Christmas Vacation
The Last School Day in the Old Days


Old village school, Hodde, Jutland/photo 1999: gb

Until the reformation 1536 the apostle Thomas was celebrated with a mass every year on December 21st, which was named Sct. Thomasdag. Almost up to the present the 21st of December was celebrated in a Danish school. This day was the last day at school before the Christmas vacations. The pupils - who else were taught a strict discipline every day - were allowed to chatter, make noise and play as much as they liked.

The evening before they were prepared for the feast day with a thorough bath, a haircut and they had a look at their fine new Sunday's best. Next morning on the 21st they put on their new clothes and had to hurry as much as possible to be at school as the very first - for if they were the last pupil arriving on that special day they would get a nickname and be teased in a good-natured manner the whole next year.
The schoolroom had been cleaned the day before, which was rather unsual at that time. The pupils brought gifts to the teacher like a few skilling (Old Danish coin), Christmas bread, beer, snaps, candles and other natural produce which actually was some sort of bonus or supplement to the teacher's miserable pay. In the village school the vicar and his wife arrived with cakes and æbleskiver (round apple cakes fried in a special pan) , with some mead for the girls and some syrup snaps for the older boys. All the pupils had their yearly grade book and if the report was good they showed it to everyone hoping to get a few pence.

source: Ruth Gunnarsen/ Familiens højtider i gamle dage

The Jute Horse in Randers


The Jute Horse, Østervold, Randers

The sculptor Helen Schou ( 1905-2006) is the creator of this great Jute Horse, which was placed in Randers in November 1969. The impressing bronze horse is 5,5 m tall, 6 m long and weighs 4,5 ton. The casting of the statue was made in Berlin.

She was the only Danish woman who created two big monumental works with a horse as the theme. The second big work was an equestrian statue of Christian X outside the cathedral in Århus. Her interest in using the horse in her art work came natural since she had been a horsewoman since childhood and was skilled in dressage. She not only drew anatomic studies of the horse, but participated in horse-dissections at Landbohøjskolen (Agricultural College in Copenhagen) . She was very interested in European equestrian statues and collected a knowledge about them which was a great advantage to her later. She created several big monumental works but also fine statuettes, mostly horses but also other animals, especially dogs like boxers and dachshounds. She also made several fine portraits and reliefs.

photo december 2008: grethe bachmann

Quote of the Day


Dachshound loses a stick in the brook

Mom gets hold of it with her umbrella

A blind bloke walks into a shop with a guide dog. He picks the dog up and starts swinging it around his head. Alarmed a shop assistant calls out: "Can I help, sir?" "No thanks," says the blind bloke. "Just looking."

Tommy Cooper.

photo: grethe bachmann, Moesgård Forest, Århus

Amaryllis



The name Amaryllis comes from Greek mythology. It was a name of a girl who won the heart of a shepherd-boy heart by creating a new and enchanting flower for him. Hippeastrum is the Latin name and means the Horseman's Star (Danish: Ridderstjerne). A dean of Manchester William Herbert chose the name in 1837 - maybe because the flower had a striking resemblance to the Morning Star, a medieval weapon used by horsemen.

Hippeastrum is a genus of many species and hybrids and native to tropical and subtropical regions like South America, Mexico and the Carribean. They are popularly known as Amaryllis. The first commercial breeders of hippeastra were Dutch growers who imported several species form Mexico and South America the 18th century. Today the beautiful flower is widespread and very popular. The colours vary from red, pink, peach and white flowers to two-coloured flowers like green-pink, red-white.

photo 2008: gb

Quote of the Day




Scientific theories tell us what is possible ; myths tell us what is desirable. Both are needed to guide proper action.
John Maynard Smith
Science and Myth

photo :gb

Quote of the Day



Anyone who doesn't know what soap tastes like, never washed a dog.
Franklin P. Jones

photo: grethe bachmann, Silkeborg

Quote of the Day



What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce.
Mark Twain.

photo:gb

An Old Folk-Tale from Jutland


Oudrup Hede, Jutland

Folk Tales
The real folk-tales have existed for thousands of years, only for the last two hundred years some of these treasures have been collected by folklorists before they were completely forgotten.
The folklorist Evald Tang Kristensen (1843-1929) was the most important Danish collector of folk-tales. He was a school teacher, but at that time a school teacher got a lousy pay, so in summer he had to take care of his little farm too. Only in winter he spent his time walking on foot from place to place in all kinds of weather, mile after mile across the heath in rain and mud, overnighting by the peasants. He was able to make shy people open up and tell him their stories.

