil meant death, the ring meant early betrothal, the comb was marriage - and the empty bowl meant that nothing would change in the coming year.





Shortly before twelve according to the custom people started making a terrible noise with pots and pans in order to chase away evil spirits, but at twelve there was silence for a short moment, and then everyone wished one another a Happy New Year. We still make some noise but we don't believe in evil spirits - do we? We still wish each other a Happy New Year, and I wonder how old that tradition is.

Some people back then even believed that if they on New year's night at twelve stood in the middle of a crossroad and called out three times for a dear departed, then he or she would show and answer three questions.

Whatever! A new year began, and people way back then were dependent on so many things and afraid of so many things that it is impossible to imagine for us today. But if you have ever been out in the country on a completely dark night then you might catch an ancient feeling of fear. No moon, no stars, no street lights. You cannot even see your own hand. On a Christmas holiday by my grandmother, when I was about ten years, I had to fetch milk for her on a farm nearby on such a dark night. I was terribly scared and couldn't find my way in some critical moments. And in the old days, in the Middle Ages and long before, way back in time people really believed that out in the dark were evil spirits, the ghost horse, trolls, witches, pixies, elves and many more dangerous creatures.

Source: Ruth Gunnarsen: Familiens Højtider i gamle dage.
photo/mostly from Hjerl Hede Open Air Museum, Jutland: grethe bachmann

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Viking Age - Denmark, Connections abroad.



fortification, Trelleborg, Zealand
By people in the Frankish kingdom and on the British Isles the Danes were first of all considered Vikings. Danish attackers, conquerors and colonists played an important role in the remake of western Europe, but they also had a strong influence in their own country.

Some Viking chiefs, who had won riches, power and glory came home to Denmark and tried to usurp royal power. King Horik and most of his family were killed in such a power feud in 854. The old branch of the royal family gained footfold , but other homecoming Viking chiefs - some from the east -  were more lucky in their fight about the throne. The fortification moats in Aarhus might have been built during that period.
            
   
                 
       

The diplomatic connections between the Danish kings and the Frank and German rulers brought foreign influences to Denmark. King Harald was baptized in Mainz in 826, and he was not the only Dane, who experienced and was impressed by the court ceremoniel of the Franks. Maybe this infected the life in the Danish royal castle in the 800s, but as for the 900s the big Jelling stone and the cross-marked coins show that Harald Bluetooth fully understood the value of demonstrating his royal dignity. The Jelling church was probably bigger than many other Danish buildings, and its basic plan was inspired by the German churches.



The Franks and the Germans did not only affect their Danish neighbours - they also wanted to have power over them, but they did not succeed.  The Danes could retriet from Jutland to security on the Danish Isles and gather new strenght while the peninsula Jutland was attacked -  and the Saxon hertug Bruno and his army had to learn this in 880......the only Danish king who in the 800s had to acknowledge the supremacy of the Franks was Harald Klak,  and he was deposed and driven into exile .

The feud between the various throne pretenders weakened seriously the power of the Danish kings,  and in 934 the Danes could not resist an attack in southern Norway from the German army. The Danish supremacy broke down and Harald Fairhair was able to expand his Norwegian power while local rulers in the districts east of Storebælt (Danernes Mark) enjoyed a great independency.




Fyrkat , Jutland, photo:GB

Later the German king Henrik 1 forced the Danes to pay taxes, and two generations later the Germans ruled in Sønderjylland (South Jutland) for a short number of years (974-983). Nothing indicates that Harald Bluetooth ever acknowledged German rulers as his overlords - but after 983 and in the following century the Germans were too busy feuding their Slavic neighbours to care about Denmark. Undoubtly it was the German occupation of Sønderjylland which made  Harald build the complicated system of fortifications and roads which gave a clear expression of his power and talent of organisation. In order to build the fortifications Trelleborg , Nonnebakken; Fyrkat and Aggersborg and the great bridges - which were all built at the same time - the king had to exploit his right to recruit labor and demand other necessary services from the Danish population . Most probably these heavy burdens made him unpopular among the Danes and led to the rebellion  which drove him into exile and death. 



