June 21st was the longest day of year, which in Copenhagen means sunrise was at 4:25 AM and sunset was at 9:58 PM. It’s a great time of year (but a bit confusing when you wake up in the middle of the night and have no idea what time it is.)

On the 23rd, Danes celebrate Sankt Hans (Saint John), an ancient summer tradition. The idea is essentially to drive away evil spirits. Apparently in the 1920s the evil was personified as a witch that is banished to the mountains of Germany by the fire. (It’s not uncommon for the bonfires to have simple witch effigies on top.)

This year we were invited to a Sankt Hans in Hellerup by our friends Pia and Søren (I got a picture of Noah, their 8 month old, but not Søren). It was really nice, especially in contrast to our first Sankt Hans together, when the wood for the bonfire was so wet that it wouldn’t burn. We were at a huge park in town with hundreds of people, and after an hour or so, they tried silly things like thowing in plastic bottles.

But Sankt Hans is just one evening. It is one of the longest, but there are plenty of long, long days this time of year. Days when I can head out for a bike ride at 9:00 PM and it doesn’t get dark before I get back.
Days when we can sit on a couch out on our terrace and watch the light slowly fade. Days when I have plenty of opportunities to grab my camera and catch that very late afternoon light that I like so much.
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