Lindholm Høje, Vendsyssel, North Jutland

I saw a woman standing on top of the hill at Lindholm Høje, a timeless figure; she could be a Viking woman looking for her husband's grave.



All these people that lived here once, unknown names, unknown faces. Although archaeology has special technological methods today and discovers more and more from our past, we will probably never be able to know much more than we already know about the people who lived here at Lindholm Høje.



North of Limfjorden, upon Lindholm Høje, a little west of the town Nørre Sundby, was in the 1950s examinated a burial site from Germanic Iron Age and Viking Period. The contemporary buildings were originally situated a little north of the burials, but the place was exposed to sand drift and gradually, as the burial site was covered under layers of drifting sand, the town grew over the burials. Around 1100s A.C. the inhabitants gave up the fight against the sand and moved down to the coast, where the present town Nørre Sundby is.

South of Limfjorden at Bejsebakken by the town Aalborg are traces of settlements from the same period as Lindholm Høje. Probably both Bejsebakken and Lindholm Høje were important trade-places in the late part of Iron Age, but they might also have been wealthy villages, where the inhabitants lived from farming and fishing only. The strategic placements seem to indicate that they were places of more than a common significance.



The land north of Limfjorden, Vendsyssel, was connected to Jutland via the narrowest place at Limfjorden; (Aalborg-Nørresundby) the north-south land-traffic crossed the east-west sea route, and this was of great significance for the trading. In the beginning of the Viking Period the trading route went south, crossing the foot of Jutland at the Eider-river with the town Hedeby (Haithabu) as the dominating trading center. It is not known if Bejsebakken and Lindholm Høje were integrated in this trading net with international contacts or if they were just internal markets for goods to and from Vendsyssel.

Several things were found at Lindholm Høje and Bejsebakken. Upon the museum at Lindholm Høje are exhibitions. Upon Bejsebakken was found a little bronze-buckle with animal ornaments, the first hesitant beginnings of one of the styles which later was dominating in the Mälarn-area. Although it is on a slight basis, this finding indicates that the two Limfjords-villages had more than local and craftsmanlike contacts with the other part of Scandinavia.



The sand drift was a catastrophe for the inhabitants, but it has preserved the graves in a unique way. Up to four meter thick layer of drifting sand has protected the burial-site and its original surface so the graves look like they did in ancient times. In almost each case the dead person was burnt and burnt together with various things, like bronze-jewelry, glass pearls, little tools like iron knives, spindle whorls, gaming pieces and often a dog. Around the funeral pyre was raised a stone circle and a very thin layer of soil was spread over the dying fire. A short time after the drifting sand arrived and covered the rest, which the western wind had not yet removed.



At Helgö, Birka, Hedeby and other of the oldest villages were established large common burial sites. In Denmark is Lindholm Høje the only known example up till now and one of the prettiest Danish ancient memories. It is the largest burial site from Germanic iron age with not less than 600 preserved graves which covers the time from the 500s up till year 1000. The graves are marked with stone structures and were established in year 400-1000 AC.

The preservation-conditions have been good caused the shifting sand which has covered and protected the place since the 1100s. Findings from the graves are exhibited at the Museum at Lindholm Høje. From the top of the hill is a remarkable view across Limfjorden which already in ancient times was of great importance. In the excavations of the 1950s were also parts of a village and a new-ploughed field from the Viking Period excavated.



Jewelry , Urness -style, found at Lindholm Høje

Lindholm Høje Museum has two various archaeologial exhibitions. One tells the story about how they lived and died in Iron Age and Viking Period at Lindholm Høje. The other is about "Oldtiden i Limfjordslandet" (Ancient times around Limfjorden). Both exhibitions are passed on in an untraditional way, where reconstructions, panoramas, pictures and sound are combined with archeaeological findings. There is a rich opportunity to meet man from ancient times through experience and objective absorption. In the museum is a café.

Source: Politikens Danmarkshistorie, bd. 2, Danernes Land, 200 B.C.- ab. 700 A.C., Lotte Hedager, 1992.


photo Lindholm Høje August 2008: grethe bachmann

Roman Iron Age

Childrens' Rattles or Musical Instruments?

Some strange prehistoric clay-things, named rattles, have emerged from the earth and from the shelves of the museums some years ago. Seven registered specimen are from North Jutland; four of those have been found in settlements from Roman Iron Age. The size(the height), varies from 4 to 8 centimeter, and the shape is bowl- or lump-formed. They all have projecting sections , some with two small horns, which might remind about the common fire-trestles from early Roman period.

