Sankt Hans Aften - Midsummer celebrations

Sankt Hans Aften (Saint John’s Eve) is celebrated every summer on 23 June.

The evening is a combined celebration of Saint John the Baptist, who was supposedly born on 24 June, and a celebration of the shortest night of the tear.

The evening is traditionally celebrated with bonfires, speeches and singing of the Danish midsummer song “Vi Elsker Vort Land” (We Love Our Country), which was written by Danish poet Holger Drachmann in 1885.

The top of the bonfire is sometimes adorned by a straw witch. The story goes that when the witch is burnt, she flies to Bloksbjerg in Germany, which was through to be the location of a witch gathering.

You can celebrate Sank Hans at several places in Copenhagen. For example, in Frederiksberg Have and in Amager Beach Park.