Danish Royal Family Christmas: 2003, 2004, 2006-2014, 2016-2023 - Page 47

eya · #**921** 12-17-2020, 02:31 AM

Today 17 December:

"The traditional Greenlandic costumes have put the elves on the trail of the Elf Sister. When they last saw her, she wore the costume adorned with glittering glass beads – in cardboard elf style, of course. So, the sister and brother have slipped into the costume-making workshop Kittat, which is located in a small warehouse at the old harbor in Nuuk. The workshop is a bit of living Greenlandic cultural history that honors this special form of craftsmanship."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CI44r7sg1xv/

Countessmeout · #**922** 12-17-2020, 02:35 AM

Can't blame them for getting distracted, the work is stunning

Reminds me of the work of our Inuit. Perhaps a good link for my kids.

Now we need to know if they find Santa.

Muhler · #**923** 12-17-2020, 05:50 AM

Unsurprisingly the costumes are pretty expensive.

Just like to regional traditional costumes in Denmark, the Greenlandic ones tell a story about the owner. - Where she is from, whether she is married and very much also her social status.
The male costumes are considerably less... eh.. spectacular.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7XdGEzQKqWs/maxresdefault.jpg
https://visitgreenland.com/da/wp-con...-1400x1051.jpg
https://i2.wp.com/www.aquut.com/wp-c...00%2C800&ssl=1
https://622386.smushcdn.com/1421302/...i-1280x725.jpg
https://herognu.dk/wp-content/upload...02/01-rosa.jpg
https://images.lauritz.com/images/59...449A2047EA46E2

----------------

And for the benefit of several readers.

On Christmas Night the barn animals can speak. (In Jutland it was claimed the animals speak Hebrew!) But it is not known what they are talking about, because anyone who went into the barn and heard the animals talk would instantly become mute! And in a society where most peasants were illiterate, that was end of story!
The reason for this phenomenon was that barn animals had witnessed the birth of Christ, hence why they could talk on this holy night.
Also, on Christmas Eve at midnight the cows (only the cows, oddly enough) would kneel. Presumably in prayer or in respect of Christ. – That was believed firmly as late as the 1880’s on the island of Langeland, to such an extent that the residents on a farm simply did not dare go out and see whether it was true.
Near the town of Sorø a man foolishly went out to the stables to see if it was true. He got off lucky! He had been tossed from wall to wall until he staggered out – and it wasn’t the animals who had thrown him around…

So when the barn-animals had been fed on the day of Christmas Eve, they were left alone until the next day. Instead a cross was chalked on the barn door and iron (say a horseshoe) hung above the door. That would keep ghosts, witches and trolls away from the animals.

On the second day of Christmas, the 26th, the horses were given beer to drink and sometimes races were arranged. – With no doubt pretty lively horses…

eya · #**924** 12-17-2020, 06:19 AM

The Palace announces changes to the family’s christmas plans:

"Her Majesty the Queen will hold Christmas Eve at Marselisborg Castle together with Your Royal Highnesses Prince Joachim and Princess Marie and their two children, Prince Henrik and Princess Athena, as well as Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix. It was originally planned that Her Majesty would celebrate Christmas Eve at Schackenborg Castle, but the holiday is celebrated instead in Aarhus, where the Queen traditionally has a residence in connection with Christmas.

The Crown Prince's family will continue to hold Christmas Eve in Frederik VIII's Palace at Amalienborg."

https://kongehuset.dk/nyheder/kongeh...-nytaarsplaner

Muhler · #**925** 12-17-2020, 06:26 AM

Wonder why?

Lack of (prepared) rooms at Schackenborg perhaps?
We are talking M&F and four children.
Plus QMII, a LiW, an adjutant and at least two PET officers.

Perhaps QMII originally planned to stay the night at Gråsten, not that far from Schackenborg? But opening up Gråsten for just a few days, especially during a nation-wide semi-lockdown? Well...

There is room for all at Marselisborg. Plus QMII is "at home" so to speak.
There is room for a LiW an adjutant and PET officers and guardsmen will be on duty.
And J&M and family can drive back to Schackenborg on the 25th.

**An Ard Ri** · #**926** 12-17-2020, 08:41 AM

Where does Her Majesty normally reside for Christmas ,I had thought Marselisborg Castle but that could be Easter/Summer holidays?

Muhler · #**927** 12-17-2020, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

Where does Her Majesty normally reside for Christmas ,I had thought Marselisborg Castle but that could be Easter/Summer holidays?

Almost always Marselisborg.

