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The Queen's Birthday in Denmark
“Margrethe, Margrethe, come on out, or we will never go home!” call loyal citizens of Denmark on their queen's birthday.They do this standing below the public balcony of the Royal Amalienborg Palace. And sure enough, Queen Margrethe and a few members of her family step out onto the balcony and greet the cheering crowd.
The funny thing (to me) is that the tradition dictates that this happen several times. After smiling and waving to the crowd, the queen will go back inside. The crowd will make their traditional call again (rather like calling to Rapunzel or Juliet, isn't it?), and she will step out again—three or four times altogether.
Do things Danish, today!
Porridge for breakfast and open-faced sandwiches for lunch are some popular meals. Meatballs and potato salad are popular choices for dinner in Denmark.
Licorice fudge Licorice is a popular flavor for desserts—licorice ice cream, licorice chocolate, licorice fudge, licorice mints, and of course licorice candy. The Danes apparently especially like salty black licorice. (I'm thinking, “Salty??”) You probably cannot find all of these licorice treats in your local grocery store, but perhaps you can add some pieces of licorice to vanilla ice cream.
Play Vikings. Play with Legos. Perhaps you can play Vikings WITH Legos!
- Here are instructions for creating a Viking ship out of a milk carton.
Do some Danish-inspired folk art. Use paint or paper-cutting to create symmetrical folk designs. Check out this and that and this other websites for some ideas. (Scroll down at the last link.)
For more Danish activities, check out this and this other earlier post.
Also on this date:
