Danish Royal Family Christmas: 2003, 2004, 2006-2014, 2016-2023


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I have never heard of the Nisse until now. Now I am totally following it :D

Makes me think of the western 'elf on the shelf' at least the pictures. But he is so much cooler looking. Love the history.
 
I too have never heard of it but it is so lovely to follow and makes it really feel like the spirit of Christmas is present as we see and hear through your eyes and ears. Since here my most important thing to remember is sunscreen it doesn't evoke quite the same feeling so to those who are sharing their traditions with us, so thank you for sharing and God's blessings be upon you during this Advent.
 
Is that the Lion from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' or does it have some Danish significance?
 
MARG said:
Is that the Lion from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' or does it have some Danish significance?
Click to expand...
The lion pictured with Prince Christian is one of three Danish "Realm Lions".
The painting is painted by Mikael Melbye :flowers::flowers::flowers:

You can read more here: Three silver lions - The Royal Danish Collection
And here: Historical artefacts | The Danish Monarchy - Front Page

The full portrait of Prince Christian: http://www.mikael-melbye.com/da/galleri/officielle-portraetter/index.php?pid=3
And a full portrait of QMII: http://www.mikael-melbye.com/da/galleri/officielle-portraetter/index.php?pid=1
 
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eya said:
Today 12 December in Fredensborg Castle, the nisse going to Chancery House, which is a stone's throw from Fredensborg Castle


https://www.instagram.com/p/B59f_zBAADR/
Click to expand...


Thanks. I am enjoying this little nisse and their adventures. I also love the lions at Rosenborg and hope to see them one day.

Aw that was lovely. This family think up some interesting ideas. Including the horses made it nice and natural.
 
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eya said:
Merry Christmas from the Crown Prince Family!


https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2638173616304236
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That must be the royal staples at Christiansborg.

How kind of them to serve æbleskiver (literally apple-slices) for the horses.
Æbleskiver are not at all fattening - until the next day. :D
Here is a recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/11037/aebleskiver/

They are indeed dapped in jam, sugar, powdered sugar or syrup for each bite. They must be eaten warm by not too hot, that spoils the taste.
And if you can't eat them all, dogs, crows and magpies are fond of them as well!
The best result is if the you make them in an iron-cast pan. I understand that an æbleskive-pan is very difficult to obtain outside DK. But perhaps at eBay or Amazon?
This is how an æbleskive-pan looks like:
https://www.magasin.dk/on/demandwar...lt/dw7610a914/images/highres/024147258469.jpg
https://www.harald-nyborg.dk/p7227/sjobo-aebleskivepande-stobejern

Put a little piece of butter in the holes inbetween pouring in the dough, which should have a consistency a little thinner than syrup.
Children and pensioners can easily wolf down ten æbleskiver. Teenagers and adult males can eat twenty. :D
 
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That was a lovely video. I loved the horses snuffling up the crumbs, and without much slobbering, too--very well mannered horses:heart:?
 
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Muhler said:
That must be the royal staples at Christiansborg.
Click to expand...
It is indeed the royal staples at Christiansborg. And IIRC then the white horses are of the breed "Kladruber", but I´m not 100% sure about that.


Muhler said:
The best result is if the you make them in an iron-cast pan.
Click to expand...
You caoukd also just buy them frozen in a bag from ex. Karen Wolf and warm them in the oven :flowers::flowers::flowers:
 
My mothr used to make it with apple in the midlle, very jummy
 
I had only seen the photo before, now I am seeing the video.

Its such a sweet video, love them with the horses and the treats. I love the horse deciding that the humans should share their treats on the table.

I love the Danes and Swedish royals do videos like this. Get such a more personal look at the families then just photos released, without intruding into the privacy of the kids.
 
:previous: :flowers:

That's because the nisse-girl seem to remember that Christmas was celebrated at Kronborg only some 400 years ago. - Nisser live a long time you know.
And it was. When Christian IV was a boy in the late 1500's he did celebrate Christmas at the brand-new Kronborg.
But Kronborg was after all a fortress and not a residence and too far away from Copenhagen for Christmas to be celebrated there regularly, I imagine.

Christian IV even wrote a letter to his younger brother from when he was between 8-13 years old. (There are countless letters by Christian IV.)
In that letter he wrote (translated from archaic Danish to more modern English):
"My dear brother, Duke Ulrich. If you study diligently and behave thou-self well, as you are often reminded, then our Lord Jesus will come to thee with many wares (gifts) on his birthday (Christmas.)"