For more than 50 years he collected folk-tales, ballads, fairy-tales, legends, history and biographies from about 6.500 informants, mainly from the poor. The result were many books , in the first many years financed by himself and printed in small impression. The interest for folklore was limited at that time, but later it became highly treasured and still is. We owe him a lot. In 1888 he got some aid from the Danish State, and he gave up his job as a school teacher devoting his life to folklore collection. This little folk-tale is told to him by a peasant woman Inger Olesdatter from Øster Ørum near Horsens. It is from the book "Eventyr fra Jylland II".


Girl with sheep, Heather Hill

TINY-VIRP.
Once upon a time was a little girl, named Virp, and people called her Tiny-Virp. When she had to go out to work, she got a job in the vicarage. She had to take care of the sheep out into the heath. The first day she came out there she saw a silver ram, when she sat down to eat her food, it stood upon a hill. She drove the sheep together and then she run up and took the silver ram and ran home to the vicarage with it. When she came into the yard, they closed and shuttered the gate, while Tiny-Virp went singing in the yard.
Clump, clump,clump! The big troll came to the gate and said:
"Listen, little Virp! did you take my silver ram?"
"Yes, I did!"
"Will you come more often?"
"You never can tell," she said.
Then they let a canonshot sound through the gate. Clump, clump, clump! then the big troll ran.
The next day, when she came out into the heath with her sheep, she sat upon the hill to eat her food. Then she saw a golden ram, it stood upon the hill. Virp drove the sheep together, took the golden ram and ran home to the vicarage with it. And they closed and shuttered the gate, while Tiny-Virp went singing in the yard.
Clump,clump,clump! then the big troll came.
"Listen little Virp! Did you take my silver ram and my golden ram?"
"Yes, I did."
"Will you come more often?"
"You never can tell" said Tiny-Virp.
Then they let a canonshot sound through the gate. Clump, clump, clump! then the big troll ran.
The third day, when she came out upon the heath with her sheep, it rained cats and dogs. When she sat down to eat her food, she saw that the big troll's old mother was out by the well to fetch some water, and she wore a light cape, and it repelled water, and it shone so that it was light all around. Then Tiny-Virp run and pushed the old woman down into the well, but she took the light cap and wore it, and then she run home to the vicarage, after she had driven the sheep together. They closed and locked the gate and Tiny-Virp went singing in the yard.
Clump, clump, clump! then the big troll came.
"Listen, little Virp! did you take my silver ram and my golden ram and my light cape and pushed my mother into the well?"
"Yes I did," said Tiny-Virp.
"Will you come more often?"
"You never can tell."
Clump, clump, clump! then the big troll ran, when they fired a canonshot out through the gate.
The fourth day when she came out into the heath with the sheep, the weather was fine, and the troll's window was open. In the windowsill was a jingle stick, he jingled it when he summoned all the big trolls. She took it when she sat down to eat her food. She drove the sheep together and run home to the vicarage with the jingle stick. They both closed and shuttered the gate and then Tiny-Virp went singing in the yard.
Clump, clump, clump! then the big troll came running.
"Listen little Virp! Did you take my silver ram and my golden ram and my light cape and pushed my mother into the well and now took my jingle stick?"
"Yes I did," said Tiny-Virp.
"Will you come more often?"