Runic inscriptions mention two earlier rulers at Funen, Roulv and Alle. The Glavendrupstone was raised in the memory of Alle by his widow Ragnhild and his sons. Ragnhild had the Danish rune-
master to carve the inscription upon the runestone in Tryggevælde at Zealand
Glavendrupstone
for the memory of her second husband, Gunulv, about whom it was said that "few are born better than he". It is not known which stone was raised first, but these men must have been contemporary to king Harald, and they might even have been local chiefs, who by acknowledging Harald as their king, took part in making it possible for him to announce that he had "won himself all Denmark. "

Harald's kingdom was exposed for disturbances from Viking fleets. As the leader of the expeditions to the west Sweyn Forkbeard saw to that his men were awarded like other men of the Viking chiefs. Torkel's fleet represented the biggest threat however. He was now in the service of the English king, but it was Sweyn who in 1013 seized the English throne and thereby got access to the rich sources in England.





The riches of Englands made Cnut the Great able to realise the Danish demand on the supremacy of a large part of Scandinavia, much more than his predecessors had ever been able to. Still before Cnut drove the Norse king Olav into exile he demanded to be king of the Norwegians -  and at the same time he declared he was king of a part of the Swedes. It is not known what he actually meant -  he might have thought of the West Goths, whose access to the sea went through Danish territory,  but it was more probable that he considered himself as the overlord of the Swedes who had been warriors in his army. As king of England Cnut advised one of the most advanced and effective Governments of Europe -  and it did not last long before this English influence was evident in Denmark. The attempts to establish a well-functioning coin was finally successfull and much was done to promote the development of cities which became metropols for the royal power. In some cities were established bishoprics -  and the bishops were fetched from England or at least educated there. Cnut's great kingdom sank into the gravel after his death but the changes he had started were continued by his successors and long after the separation of Denmark and England the English influence was noticed in the Danish church.




Merchants, wandering craftsmen, Christian missionaires, diplomats and the Vikings themselves were all  the cause  of influences from abroad in Denmark. The Danes connected more and more to the outside world during the Viking period than ever before and the consequences began to show in the beginning of the 1000s - cities were founded, bishoprics and a royal coinage were established. It is clear via archaeology that all parts of society were affected by the contact to the outside world.  In each archaeologically examined village from the Viking period are rests of mill stones from the Rhine district and soapstone-vessels and  grindstones from the northern Scandinavia. In Jutland are found western European ceramics - and Slavic clay ware or Danish copies are found in the eastern part of Denmark . More perishable goods like clothes and wine were probably also widespread. The imported goods were spread all over Denmark - but they were not for free. Wealthy Danes who lived in the 1000s were capable of paying their shopping  with coins and other silver -  but the import was through the whole period generally paid with Danish export products or with services and catering to the foreign merchants who visited the Danish harbours on their tour between the Baltics and Western Europe. Cattle was one of the most important export products
Highland cattle, foto:GB
. An early phase of this traffic is proved by the archaeological find of a large heap of cow dung which had accumulated in the town of Ribe. This indicates that cattle was gathered here,  probably in order to transport them by sea.




Ansgar
village and church, Hjerl hede, foto:GB
Except from Willibrord's visit in the beginning of the 700s the Christian mission began in 823 among the Danes when archbishop Ebbo baptized a great number of Danes. Ebbo's, Ansgar's and the preaching of their successors might have convinced many that the Christian God was a mighty God, but it was not until king Harald's conversion 150 years later that Christianity became the only legal religion. The Christian message was being preached by missionary bishops. In the beginning of the 1000s were established bishpoprics, and in the middle of the same century were churches built all over Denmark. In most regions of Denmark church services and new rituals were provided in a foreign  language by men who rarely had any education. Gradually the church seized several areas of daily life, also the marriage  - and eventually the top officials of the Danish church were incorporated in the elite of the Holy Church. Several rituals, like cremation and eating horsemeat were quickly submitted, while other rituals like some fertility rituals lived on in a Christian disguise.


During the reign of Sven Estridsen the church began receiving estates as gift or inheritance, which had great consequences gradually, when large areas were added to the church. The Christian doctrine brought a still more perceptible change, namely the abolition of the old custom to expose infants. The restriction in this form of child restraint reulted in an increase of population -  and new settlements occurred.



Hedeby trading center



Archaeological finds show that the Danes in the Viking period were relatively wealthy. The farmers in the wellknown settlement Vorbasse did generally not own their land, but they had much cattle, and their descendants in the 1000s had even more. The houses in Vorbasse were large and spacious. Houses of the Trelleborg-type which were built in the 1000s were larger and free inside .Another change was that the stables were now in separate buildings in an appropriate distance from the houses.
Trelleborg, house, foto:GB

Excavations in other places also indicate that the Danish farmers were really well in the Viking period - also the landlords who received various benefits from the farmers. The king was the greatest landlord - and when Harald Bluetooth won all Denmark he must have expanded the royal estate enormously. His son and grandson increased also the royal riches when they conquered England. The Crown Land also grew when farms were given to the king as a fine for manslaughter. Several farms which Cnut the Holy in 1085 gave to the cathedral in Lund were acquired by him or his predecessors in this way.


Detail, Ravning bridge, foto:GB

The realm of gravity up till Harald's rule was in Jutland - usually the king was able to keep the peace which gave the Danes and the visiting merchants a reasonable security both in Jutland and on the Isles. In the 800s and maybe before some Danish kings extended their power to the island east of Storebælt and up into the southern part of Norway. In these districts the king was probably the overlord of the local potentates while they in Jutland were directly regents. A supremacy like this had to be maintained by force or with the threat of the use of force and the power of a king depended on the fidelity and skill of his warriors (his lid).



Northern Empire, 1000s, wikipedia
The procedures of the government were also in the 1000s primitive and severe - as Cnut the Great did show, when he commanded his regent in England , Thorkel, to defure evildoers who else could not be prosecuted. Harald Bluetooth's rulership in the eastern part of Denmark probably had the same reprisals like Godfred had 150 years before, but Harald showed that he was able to mobilize many good forces at Zealand and Funen and in Jutland so he could build his big fortifications and roads and bridges. It might be Harald who initiated the conversion of the townships into administration units which made it easier to collect taxes and other benefits. .





Sweyn, wikipedia
Twice in the 900s it was clear how vulnerable Jutland was to German attacks, and Harald Bluetooth might have seen that the countries east of Storebælt provided the highest security against the threat from these mighty neighbours. It was not until the rule of Sweyn Forkbeard that the gravity of the kingdom moved east to the districts around Øresund. King Sweyn founded the towns Roskilde and Lund. The Danish king now wanted to be overlord of the whole country -   and "landefreden" ( the peace of the country) spread along the coasts of Øresund. Piracy was still a nuisance, but inspite of Adam of Bremen's assertion that both Storebælt and Øreasund were harrassed by pirates, the traffic through Øresund was probably not suffering from great hindrances, when the travelling merchants were on their way to the Baltic Sea.  They had been proned to follow the coast of Jutland in order to get the protection which the Danish king provided. Now they were guaranteed the same security if they chose the direct way through Øresund, which now became the gateway to the Baltic Sea  and the key to the power of the North.


The Danish royal power originated in its time in Jutland, and in the first centuries of the kingdom Jutland was kernelandet (the core country). When the scalds still celebrated Cnut the Great as Jótlands jøfurr (Jyllands høvding) it was a memory about that time. But by supplying their Jutland power with a firm grip of the regime of the Danish Isles and Scania - the large area, which until then were considered the outer districts of the kingdom ( danernes mark), the last great Viking kings, Harald, Sweyn and Cnut had created a strong and viable unit in Denmark with a future.