”Min kære bror Hertug Ulrich. Hvis du studerer flittigt, og skikker Eder [dig] ordentligt, som du ofte påmindes, så kommer vor Herre Jesus til Eder [dig] med mange varer [gaver] til hans fødselstid [jul].”

Christian IV became a king while still a child, so a Guardian was appointed to look after him, while the Council of the Realm ruled the kingdom.
That included intensive schooling. And if little Christian didn't behave, he got a good spanking - on a number of occasions actually - king or not! Either from his tutor or guardian - or whoever adult around who had the responsibility to look after the young king.
There was no such thing as a whipping-boy.

The table is how a Christmas table looked in the 1600's. (If you were a good, God-fearing well-bred Lutheran.)
 
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I loved the photo of the CP children - and nice to include the portrait of Christian too. I've been enjoying these Christmas updates from the DRF's Instagram a lot! ?
 
Holger Danske, as is his Danish name, was mentioned in the Roland-epic as being among the number of heroes who fell in a rearguard action in the 700's IIRC. Roland blew his horn repeatedly but help didn't get there in time, so they were all slain.
The epic spread all over Europe as a favorite tale of unselfish heroism, perfectly suited for the medieval knightly ideals.

Even though Holger Danske (under the name of Olger Danois IIRC) was mentioned in this famous poem, it's by no means certain he was historical figure, but I think he was. He was certainly around when the story originated, why else mention a number of specific names?

Anyway, Kronborg was build in the 1500's and at some point during the Middle Ages a myth arose here in DK, that Holger Danske was not really dead, but merely sleeping. So at some point it was decided he was sleeping at Kronborg. It was after all a hyper modern fortress designed to defend vital Danish interests: Who was sailing in and out of the Baltic Sea. And if need be block the entrance. (Great Belt was on purpose uncharted and to this day it's not the easiest sound to navigate in. So the best route in and out of the Baltic Sea remained Øresund, the sound passing Copenhagen - and Kronborg.)
So eventually a statue of the sleeping, fully armed, giant Holger Danske was made and placed there.
And should Denmark ever come in really serious trouble, he will wake up and slay our enemies.
H.C. Andersen wrote a tale in which you can read, that on each Christmas night an angel comes to visit Holger Danske, telling him he has only been dreaming and that he can safely go back to sleep again, because Denmark is in no serious danger.
- For those who have read the Christmas thread, you will know that according to folklore all sorts of strange, and downright scary things happen on Christmas Night here in DK!

Anyway, the reference to H.C. Andersen got our two nisse-siblings moving! For whatever reason they were reminded of the story of the little girl with the matches...
So perhaps they are going to the town of Odense? The birthplace of H.C. Andersen.
Or the old royal residence and castle of Koldinghus? Which burned in 1808 IIRC. Spanish soldiers were billeted there and the were very cold! And in an attempt to light up the old hearths the place burned.
 
Muhler said:
Holger Danske, as is his Danish name, was mentioned in the Roland-epic as being among the number of heroes who fell in a rearguard action in the 700's IIRC. Roland blew his horn repeatedly but help didn't get there in time, so they were all slain.
The epic spread all over Europe as a favorite tale of unselfish heroism, perfectly suited for the medieval knightly ideals.

Even though Holger Danske (under the name of Olger Danois IIRC) was mentioned in this famous poem, it's by no means certain he was historical figure, but I think he was. He was certainly around when the story originated, why else mention a number of specific names?

Anyway, Kronborg was build in the 1500's and at some point during the Middle Ages a myth arose here in DK, that Holger Danske was not really dead, but merely sleeping. So at some point it was decided he was sleeping at Kronborg. It was after all a hyper modern fortress designed to defend vital Danish interests: Who was sailing in and out of the Baltic Sea. And if need be block the entrance. (Great Belt was on purpose uncharted and to this day it's not the easiest sound to navigate in. So the best route in and out of the Baltic Sea remained Øresund, the sound passing Copenhagen - and Kronborg.)
So eventually a statue of the sleeping, fully armed, giant Holger Danske was made and placed there.
And should Denmark ever come in really serious trouble, he will wake up and slay our enemies.
H.C. Andersen wrote a tale in which you can read, that on each Christmas night an angel comes to visit Holger Danske, telling him he has only been dreaming and that he can safely go back to sleep again, because Denmark is in no serious danger.
- For those who have read the Christmas thread, you will know that according to folklore all sorts of strange, and downright scary things happen on Christmas Night here in DK!