The special about these things is their rattling sound, X-rays show they are hollow. A rattle was broken in two showing a content of three clay-balls.

Related to these rattles and contemporary are the so-called rattle-cups, where the hollow foot contains small rattle-objects. There are many of those cups from the Roman period, but the sound-giving specimen are rare. It seems they were only made for rattling.

Naming them rattles make them belong in the world of children. This is possible, but not the only possibility. From primitive people are known similar things, which were used as musical instruments. They might also have something to do with religion or magic. There is no doubt that sounds played an important role in the cult.



Source and photo: Skalk , Archaeological Magazine, nr. 1, 1995, Jytte Nielsen.

Skovmøllen, Moesgård Forest, Århus in Winter

The Restaurant

Skovmøllen is a small, cosy restaurant in Moesgård Forest. The old water mill ,which today is both a restaurant and a working mill, is about ten minutes walk from Moesgård Museum and about 15 minutes walk to the beach.

It is a very popular resort both summer and winter. Also in the 1800s was Skovmøllen a popular recreational area. Families rented a waggon with a coachman - and the tour in a horse-drawn carriage was one of the highlights of the year.

Skovmøllen (as a mill) has always belonged to the manor Moesgård. The mill and the manor were mentioned together for the first time in 1570. The house as seen today was built in 1824.


Sweeping snow at the mill-house before the visitors arrive.

During the 1840s the buildings at Skovmøllen were the mill-house, the living-house, the accommodation-house , a barn- and stable-building and a pig-stable. The farm-property was abandoned and the farm-land transferred to Moesgård manor. The mill was dilapidated and Moesgård let therefore the mill-house rebuild and restore in 1852. A"food and drink" was established. In 1910 the mill-work was discontinued and Skovmøllen then functioned as a restaurant.The mill house and the mill work itself were fortunately preserved, and in 1991 Moesgård let it restore. Now the mill works again - as a rule each Sunday - from 12-17.


The south wing with Pejsestuen

In the winter 2007/2008 the old inn-room was restored, and at this occassion were made some changes. The inn-room was divided into 3 smaller rooms and the kitchen was renovated.

In summer are various arrangements like: Jazz Festival, Summer-Jazz-concerts, Midsummernight- celebration, Art exhibitions in the Pejsestuen (the south wing) etc.

Restaurant Skovmøllen: Restaurateurs Lars Munch and Marcelle Meier, contact tlf. 8627 1214.

Via an article about Skovmøllen in my old blog I came into contact with an American lady, Kittie Howard, who had visited Skovmøllen last year with her husband and friends from Århus, and she mentioned Skovmøllen in one of her beautiful and amazing stories.

I can warmly recommend Kittie Howard's: The Block. She is a great writer and story-teller. Her stories are really worth reading.

Much water in the Giberå at Skovmøllen, that's good for the salmon.

photo Skovmøllen 27. February 2010: grethe bachmann

Mossø and Klostermølle, Mid Jutland

The large lake Mossø is still covered in ice with a powder of snow. It's a long winter this year. We have had so many mild winters that we have forgotten how king Winter can be teasing us. One mild day - oh it's soon spring? Next day -lots of snow. It seems as if the whole world has got lots of snow this year.


Here is a corner of Mossø at Klostermølle where the Benedictine monks had a closter in the Middle Ages. The trees make a border or else you might end out upon thin ice.


From Klostermølle you can see all the way 10 km to Rye Church on a clear day. And it was a clear day.


Some red cattle was out on a small field close to the garden. I guess the farmer thought his cows would like to get some fresh air for a few hours in the daylight.


A large meadow area close to Klostermølle, which is usually visited by flocks of geese at this time of the year, but geese, ducks and swans have found places with open water. The birds have had a tough time this winter.


Gudenaa river, the pretty kingfisher lives at this spot, but he's like an Ariel, a metallic blue stripe crossing the water. Pffuitt!


I love horses.


A snowman. Is he a troll?


photo Mossø & Klostermølle 6. March 2010: grethe bachmann

Welcome to a new edition of my blog: A Taste of Denmark.

Kind regards
Grethe Bachmann

Spring Snowflake/Dorothealilje

Leucojum vernum



The woods rejoic'd the day
Thro gentle showers, the laughing flowers
In double pride were gay.
Robert Burns

The snowflakes are native to central and southern Europe, but they have been introduced and have naturalized in many other areas. They have narrow, strap-like, dark green leaves. The flowers are small and bell-shaped, white with a green (or occasionally yellow) spot at the end of each tepal. They have a slight fragrance. It flowers one or two weeks later than the snowdrops, i.e., from mid-February to March, as soon as the snow melts in its wild habitat. The flowers remind about the snowdrop's flowers.

