. Danish life in town and country. —is the great festival. Al-though the buying and making and talking ofChristmas presents has been going on for weeks,the last few days show an increasing rush andbustle,—crowded streets, and shops full to over-flowing, everybody carrying a multiplicitj- of par-cels. Every home, too, from the highest to thelowest, must have a Christmas-tree, and a genuinefeeling of good-will prevails. Old customs are not much thought of in Den-mark. ? One of the few that survive is in comiec-tion with Lent. Monday before Lent is a holidayin all the schools. Small children, pro
. Danish life in town and country. —is the great festival. Al-though the buying and making and talking ofChristmas presents has been going on for weeks,the last few days show an increasing rush andbustle,—crowded streets, and shops full to over-flowing, everybody carrying a multiplicitj- of par-cels. Every home, too, from the highest to thelowest, must have a Christmas-tree, and a genuinefeeling of good-will prevails. Old customs are not much thought of in Den-mark. ? One of the few that survive is in comiec-tion with Lent. Monday before Lent is a holidayin all the schools. Small children, provided withFastdavns riis (wooden sticks ornamented withcoloured paper flowers, or similar decorations),get up early to awake their parents and others,the penalty for being found asleep being a certainnumber of Lent buns. The elder children playold-fashioned games, and, wearing hideous masks,collect money at the houses and in the is kept very quietly, and in the way ofspending Good Friday England might with ad-. z UJ a< Izu o uToz< Io X UJ Ul X Copenhagen 115 vantage learn from Denmark, though EasterMonday is a regular holiday, and all the theatresand places of public amusement are Easter and Whitsuntide, on the fourthFriday after Easter, there is a Holy Day peculiarto Denmark. It is called Store Bededag (theGreat Day of Prayer), and is a number of oldenpenitential days rolled into one, for when thesomewhat worldly-minded Struensee, Prime Min-ister to Christian VII., did away with severalother Holy Days, as being in his opinion super-fluous. Store Bededag was allowed to the eve of Store Bededag the church bells ring,and in order to hear them people formerly promen-aded on the picturesque old ramparts, but sincetheir demolition the beautiful Langelinie walkalong the borders of the Sound has become theaccepted rendezvous. All are attired in their newspring garments, and in the evening everybodyeats Varme Hveder, a kind of smal
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdenmark, bookyear1903