"You never can tell," she said, and then they let a canonshot sound through the gate. Then the big troll got scared, and clump, clump, clump! he ran again.
The fitfth day when she came out into the heath with her sheep, the big troll's window was open, and a gold harmonica lay inside. Now she reached out for it, but she was cheated, for the big troll stood inside and took her hand and drew her inside. Now he had caught her and he wanted to slaughter her as a punishment, because she had taken all those things from him. But he thought she was to skinny for slaughtering, she had to be fed up. So he put her into a dark room, and there she had to live from prunes and raisins and black sausage, then he thought she would be fat. When some days had passed by, she had to put a finger out through a hole he had drilled in the door, then he would prick it with a needle, so he could see the blood, if she then was fat enough. But she wrapped sausage skin around her finger so that the blood could not come out, and it did not come out, no matter how much he pricked.
Finally he decided that she had to be slaughtered. He asked his wife to light a fire in the oven and fry Tiny-Virp there, while he went around to summon the big trolls for a feast. He had to do it now since Tiny-Virp had taken his jingle stick.
The wife began to light a fire in the oven, and she fired much more than when she was baking. Then she asked little Virp if it was hot enough.
"No it is not at all hot enough," said Tiny-Virp.
Then she fired much more.
Yes, it was not hot enough yet, but now it had to do. Then Tiny-Virp had to go into the oven, but she did not understand, she said, how to do it. If just the woman would show her. Then the woman had to show her. She sat down upon the baking spade and told her how to sit. But then Tiny-Virp took hold of the baking spade, pushed the woman into the oven and closed the oven door.
Then she ran home to the vicarage and said that they had to bring all the carriages they had, in order to get hold of the big troll's gold and silver, before he came home. For now no one was at home in the hill. Then they came with eight carriages, seven pair of horses and a pair of bullocks for the eighth carriage. Then they took all the goods, the big troll had. And at last Tiny-Virp took the wife's night cap and filled it with hay, and she put it in the bed and pulled the duvet over it, so that only the top was to see, and it looked as if it was the wife who was in the bed. Then they drove home to the vicarage and put shutters for the gate doors.
Soon after the big troll came home, but he could not find his wife. Finally he thought that he saw her lying in the bed for he could see the tip of her night cap.
"Now I am here," the big troll shouted. She did not answer.
"Did you fry Tiny-Virp?" No, she did not answer.
Then he hooted louder:
"Did you fry Tiny-Virp?" No, there was no answer.
"If you do not answer me then you shall get a slap in the head!" But it did not help at all.
Then he slapped the night cap so that the hay fell out all over the floor, for now he was angry.
But if it was not wrong before then it became wrong now, for he could see that there was some madness about it. He ran to take a look at the oven. There he found his wife who was completely fried.
Clump, clump, clump! then he ran to the vicarage. Then Tiny-Virp went singing in the yard.
"Listen Tiny-Virp! Did you take my silver ram and my golden ram and my light cape and pushed my mother into the well and took my jingle stick and stole all my silver and gold and pushed my wife into the oven?"
"Yes I did," Tiny Virp said.
"Will you come more often?"
"There is nothing more to come for," she said, and then they fired a canonshot through the gate, so that the big troll got scared. Clump, clump, clump! it said, and then he ran home.