The Latin name for Spring Snowflake is Leucojum vernum. Leucojum comes from the Greek word leukos, meaning white and ion, meaning violet. In fact it has a pleasant scent reminiscing of violets. Vernum means spring blooming.

The Danish name Dorothealilje was given the flower from a young girl, Dorothea, who suffered martyrdom in the year 387 in Asia Minor. She was a Christian and wasn't able to marry a heathen who proposed to her. She turned him down and he killed her. Where her blood fell, the beautiful 'Dorothealilje' grew up. Another legend says that when Dorothea was killed, an Angel came from the sky with his arms full of Dorothea-lilies - and this made such an impression on the rejected suitor that he became a Christian himself. On February 6th is St. Dorotheas Day, and at this time of the year the flower was blooming in South Europe.

In the Birgittine convents this flower had a special significance and it was to be found in large amounts in their gardens. The Birgittine nuns brought the plant to the North, and it was probably introduced in Denmark shortly after 1416, when Maribo Convent was established by the Birgittiner nuns from Vadstena in Sweden.

Leucojum aestivum (Summer snowflake) has a wider natural range, taking in Europe (including the British Isles), southwest Asia and northern Iran, and growing in wetter habitats including damp woodland, riversides and swamps. Despite its common name it flowers from April to May, though later than the Spring Snowflake.

photo Mindeparken, Århus 120308: grethe bachmann.

Frédéric Chopin, born 1. March 1810

Frédéric François Chopin was born 200 years ago on 1 March 1810 and died 17 October 1849. He was a Polish composer and pianist and one of the great masters of Romantic music. Chopin was born in a village in the duchy of Warsaw, his father was French and his mother Polish. At age twenty, he left Warsaw for Austria, intending to go on to Italy. The outbreak of the Polish November uprising a month later, and its subsequent suppression by Russia led to his becoming one of many expatriates of the Polish Great Emigration. He moved to Paris, where he made a comfortable living as a composer and piano teacher, while he also gave some public performances. From 1837 to 1847 he had a turbulent relationship with the French novelist Aurore Dupin, better known by her pseudonym George Sand. He suffered from poor health most of his life, and he died in Paris in 1849 of pulmonary tuberculosis, aged thirty-nine.
Chopin's compositions were written primarily for the piano a solo instrument. Though technically demanding they emphasize nuance and expressive depth rather than sheer virtuosity. Chopin invented musical forms such as the ballads and was responsible for major innovations in the piano sonata, mazurka, waltz, nocture, polonaise, étude, impromptu and prélude. He formed friendships with many authors and composers like Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Heinrich Heine, Eugène Delacroix etc.
In 1835 Chopin went to Carlsbad where, for the last time in his life, he met with his parents. He went through Saxony on his way back to Paris, where he met old friends from Warsaw, the Wodzińskis. He had met their daughter Maria, now sixteen, in Poland five years earlier, and fell in love with the charming, artistically talented, young woman. The following year, in September 1836, Chopin proposed marriage to Maria. She accepted, and her mother Countess Wodzińska approved in principle, but Maria's tender age and Chopin's tenuous health (in the winter of 1835–1836 he had been so ill that word had circulated in Warsaw that he had died) forced an indefinite postponement of the wedding. The engagement remained a secret to the world and never led to the altar. Chopin finally placed the letters from Maria and her mother in a large envelope, on which he wrote the Polish words "Moja bieda" ("My sorrow") His feeling for Maria is shown in his waltz in A-flat-major "The Farewell waltz", Op. 69, No.1. On his return to Paris he composed the Étude in F minor, the second in the Op. 25 cycle, which he referred to as "a portrait of Maria's soul." He sent Maria seven songs he had set to the words of Polish poets.



In 1836 at a party hosted by a countess, a mistress of his friend and fellow composer Franz Liszt, Chopin met the French author and feminist Amandine Aurore Lucille Dupin, the Baroness Dudevant, better kown by her pseudonym George Sand. One of her former lovers was Alfred de Musset. Chopin felt at first an aversion for Sand. He said to a friend:"What a repulsive woman Sand is? But is she really a woman?" Sand sent a letter to a count, friend of both her and Chopin, in which she expressed her strong feelings for the composer.