The big Jelling stone , photo:GB




Source: "Da Danmark blev Danmark" (700-1050) by Peter Sawyer, Gyldendal og Politikens Danmarkshistorie bd 3.  

photo: Grethe Bachmann
and photocopies:: wikipedia.

Sunday, November 04, 2018

Mortensaften /St. Martin's Evening





Mortensaften / St. Martin's Evening
Mortensaften 10. November is celebrated in memory of the bishop Martin of Tours, who really did not want to become a bishop and hid himself in a goose sty.  This meant death to the noisy geese!


Morten Bisp/ Martin of Tours:
Martin of Tours, fresco, Elmelunde church, Møn/foto:gb
Martin of Tours lived in the 300s in the Roman Empire where he was born ab. 336 by Roman parents. He joined the Roman army when he was fifteen and came to Gaul, where the legends about him soon began to flourish. He helped the poor, healed the sick and woke up the dead, he became famous and was considered a holy man. When Martin was twenty years old, he left the army and became a monk. He returned to Hungary to try to convert his countrymen, but the story tells that he only succeeded in converting his mother. He was persecuted and droven back to Gaul, where he settled down in a monastery at Poitiers. He lived a pious and quiet life and won the reputation of being a good and holy man.


geese/ foto:gb
He was so popular that the people of Tours wanted to elect him bishop, but Martin was not interested. When the inhabitants of the town came to elect him, he hid himself in a goose sty, but the geese did not like this visit. They were cackling and screaming and Martin was revealed and forced to assume office as bishop of Tours. He had now the power to arrange a revenge: All households had to  - once a year - to slaughter at least one goose and eat it on the day where he was revealed in the goose sty. He got his revenge on the big-mouthed geese.

Martin was also called the apostel of Gaul. He died in Candes in France 8 November 397 and was buried in Tours 11 November. A big church was built over his grave and he was later canonized. His death date became his Saint's day, which is still celebrated all over Europe.


The story about Martin of Tours and the geese was printed in Denmark for the first time in 1616, a long time after the reformation. The St. Martin survived the reformation with a new Danish name: Morten Bisp. The night of 10th november, now called Morten's Evening, was appropriate, because November was perfect for a party, since the slaughter period in November was one of few times, where people had fresh meat before winter. Else they had salted food for months.

Goose was food for rich people :
Medieval feast/ wikipedia
The traditional food on Morten's Evening was goose or duck in the old days. The goose was not an ordinary dish in Denmark, it was rich people's food - and common people started eating other poultry instead. The story about Martin of Tours and the geese is probably much earlier than the traditional November-goose. In Germany and France the wine harvest is celebrated in November, which also is a slaughter-month since the animals are fat after a long summer's good food. Martin became the Saint of the wine growers, and gradually the roast goose and the wine drinking were connected to the Martin's festivals  - and a good story like the story about Martin and the geese is not to be scorned.


Italian kitchen,Ferrara 1549, Runeberg

16th century: The goose is one of the earliest domestic animals and one of the most important slaughter animals, although it was always food for the rich. The ordinary farmer's family might breed geese, but they sold them in the next town after having taken wings and feathers (for brooms and quills) and the down ( for duvets and pillow stuffing). They also kept the head, neck and craw to themselves for a good portion of giblet soup. If they kept a whole goose, the breast meat was removed and smoked as a cold cut for guests.









But according to the advertizing from the supermarkets no one eats goose today. There are lots of Morten's Ducks in the cold counters, but no Morten's Goose.  So the popular roast Mortensand, which we enjoy on Mortensaften 10th of November, was once a Morten's Goose.


Velbekomme - Mortensand


copyright grethe bachmann


source: kristendom.dk; wikipedia.org.; Dagligt liv i Norden i det 16. århundrede, runeberg.org.; 2640 online portalens almanak og kalender.  

photo: grethe bachmann; 
photo copies from wikipedia
drawing: Italian kitchen Ferrara in 1549, Dagligt liv i Norden i det 16 århundrede, runeberg.org.