Anyway, the reference to H.C. Andersen got our two nisse-siblings moving! For whatever reason they were reminded of the story of the little girl with the matches...
So perhaps they are going to the town of Odense? The birthplace of H.C. Andersen.
Or the old royal residence and castle of Koldinghus? Which burned in 1808 IIRC. Spanish soldiers were billeted there and the were very cold! And in an attempt to light up the old hearths the place burned.
Click to expand...
Holger's iconic status as the saviour of the Danish people is the reason that a prominent WWII resistance group was named after him.
I'm not sure about him sleeping at Kronborg though. There's a burial mound outside of Landskrona on the other side of the water carrying his name. He didn't do much to help when this part of old Denmark fell to the enemy.
 
JR76 said:
Holger's iconic status as the saviour of the Danish people is the reason that a prominent WWII resistance group was named after him.
I'm not sure about him sleeping at Kronborg though. There's a burial mound outside of Landskrona on the other side of the water carrying his name. He didn't do much to help when this part of old Denmark fell to the enemy.
Click to expand...

I think he was away on holiday in Thailand back in the cold, very cold, years of 1658-59. :cool: When the Swedes took away our ancient lands. :ermm::sad:
But the day will come when you shall return home. ;)
 
The old Viking was there in the spirit of resistance, valor and cussedness of all Patriotic Danes during WW2 :)
 
:previous:

Aha! Because H.C. Andersen wrote the story about the Girl with the Matches at Gråsten back in 1845.
That story and the one with the emperor without clothes are my absolute favorites.

However the nisse-siblings found the place closed down for the winter, but resourceful as nisser are, they found a way through the bell-tower.
Back in 1999 this was where Queen Ingrid celebrated her last Christmas, with all three of her daughters.

In the third photo the nisser are exploring what I am pretty certain is a replica of one of our lost national treasures - two gold-horns from the 400's BC.
They are marvelous works of art as you can tell here: https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guldhornene#/media/Fil:Guldhornene_DO-10765_original.jpg
They were found in the 1639 and 1734 and exhibited at a museum in Copenhagen. Back in those days museum-guests could actually touch the displayed items, even those made from solid gold like these horns - and one day in 1802 they were stolen and melted.
Fortunately a number of copies are in existence and displayed all over DK.

It is believed there is likely a third horn somewhere around the field where the first two were found, but the exact location is uncertain, so no luck yet.
 
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I am really enjoying the adventures of the little nisser. Please keep them coming. The simple life is to take pleasure in something simplistic, cute and the use of ones imagination.
Nothing like a little nisser to bring out the child in all of us.

I have definately heard of Holger Danske before but I can't recall in relation to what.
Thanks for the history Muhler and JR.
 
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Thanks Eya. ?

They found daddy!
He was sitting on Queen Ingrid's desk, thinking about the happy Christmas back in 1999, mentioned before. And hoping to experience another Christmas like that, he had ventured to Gråsten.
But what is a Christmas without mother?

So now the three of them will go to Marselisborg (earlier than I thought) to find mother and hopefully experience a cozy Christmas there as well.

- And there at Marseliborg they may find the original nisse. A kind of house-elf, who lives in all old houses since prehistoric times. Who looks after the house and the residents, but only if he is placated and treated and not least talked about with respect and reverence. Otherwise...
A happy nisse ensures a healthy life and as safe house in the year to come. But a nisse who has been disrespected can be a vindictive and even dangerous creature! Causing misfortune, illness and even death.
He, the nisse was always a man, looked like a peasant from the 1600's. This guy is Norwegian:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Julekort_med_nisse_og_grøt_(18886771365).jpg
He was fed with a bowl of porridge placed in the attic on Christmas Eve.
The rest of the year, he occasionally caused a little harmless mischief, like making things vanish or misplacing them. So if you found your pair of scissors in the barn, rather than in your apron, it was the nisse who was teasing you.

But this nisse-family is much more modern. Only a couple of hundreds years or so. It was only in recent time the nisse married and had children.
And having a family made the nisse much more friendly but the children can still come up with all sorts of antics:
http://denglemteskuffe.dk/Samling dgs sider/Kravlenisse samling/div/side 3/ady 31.jpg
https://www.gamle-dage.dk/blog/wp-content/uploads/a223.jpg
https://shop17756.hstatic.dk/upload_dir/shop/kravlenisser_9_stk_a3_penhagenco.w610.h610.fill.jpg
https://filweb.arkibas.dk/filer/visning/02cf673290854d77939167e1958b84a9
http://www.denglemteskuffe.dk/Samling dgs sider/Kravlenisse samling/phillip/adm 41.jpg
 
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JR76 said:
Tell that to The Queen. She made them herself and I don't think she'd be to happy about your criticism [emoji23]
Click to expand...
Thanks. Not to be meant "lese majesté"..:lol:?.., but still I stick to my opinion. Sorry, Your M.!
 
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