In the summer 1838 Chopin's and Sand's involvement was an open secret. In their time together they had a winter on Majorca, where they - with Sand's two children - had gone, hoping to improve Chopin's bad health. Caused by peoples' inhospitality when they discovered that the couple was not married, they took lodgings in a cold, former Carthusian monastery in Valldemosa. During that winter the bad weather had a serious effect on Chopin's health, and in order to save his life they left the island. They first went to Barcelona and then Marseille , and in May 1839 they went to Sand's estate at Nohant. In autumn they returned to Paris where Chopin soon left his apartment at 5 rue Tronchet to move into Sand's house at 16 rue Pigalle. Here they lived together with the children from October 1839 to November 1842, in most summers they were at Nohant. In 1842 they moved to rue Taitbout living in adjacent buildings. During the summers at Nohant Chopin composed many works, which include his great Polonaise in A-flat major op. 53.

As his illness progressed, Sand gradually became more of a nurse and less of a lover to Chopin. She called him her third child. In 1845 Chopin was even worse of health, and a serious problem came up in his and Sand's relationship. In 1847 Sand published a novel Lucrezia Floriani , which could be interpreted as Sand and Chopin, the story was not a compliment to Chopin . In 1847 he did not visit Nohant. Mutual friends tried to reconcile them, but Chopin was unyielding. The year 1847 brought to an end the relations between Sand and Chopin that had lasted ten years, since 1837.



On April with the revolutions of 1848 on its way in Paris, he left for London. He performed several concerts and had receptions in great houses. Toward the end of the summer he went to Scotland, where he stayed in a castle in Renfrewshire of his former pupil and great admirer Jane Wilhelmina Stirling and her sister. In late October 1848 in Edinburgh at the home of a Polish physician, Chopin wrote out his last will and testament. He made his last public appearance on a concert platform at London's Guildhall on 16 November 1848, when he played for the benefit of Polish refugees.

At the end of November Chopin returned to Paris. He was very ill that winter , but he was still seeing his friends, yet he no longer had the strength to give lessons, but was still keen to compose. He was in lack of money for essential expenses and for his physicians, so he had to sell his valuable furnishings and belongings. He felt even more poorly and wanted to have one of his family with him, and in June 1849 his sister Ludwika agreed to come to Paris. He had taken up residence in a beautiful sunny apartment at place Vendome 12. Here, a few minutes before two o-clock on the morning of Wednesday 17 October 1849, Chopin died. He was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery. At the graveside the Funeral marh from his Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor Op. 35 was played.
Chopin's grave with its monument attracts numerous visitors and is consistently decorated with flowers even in winter.
Source: Lademanns Lexicon and Wikipedia

photo: grethe bachmann

Bacchus on the Barrel

Fastelavn/ Carnival


In February when it's Fastelavn it is still common to beat the cat out of the barrel, in the old days it was a real cat, but now the barrel is filled with candy and other good stuff. Each Kindergarten has a celebration on our Fastelavns-Monday, where the children are dressed out and "beat the cat out of the barrel". And a cat-king or a cat-queen is elected.

But earlier were more customs around Fastelavn in Denmark, although most of those customs could not be compared to the customs in Mid- and South Europe, where a whole district or town is celebrating the carnival. A special custom was "Bacchus on the Barrel", especially celebrated in the Danish "South Sea" islands Lolland, Falster, but also at Sjælland, Funen and in South Jutland. This custom had many European common features. Everyone took part in this feast in the village, parish or town, but the custom died out in the late 1930s.

The archives can tell us about it.It was an impressive arrangement, this procession with a fat "Bacchus on the Barrel" . Everyone in the procession had a certain role and was dressed out for this. The rest of the people were busy in treating them with food and drink, when they went from farm to farm to collect money for the great Fastelavn's feast, the great finish of the day. A description of a day like this tells us that they visited 32 farms and then held this great feast, where they danced until sunrise.

In front of the Bacchus- procession was the leader in his officer's uniform with a sabre. After him came the Master of Ceremonies. After them two standard bearers dressed in white tie and tails. Then followed the musicians, the singers and the carriers with garderhuer (like the Queen's Guards), they wore white shirts, decorated with red and blue revenue labels. The carriers had a ladder upon which sat Bacchus, all dressed in white and stuffed with hay to make him look real fat. He sat upon a small barrel with water and splashed water on people, if they came too close.

After this all the other figures came, and all with certain roles to play. "The Summer" was a man dressed in summer-dress and with sun-glasses. When the procession came indoors, he at once opened all the windows, claiming that it was too hot. But "the Winter", who was dressed in fur coat and wooden-soled boots, closed the windows again very quickly and went to sit in the chimney corner because he froze. In the meantime the wheat farmer with his meerschaum-pipe and a long coat with silver buttons bargained about the harvest of the year, and he smoke so much that he was almost covered in tobacco-smoke. The clowns removed all kinds of domestic utensils and gave them back - in return for payment. There was also a knife-grinder and his madam, both in old, ragged clothes. He sang his knife-grinder-song.

When the procession came to a farm the Master of Ceremonies went inside and asked if they might come in, which he said in a special jingle. When they came into the yard, they played music and sang a Fastelavn's-song. The whole company came into the living room and was treated with food and drink, and the Master of Ceremonies thanked host and hostess in a verse. The jester with fool's cap and bell told him to ask if they might come back next year. "Yeah, yeah! mister Barrejads!" said the MC, "let's see, if we live that long". And the company sang another song.



Some of the customs like the man in officer's uniform and the standard bearers belong to rather new customs from the 1800s, but there are variations, which remind about a medieval fool's play. The jester made all kinds of tomfoolery, he hid pots and pans in the most incredible places. There was Jerusalem's shoemaker dressed as a very old man with long white hair; he went along and measured the girls' legs in order to make them high boots. He received money in advance, but they never got any boots. The knife-grinder's madam stole as a raven as soon she came inside. Two people wore a straw-doll named Ole Lukøje (Sandman) ; one of the persons was dressed as a man in top and as a woman in bottom and number two was dressed the other way round. When they came near a water-hole people tried to push the waggon with the straw-doll into the water to make him drown.

In return for the fine treating with food and drink from the people on the farms everyone was invited to the Fastelavn's-party which was held on the last farm, a total-feast, in which the whole village took part. A total-feast like this is characteristic for traditional, primitive societies. When modern times arrived it became difficult to carry through a feast with everyone taking part - so the custom died out.

The rituals in such a feast can be mysterious, but earlier sources make it possible to see dimly the outline of a heathen carnival, which survived up to the present time. The figures from "Bacchus on the Barrel" are all repetitions from the European Carnival traditions. They were all representatives of the local society, of the world around which they depended on, and of outcast-groups, which was neither this nor that. The straw-doll Ole Lukøje (Sandman) shows signs of relations to various personifications of the old year, which has to be drowned or burnt. And the wheat farmer walks around selling his wheat. A sign of spring to come.




Source: Archaeological Magazine SKALK, Nr. 1, Gustav Henningsen: Det Danske Karneval, February 2006; Lis Paludan & Ulla Dietl, Bo Bedre, Børnenes Idébog 1972.

Common Chicory/Almindelig Cikorie

Cichorium intybus



Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a bushperennial plant with blue, lavender, or occasionally white flowers.It grows as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe and in North America and Australia where it has become naturalized. Common chicory is also known as Blue Daisy, Blue Sailors, Coffee Weed, France endive etc. The cultivated forms are grown for their leaves , or for the roots , which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. Some beer brewers use roasted chicory to add flavor to their stouts.

Chicory is also the common name in the US and in France for curly endive (Cichorium endivia). There is considerable confusion between Cichorium endivia and Cichorium intybus.

Culinary: Chicory was used as a salad plant since ancient times, first by the Egyptians, then by the Greeks and the Romans, and it was imported to Denmark by the monks; in Denmark is only found the imported medicinal herb Cichorium intybus, common chicory. Chicorium intybus is not common in Danish kitchen gardens, but it is considered an indispensable salad plant to Italy and France. The flowers are eatable and decorative in a salad with their fine blue colour. Shots of Common chicory, which has grown in darkness, are in Denmark sold in late autumn as Julesalat (Christmas salad).

Medicinal: Since ancient times chicory was used against liver, kidney and bilious diseases, dropsy, consumption, bubonic plague, gout, haemorrhoids, indigestion, melancholy and hypochondria. Already Plinius recommended it as a means against indigestion. A dekokt of the flowers was used as an eyewash.The medieval physician Henrik Smid recommended the herb to treat the eyebrows or else they could fall off. Chicory was also considered an aphrodisiac and used against poisoning.

Medicine today: Tea of flowers and dried leaves are good in stomach, liver and spleen problems and for haemorrhoids. Chicory root extract is high in inulin and used as a high-fiber dietary supplement. Dekokt of the herb is appetizing, good for the stomach and the bile.