There is however a little devil whispering in my ear that being Queen and 80, has its advantages when it comes to making your "wouldn't it be more practical if we...-suggestions" come true.

Roskilde · #**928** 12-17-2020, 11:03 AM

I must honestly admit I can’t see those changes make that much of a difference.
We are told not to travel if possible.
Why don’t show a good example.
IMO a good example for the Danes had been the Queen staying in Copenhagen, maybe spend Christmas Eve with the CP family in Copenhagen and Prince Joakim and family of course stay in France in these times.
The comment section on the DRF’s social media show that people actually think it is irresponsible that neither the Queen nor Prince Joakim and family follow the Danish recommendations not to travel back and forth. The Crown Prince couple get a positive feedback for setting a good example and people are sending them an extra thought as they are going to spend Christmas back home as so many other of us.

But okay, I'm a nurse and we are just really Corona-tired in the healthcare system..
I just humbly hope that people will please stay home this one Christmas.

**An Ard Ri** · #**929** 12-17-2020, 11:07 AM

Has anyone lived at Schackenborg since Prince Joachim left it a few years ago?

polyesco · #**930** 12-17-2020, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

Has anyone lived at Schackenborg since Prince Joachim left it a few years ago?

I do not think so. Joachim and family still stay there, recently in October for the Autumn holidays.

Muhler · #**931** 12-17-2020, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

Has anyone lived at Schackenborg since Prince Joachim left it a few years ago?

No, it's used by the foundation that bought Schackenborg - and not much used it seems.
And apparently at disposition for J&M if they wish to spend a weekend or a week there.

Well, since QMII, or whoever it is, has decided to take up residence at Marselisborg, rather than visiting Schackenborg, it means that a lot more people will be crossing the country with her.
We are talking about QMII herself.
J&M and two children from France.
Nikolai and Felix, who mainly live in Copenhagen.
An adjutant.
A LiW.
PET officers. At least two.

And now also:
A cook and probably an assistant. Okay one may be hired locally.
Two footmen.
At least one chauffeur. (To transport her to and from church and wherever she may wish to go.)
A platoon from the Royal Lifeguard Regiment. (And traditionally those who accompany her to Jutland, be it Marselisborg or Gråsten, have family locally, whom they can visit while serving there.)

- So, I wonder if these plans won't be changed for QMII instead spending Christmas in Copenhagen and J&M joining her there. They simply fly to Copenhagen, rather than Billund Airport in central Jutland.

As Roskilde points out, the authorities and the government has indeed strongly urged people not to travel across the country this Christmas.

maria-olivia · #**932** 12-17-2020, 02:12 PM

Mr Muhler and Mrs Roskilde
I enjoyed your posts the whole Year and want to thank you about it.
Take care of Yourself and Roskilde you have all my respect for what you are doing.
Your grateful Maria Olivia

eya · #**933** 12-18-2020, 02:33 AM

Today 18 December:

"The Arctic wind is biting cold on top of the mountain Sermitsiaq, where the elves meet Santa Claus himself – or “Juulimaaq”, as he’s also called in these latitudes. He’s out for a walk in the snow to build up energy for the big evening that’s drawing closer and that all children look forward to with great anticipation."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CI7dc0lAK18/

Countessmeout · #**934** 12-18-2020, 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eya

Today 18 December:

"The Arctic wind is biting cold on top of the mountain Sermitsiaq, where the elves meet Santa Claus himself – or “Juulimaaq”, as he’s also called in these latitudes. He’s out for a walk in the snow to build up energy for the big evening that’s drawing closer and that all children look forward to with great anticipation.

Santa in a helicopter. I must say that is a first for me

Thank you and Muhler for your continuing to share this, and the background.

Quote:

No, it's used by the foundation that bought Schackenborg - and not much used it seems.
And apparently at disposition for J&M if they wish to spend a weekend or a week there.

Well, since QMII, or whoever it is, has decided to take up residence at Marselisborg, rather than visiting Schackenborg, it means that a lot more people will be crossing the country with her.
We are talking about QMII herself.
J&M and two children from France.
Nikolai and Felix, who mainly live in Copenhagen.
An adjutant.
A LiW.
PET officers. At least two.

And now also:
A cook and probably an assistant. Okay one may be hired locally.
Two footmen.
At least one chauffeur. (To transport her to and from church and wherever she may wish to go.)
A platoon from the Royal Lifeguard Regiment. (And traditionally those who accompany her to Jutland, be it Marselisborg or Gråsten, have family locally, whom they can visit while serving there.)