Source: Evald Tang Kristensen "Eventyr fra Jylland II" (edited & published 1998)
(This folk-tale Tiny-Virp (Danish title : Bitte-Virp) is translated by Grethe Bachmann for this blog)

photo 2007 & 2008: grethe bachmann, Heather Hill, Zealand

Quote of the Day


photo: grethe bachmann

There is nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.

Johan Sebastian Bach

Cleaning the Indoor Air with Houseplants
A really good idea



The house is filled with computers and TVs and other polluting things, but plants can help us to improve the air in our home.

Plants provide a natural, cost effective way to clean indoor air and combat "sick-building syndrome". In a 24-hour period a spider plant can remove 80% of formaldehyde pollutants from an enclosed room. So cleaning the air in the house can be as simple as buying a few houseplants - and almost all plants are powerful air cleaners. The plant acts as a filter by removing pollutants from the air and replacing the air with oxygen in a more pure form. Pollotuin in the home can give burning eyes, itchy throat or other respiratory problems .The three harmful pollutants commonly found in today's homes are benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene (TCE). 15 to 20 houseplants can purify the interior of an 1,800 square foot house.

Benzene is a commonly-used solvent and is found in tobacco smoke, gasoline, inks, oils, paint, plastic, and rubber. It's also used in the manufacture of detergents, pharmaceuticals, and dyes. Exposure to benzene can cause dizziness, nervousness, headaches, and anemia; and it irritates both the eyes and skin.Plants that remove benzene are: Gerbera Daisy, Chrysanthemum, Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily), Chamaedorea sefritzii (Bamboo Palm), Dracaena 'Warneckei', Hedera helix (English ivy), and Sansevieria (Snake Plant).

Formaldehyde is found in virtually in all indoor environments. Major sources include insulation, particleboard, and paper products. Many cleaning products also contain formaldehyde. Formaldehyde irritates the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory system and can increase risk of asthma. Plants that remove formaldehyde are: Chamaedorea sefritzii (Bamboo Palm), Dracaena 'Janet Craig', Sansevieria (Snake Plant), Dracaena Marginata, Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily), Chlorophytum (Spider Plant), Epipiremnum aureum (Golden Pothos), and Philodendron scandens `oxycardium' (Heartleaf Philodendron).

Trichloroethylene has a wide variety of industrial uses. It is used in inks, paints, varnishes, and adhesives.Plants that remove trichloroethylene are: Gerbera daisy, Chrysanthemum, Dracaena Marginata, Spathiphyllum (Peace lily), Dracaena 'Janet Craig', and Chamaedorea (Bamboo palm).

Most of the plants listed below evolved in tropical or sub-tropical forests, where they received only light filtered through the taller trees. Over time these air-cleaning plants adapted to lower light conditions, so most of them are perfectly suited to the light conditions we can offer them in our homes.

Aglaonema modestum (Chinese evergreen) : One of the easiest houseplants to grow and tolerates low light. Water thoroughly and let the soil dry out between watering.

Chamaedorea sefritzii (Bamboo Palm) Thrives in medium to bright light and likes average room temperatures with lots of humidity. From Spring to Fall, water well and then moderately during Winter.

Chrysantemum: Keep them cool and moist. If in bud, fertilize every two weeks.

Chlorophytum comosum (Spider Plant)(Væddeløber):Likes average temperatures with bright light, but can tolerate medium light. Water thoroughly and let the soil dry out between watering.

Dracaena 'Janet Craig' (Corn Plant), Dracaena `Warneckii' (Striped Dracaena):Prefers bright light, but not direct sun. Water thoroughly Spring through Winter and let the soil dry out between watering.

Dracaena marginata (Red-edged Dracaena):Easy to grow in bright to medium light, average home temperatures.

Epipiremnum aureum (Golden Pothos) (Guldranke):Climbing or trailing vine. An excellent choice for less than optimum conditions because it tolerates low light and infrequent watering.

Gerbera Daisy: Indoors requires bright light to flower. Keep soil slightly moist.

Hedera helix (English Ivy) (Vedbend):Prefers temperatures from 18.5°C in the day to 7°C at night.Water thoroughly and let the soil dry out between watering

Philodendron scandens 'oxycardium' (Heartleaf Philodendron):Easy to grow, happy in home temperatures and humidity. Good for low light situations. Let soil dry out between watering.

Sansevieria trifasciata (Snake Plant) (Svigermors skarpe tunge): This plant tolerates almost any amount of neglect, but with a little attention can be lovely. Does well in all light situations. Do not over-water.

Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily) (Fredslilje): Easy to grow. Tolerates low light conditions and blooms in medium light conditions. Keep soil slightly moist.

Source:The Best Houseplants for a Healthy Home, By HGTV.ca Editorial Team

photo:grethe bachmann

Mushrooms in Autumn

In the autumn are lots of mushrooms in the forest. Some of them look fine and tempting, but it is necessary to know which are edible and which poisonous. If you are out gathering mushrooms for the first time it is a good idea to be in the company of an experienced mushroom hunter - even experts are sometimes in doubt. Fortunately there are some mushrooms which are easy to recognize, some you won't mistake for poisonous or bad tasting mushrooms.