Caution: If allergic to ragweed or other members of the Compositae family approach use of chickory with caution. In rare cases contact with the fresh plant can cause allergic skin reactions.

Coffee substitute: In the Napoleonic Era in France, chicory frequently appeared as either an adulterant in coffee or a coffee substitute; this practice also became common in the United States and the United Kingdom, in England (and Denmark) during the second world war and in Camp coffee, a coffee and chicory essence, which has been on sale since 1885. In the United States chicory root has long been used as a substitute for coffee in prisons.

Superstition: A young girl was sitting by the road, crying because her lover had disappeared, and where her tears fell, the chicory grew up. If a girl (Eastern Europe) had chicory in her boots and put the chicory in a pair of man's trousers under her pillow, she would see her husband-to- be. A legend tells about a girl ,who denied to give Christ something to drink, and as a punishment she had to stand by the road in the shape of a chicory. A variation of the legend: The pretty blue flowers of Chicory turn and follow the sun - and a German legend tells that Chicory is a transformed virgin, who was left by her boyfriend. She is now standing in the roadside looking for her lover, turning her head in order to look for him. The plant's German name wegwarte means 'she who waits by the road.' Chicory was believed to be able to open locked doors, according to European folklore.

Literature: The chicory flower is often seen as inspiration for the Romantic concept of the Blue flower. The chicory plant is one of the earliest cited in recorded literature. Horace mentions it in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: "Me pascunt olivae, me cichorea, memalvae" ("As for me, olives, endives, and mallows provide sustenance")Lord Monboddo describes the plant in 1779 as the "chicoree", which the French cultivate as a pot herb.
Fodder: Chicory is well known for its toxicity to internal parasites. Studies indicate that ingestion of chicory by farm animals results in reduction of worm burdens,which has prompted its widespread use as a forage supplement. Research results from 2005 also showed that the taste and smell of boar disappears in the slaughtered pigs, if they had chicory in their fodder before slaughtering.

Source: Annemette Olesen, Danske Klosterurter, 2001

Snaps:
Use the root or the flowers, fresh or dried. Pour with neutral snaps and let it draw for some weeks. Filter and thin according to taste.

photo ⓒ Gl. Rye August 2007: grethe bachmann

HYPOKRAS

"This drink is a happy and lovely drink for old people - especially in winter. It warms the cold stomach and is good for all cold diseases of the heart and the sinews. Young people should not drink it because of its heat," wrote the physician Henrik Smith in his herbal book in 1546 about a drink called Hypokras, a drink which was probably named after the Greek physician Hippokrates (ab. 460-377 B.B.), who supposedly delivered the recipe: Red wine added fine oriental spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, etc. These ingredients were of a warm nature according to the principles of the Greek medicine.

A similar drink was named Klaret (the clear drink), instead of red wine was used white wine sweetened with honey and added spices almost like in the Hypokras, but often also added the costy saffron.This gave the drink a fine yellow colour and a special scent and aroma. Those two drinks Hypokras and Klaret are described in English and German medical books from the 1300s, and they emerged in similar Danish works, which were strongly influenced and often copied from foreign works.

From a period in the late Middle Ages were pharmacies in Denmark, where people could buy ingredienses for medicaments, also the imported spices. Those expensive spices were reserved the upper class; poor people could not afford such costy herbs, but the physician Henrik Smith had not forgotten common folks in his medical book. Instead of oriental spices he recommended Danish herbs like dill, caraway, coriander, fennel and parsley - the monks had those herbs in their herb-gardens. The seeds had to be pounded, beer or mead should be added, the portion should draw for one day, then sieved out, and the drink was ready for use - a kind of of poor man's Hypokras. But although the poor man could not afford to buy the books with the recipes, the parish priests and the monks have probably passed on their advice and instructions.

Since Henrik Smith calls it a happy and lovely drink, it might indicate that it was not only enjoyed beause of its healing qualities. In the 1500s and 1600s Hypokras and Klaret became common social drinks - very popular for a period, until new drinking habits removed the old ones.

A recipe from Skalk nr. 2, 1997:
2 x whole cinnamon
15 x whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon sliced nutmeg
1 teaspoon sliced ginger
1 teaspoon cardamom-seed
60 g dark sugar
1 liter red wine.

Pound cinnamon and cloves in a morter, put all spices and the dark sugar in a jug and pour over the wine. Cover the mixture and let it stand for one day and night, sieve it through a cotton/linen bag into a bottle. Let the drink be for one day before use.

Source: Bente Leed, Hypokras: SKALK, Archaeological Magazine, nr. 2, 1997.

The Southern Hawker/Blå Mosaikguldsmed

Aeschna cyanea



The Southern Hakwer/Blå Mosaikguldsmed is one of Denmark's largest and most elegant colourful insects with huge compound eyes. It is also known as the Blue Darner. It is a colossal predator both when nymph and grown-up. Southern Hawker is a fine representative for the dragonflies, which include about 50 species of dragonflies and water nymphs in Denmark.

It is large, with a long body (7-7,5 cm and wing span 9,7-11 cm). It has green markings on the black bodies, and the male also has blue spots on the abdomen.The Southern Hawker breeds in still or slow-flowing water, but will wander widely, and is often seen in gardens and open woodland. This is an inquisitive species and will approach people. The adult eats various insects, caught on the wing. The nymphs feed on aquatic insects, tadpoles and small fish ambushed in the pond they frequent until they emerge as adults in July and August after three years’ development.

photo ⓒ Vokslev Kalkgrube: grethe bachmann

Sea Holly /Strand-Mandstro

Eryngium maritimum



Sea Holly is a native to most of Europe's coastline where it is seen in dunes and upon tidal meadows together with sea kale, Lady's Bedstraw, St. John's wort, Marram grass and Marsh daisy.It is a highly ornamental plant with spiny, leathery, intensely whitish-glaucous leaves and roundish heads of pale blue flowers.The protected dune plant is considered endangered although widespread. In Denmark it is protected and red-listed, and it must not be plucked. Insects seek to it for nectar.

The Danish name Mandstro has something to do with love and trust, i.e. trusting someone. Flowers of Mandstro were put into love bouquets together with other flowers symbolizing eternal love. Another Danish name is Strandtidsel (thistle). It resembles in some way the flowering thistle, except that Sea Holly's flowers are metallic blue.


Helgenæs, Sea Holly grows along this coast

The name Eryngium comes from Greek eryngion meaning goatsbeard. The young, tender flowering shoots can be eaten like Asparagus. In Tudor times the roots were candied and known as eringoes eaten as sweetmeats and regarded as an aphrodisiac, obviously appreciated by Falstaff:

Let the sky rain potatoes,
Let it thunder to the tune of Green-sleeve,
Hail kissing-comfits and snow eringos, (Sea-Holly)
Let there come a tempest of provocation.

From Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor".

A manufactory for making candied roots of the Sea Holly was established at Colchester, by Robert Burton, an apothecary, in the seventeenth century, as they were considered both antiscorbutic, and excellent for health.

These Eryngo roots, prepared with sugar, were then called "Kissing Comfits." Lord Bacon when recommending the yolks of eggs for giving strength if taken with Malmsey, or sweet wine, says: "You shall doe well to put in some few slices of Eringium roots, and a little Ambergrice: for by this means, besides the immediate facultie of nourishment, such drinke will strengthen the back."

Plutarch writes: "They report of the Sea Holly, if one goat taketh it into her mouth, it causeth her first to stand still, and afterwards the whole flock, until such time as the shepherd takes it from her."



photo ⓒ Draget, Helgenæs 11. July 2009: grethe bachmann

February/Solmonað.

Anglo-Saxons

Before they converted to Christianity and adopted the Roman calendar, the early English (‘Anglo-Saxons’) used a calendar based on the cycles of the sun and the moon. February was known as Solmonað. According to Bede, the name comes from the cakes which they offered to their gods in that month. However, the word sol is not used in any Anglo-Saxon source to mean 'cake'. It's most common meaning is, in fact, 'mud'. Two possibilities arise. Either the kind of cake offered was called 'mud' due to its colour or texture, or, more plausibly (to those familiar with the English climate), February was simply known as 'Mudmonth'.


Month of the Pearl
In Finnish the month is called helmikuu, meaning "month of the pearl"; a beautiful name describing when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again, they are like pearls of ice.

Fire and Ice.
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Robert Frost

photo: grethe bachmann

Amber/Rav

When looking for amber at the beach you might be lucky to find a lump with insect fossiles.

Amber is fossilized tree resin from a died out pine-tree from the warm period before Ice Age. It is not known, where the forest grew from where the Nordic amber comes, but probably somewhere in the Baltic area. When the ice came, it ploughed up the land, and the amber is now only known from re-placed layers. It is found in many places in Denmark's ground, but the main finding place is the western coast at Jutland, where the sea breaks down the land, while the stream eats from the sea bed, washing out the amber. It is still possible to do some good findings at this beach, but earlier there was much more amber - and most of the Danish prehistoric amber comes probably from here.