I haven't written the names of the mushrooms here. I'm no expert and I'm only a photo hunter!

photo by Silkeborg October 2008: grethe bachmann

November 2008 - William Stanley Braithwaite

"There is music in the meadows, in the air --
Autumn is here;
Skies are gray, but hearts are mellow,
Leaves are crimson, brown, and yellow;
Pines are soughing, birches stir,
And the Gipsy trail is fresh beneath the fir.

There is rhythm in the woods, and in the fields,
Nature yields:
And the harvest voices crying,
Blend with Autumn zephyrs sighing;
Tone and color, frost and fire,
Wings the nocturne Nature plays upon her lyre."- William Stanley Braithwaite, Lyric of Autumn

photo October 2008: grethe bachmann, Moesgård Have, Moesgård Museum

Halloween/Allehelgensaften

Ready for Halloween at the market

The carved pumpkin lit by a candle is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols in America and they are now popular in Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries. In Europe these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Generally the traditions around Halloween in Denmark can be compared to the celebrations of the Danish Fastelavn in February where the children dress in imaginative costumes and walk from door to door begging for candy or buns, singing a special Fastelavn's song.

A difference between Halloween in USA and Denmark is that the Danes have a liberal view on this date. Halloween celebrations are either before or after October 31. In USA Halloween on October 31. is a national holiday like Christmas Eve. For practical reasons Allehelgensdag in Denmark is moved to the first Sunday in November - and in the church the names of the dead in the parish in that year is read by the vicar.
Halloween was originally a heathen celebration for the God of Death, Samhain among the Celts in Ireland and Great Britain. According to tradition the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead became dangerous. Some of the ancient traditions have survived in a modern way, usually the celebrations included decorations with sinister symbols, often referring to death, the living dead, black magic and mythical monsters. The most famous Halloween-creatures in the present pop-culture are ghosts, living skeletons, black cats, witches, zombies, demons and little red devils plus literary figures like Dracula and Frankensteins Monster. Of common use are symbols for harvest and growth , especially pumpkins with a carved face and scare crows which represent both farming and the living dead. Black and orange have become Halloween colours for the night and the dark powers and the pumpkin and the growth of the fields.
The strong death symbols in the American Halloween with skeletons, skulls, bats and blood are not taken from the British celebrations, but inspired by the Catholic All Saint's Day in Mexico, where it is celebrated as the Day of the Dead.
The Halloween traditions have gradually become popular in Denmark and the other Scandinavic countries, especially because of the American mass culture and commercial pressure. The pumpkin-lanterns lit up everywhere in the evening now - and the children are very busy finding out what costume to wear this week-end.

photo October: grethe bachmann, Marketplace, Århus

Sunset - Gilleleje

rosy clouds and a lonely seagull

mild salty air from the sea

the anglers are still waiting for the sea trout

a sunset walk by the beach is balsam for the soul

in every human being is a basic ability to recognize beauty

photo september 2008: grethe bachmann, Gilleleje, North Zealand

Peregrine Falcon/ Vandrefalk

Falco peregrinus



A peregrine falcon on top of a chimney by a harbour.

History in short:
The most highly evolved of the falcons is the peregrine. It is a large falcon, but unlike the gyrfalcon the peregrine takes almost all of its prey out of the sky. The peregrine was a favourite of falconers and the most frequently bird used for falconry. It was not only easily trained, but provided the most daring spectacle. It circles high overhead, waiting for the quarry to be flushed, then dive for it at high speeds. In locations where the main quarry was wild fowl, it was sometimes called "hawk of the river". The peregrine was found all over Europe.

The Peregrine falcon's maximum speed:
Speed is the falcon's forte. If birds of prey were airplanes, then the eagles, the buzzards, the kites would be the gliders, and the falcons would be the jets. Estimates of the maximum speed of a falcon dive are as fast as 273 miles an hour (440 km/h) based on analysis of motion-picture footage of a falcon in full vertical dive taken by the Naval Research Laboratory in England in WWII. Most biologists, however, estimate the falcon's maximum velocity at 150 to 200 miles an hour ( 240 to 320 km/h), which is still faster than any other animal on earth.