The condition of the forming of amber is that the resin ends in the sea-bed and lies there for at least 230-250 million years. First after this long oxygen-free process with press influence, in which the plant juice changes and the oil contents is reduced, the genuine amber is formed. The transitional forms between resin and genuine amber is named kopal. This material is more porous, so that flakes can be removed by a nail. The oldest amber in the world is 235-231 million years old and is found in Austria and Bavaria. Denmark's oldest amber is found at Bornholm and is 170 years old. Amber found upwashed at a sea shore is considered finer than amber digged up from the soil. When looking for amber at the beach you might be lucky and find a lump with insect-fossiles.



Amber can burn and gives thereby a fine scent. When you rub amber static electricity is generated. When the amber is used for jewelry it is often heated up and later cut and polished. It is said that amber jewelry "likes" to be used. The contact with the skin keeps the amber bright, while it gets dull by being left in a drawer.


Amber from a Stone-Age sacrifice.

Since Antiquity humans have used amber and amber jewelry as a means of payment and since then amber also had a role as a panacea against all kinds of diseases. There are many proverbs and stories about amber - one of the stories tells how amber came into existence: when the fertility goddess Freya's husband disappeared, she cried bitter tears. The tears that landed upon the ground became gold, the tears that landed in the sea became amber.


photo Skagen/Randers kulturcenter 2007/2008: grethe bachmann

Red Kite /Rød Glente

Milvus milvus

Red kite
photo: stig bachmann nielsen 2009 naturplan foto

The red kite is a strikingly beautiful bird of prey with its long forked tail twisting as it changes direction, its long wings with contrasts and its rust-red colour. It is 60-66 cm long with a 175-195 cm wingspan; males have a weight of 800-1000 g, and females 1000-1300 g. It is a fantastic flyer and while looking for food it flies rather close to the ground to check up a possible prey. When it wants to mark its nest-territory it may hang for hours like a kite above the forest - hence its English name kite.

The red kite has contrary to its close relative, the black kite, a limited geographic spread. Almost the whole breeding area of this species is inside Europe. 80% of the European population of red kite is concentrated in 3 countries: Germany, France and Spain. The red kite is declining in all three countries. It breeds in few numbers in Denmark, but it has made progress during the latest years and is now found in all parts of the country. Most breeding couples are in the East Jutland.
Red kite
photo: stig bachmann nielsen 2009 naturplan foto

The red kite breeds in open landsccapes with spread forests, likely near water streams, lakes or moors. It often takes over the nests of other large birds in high trees, like raven- or buzzard-nests. The nest is often decorated with paper pieces, coloured plast, rope etc.

The red kite is also few in numbers as a migrating bird in Denmark, although the numbers of migrating kites in eastern Denmark has been rising, in line with the rise of the south Swedish kite-population. During one autumn season were counted up to 1.000 migrating Swedish kites at Stevns. (East Zealand). The Danish and south Swedish breeding birds overwinter primarily in Spain and France. Winter-feeding in Sweden has caused that still more south Swedish kites overwinter close to the breeding area, and the red kite is also observed in Denmark in winter in rising numbers.
The red kite has a broad choice of food, but it is especially known to be an expert in finding and eating carcasses.The bird has an important role as "nature's garbage man". But it is also able to hunt and kill its prey by itself. The young ones are especially fed with fresh-caught amphibians, reptiles, mice, rats, hare kittens, little birds, crow-birds and seagulls. The kite takes the prey, which is represented in large numbers at the breeding ground.
NB: As scavengers, red kites are particularly sensitive to poisoning. Illegal poison baits set for foxes or crows are indiscriminate and kill protected birds and other animals.



Crow pursuing a red kite
photo: grethe bachmann July 2008

History.
In the United Kingdom red kites were once so common that William Shakespeare once described London as "a City of Red Kites and Crows". King James II of Scotland decreed that they should be killed "wherever possible", but they remained protected in England and Wales for the next 100 years as they kept the streets free of carrion and rotting food. Under Tudor "vermin laws" many creatures were seen as competitors for the produce of the countryside and bounties were paid by the parish for their carcasses.

Source: Natur og Fugle, Dansk Ornitoligisk Forening

photo ⓒ: stig bachmann nielsen naturplan foto & grethe bachmann naturplan foto