See my article about Falconry in the Middle Ages.

photo 101008: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan Foto

A Grey and Rainy Day in October

Although it is raining.......

the landscape is still beautiful.........

soft shades by the water stream ..........

mirror of autumn leaves in the water surface........

soft reds in greens.................

black cattle softer than in the sun .........

drizzle hanging like a painter's light brush.............

grass with coloured messy hair.....................

fungis is a little red lamp

a grey and rainy day in October is not so bad after all..........

photo 101008 grethe bachmann

A Lonely White Stork - Poor is the Garden ........

Poor indeed is the garden in which birds find no homes.
Abram L. Urban
White stork at Borris, West Jutland

The last white stork left on September 11th 2003, and now in 2008 the white stork is considered extinct in Denmark.

The breeding white stork pairs in DK have not had young birds on their wings since 2000. 150 years ago there were 10.000 breeding stork pairs in Denmark. The reason for the decline are several factors in the development of the Danish agriculture which with intensive operations has removed the food subjects of the white stork in a degree, which makes this great bird avoid breeding in Denmark.

DOF (Dansk Ornitologisk Forening) has with a support from Aage Jensen's Fonds made several information activities and collected money for some water holes for the white stork. An establishment of about 23 amphibian water holes have now taken place. Is it too late?

Some white storks visit Denmark during the year like this lonely stork who was on its way to the Skern Aa Delta, where it has been seen for some time now.

photo at Borris, West Jutland, August 2008: grethe bachmann

Queen of Spain Fritillary/Storplettet Perlemorssommerfugl

Issoria lathonia


Queen of Spain Fritillary/ Storplettet Perlemorssommerfugl


Isn't it a beautiful little creature this butterfly - the English name Queen of Spain gives it a perfect image. This fritillary might give the inspiration for a gold jewel with blue sapphires from Cartier or for a luxurious evening gown by John Galliano.

photo August 2008 , Hammer Bakker, North Jutland: grethe bachmann

Lindholm Høje, Viking Burial Site, North Jutland

A guest looks across the burial site...........


..and this is the first sight of the 700 viking graves.


Single graves, systematic arrangements, stone ships......


..similar to Højstrup Viking Burial Site further west of
Limfjorden but much bigger


All those viking burials were sanded up for 900 years
until they were discovered and excavated in the 1950s.


photo: sb
Here's a visible stone ship. Who was this Viking? One of
the Viking chiefs maybe.

Lindholm Høje with 700 graves from the Viking Period is a fascinating place. The graves were sanded up and have been untouched for more than 900 years. The burial site at Lindholm corresponds to the Højstrup Viking Burial Site further west of Limfjorden near Tømmerby church and Aggersborg, also wellknown places with Viking traditions.
At Lindholm are single graves, systematic arrangements and stone ships. The archeological finds are exhibited in a museum close by which was established by Aalborg Historiske Museum. Here is also a museum shop and a café.

Lindholm Høje is placed on a high plateau north of the modern city Nørre Sundby and Aalborg with a fine view to Limfjorden. The place was discovered and excavated in the 1950s. At the same time the archaeologists found a furrowed field under the sand which showed that the viking farmer had left it in a haste under a sand storm. After the storm the field was obviously given up. It is an extremely rare thing to find a field with 900 years untouched visible furrows. Even the farmer's footprints were there.

photo August 2008: grethe bachmann
photo August 2008: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan Foto

Orchids, Rold, North Jutland

Red Helleborine and Lady's Slipper



Red Helleborine/Rød skovlilje/Cephalanthera rubra


Red Helleborine/Rød skovlilje


Red Helleborine/Rød skovlilje


Lady's Slipper Orchid/Fruesko/Cypredium calceolus
(withered)

The orchid with the delicate pink flowers is one of our most rare orchids. The name is Red Helleborine/Rød skovlilje - and it grows in the same habitat in Rold Skov as the big orchid Lady's slipper Orchid/Fruesko. Lady's Slipper grows in a big enclosure in the forest, and at this time of the year it has ceased to flower.

photo July 2008: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan Foto

A Little Philosopher - Don't worry..........

A Little Philosopher



Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia.
Peanuts

photo : gb