- So, I wonder if these plans won't be changed for QMII instead spending Christmas in Copenhagen and J&M joining her there. They simply fly to Copenhagen, rather than Billund Airport in central Jutland.

As Roskilde points out, the authorities and the government has indeed strongly urged people not to travel across the country this Christmas.

Copenhagen definitely would have made more sense during all of this.

But didn't they just change the plans to Marliesborg? They did so knowing the government recomendations at the time. I would think changing Christmas plans for the queen is not a simple matter with staff and security involved. I'd think if they planned to move it to Copenhagen they would have done it already, not this current change.

Muhler · #**935** 12-18-2020, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Countessmeout

Santa in a helicopter. I must say that is a first for me

Thank you and Muhler for your continuing to share this, and the background.

Copenhagen definitely would have made more sense during all of this.

But didn't they just change the plans to Marliesborg? They did so knowing the government recomendations at the time. I would think changing Christmas plans for the queen is not a simple matter with staff and security involved. I'd think if they planned to move it to Copenhagen they would have done it already, not this current change.

You are welcome, Countessmeout & Maria-Olivia.

Well, the Reindeer Union put their foot down. They say the reindeer contract doesn't cover rides outside the Christmas days, so Santa had to go by chopper.

QMII visiting Schackenborg and taking up residence at Marselisborg is not the same thing staff wise.
For visits she basically only needs a LiW, an adjutant and security. For taking up a residence, it's the whole show.
I guess QMII had planned to take up residence at Marselisborg after going to Schackenborg.
Whether that is wise is of course debatable.

But there should be very little to hinder a new change of plans, so that she remains at Amalienborg in Copenhagen.
The guardsmen and staff will go where they are ordered and PET are used to constant changes regarding security. She hasn't any official duties in Jutland, so no problems there either.

-----------------

The Christmas lunches are a modern (and a lot tamer!) version of the old "julelege" = Christmas games or more correctly Yule-games.

That was basically general lewdness and immoral behavior for young people, especially in the countryside in the weeks up to Christmas.
The custom was very old, probably predating the Vikings.
What happened was that the individual farms hosted a "juleleg" for the unmarried young men and women from the neighboring farms, both sons and daughters of the owners as well as farmhands and maids.
That took place in the evening and consisted of food and drink - mostly drinks!
Daily Mail is in the habit of featuring articles about young people in Britain drinking their brains out and acting silly - they would have been considered amateurs in DK anno say 1500! No kidding!

And when you are pretty drunk you feel an urge to act silly and your - ahem - interest in sex goes up proportionally. So there was a lot of kissing and making out in the corners with the inevitable results nine months later...
Surprisingly, even in our so-called liberal eyes today, having children out of wedlock wasn't considered that big a deal until fairly recently. People had a very pragmatic view on such matters - not least because they had attended such "julelege" themselves in their youth. - That changed however, but more on that later.
There were countless games, some of them were borderline pagan, which is why the church was very much against these activities.
Because people back then were just as preoccupied with sex as we are today, the games were very much based on just that!
Some of the more "pagan" games could involve someone dressed up as a ram, an old fertility ritual.
Other were more harmless - sort of.

One favorite was to blindfold a young man and then another one in the party would slap him hard in his behind - and keep in mind that these were strong young men with hands like shovels!
Then the guy who had been slapped was to guess exactly who had slapped him. - I imagine that if he guessed correctly, he would as a reward empty of cup of liquor. If he lost he would as a punishment be required to empty a cup of liquor...
Another game, which was a favorite perhaps especially among the girls, was to put a young man and a young girl on a table and then people gathered around them to knead them as if they were dough. That was basically organized groping

**An Ard Ri** · #**936** 12-18-2020, 08:39 AM

I hope we see the queen and members of the RF attending church this Christmas .

Countessmeout · #**937** 12-19-2020, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muhler

You are welcome, Countessmeout & Maria-Olivia.

Well, the Reindeer Union put their foot down. They say the reindeer contract doesn't cover rides outside the Christmas days, so Santa had to go by chopper.

QMII visiting Schackenborg and taking up residence at Marselisborg is not the same thing staff wise.
For visits she basically only needs a LiW, an adjutant and security. For taking up a residence, it's the whole show.
I guess QMII had planned to take up residence at Marselisborg after going to Schackenborg.
Whether that is wise is of course debatable.

But there should be very little to hinder a new change of plans, so that she remains at Amalienborg in Copenhagen.
The guardsmen and staff will go where they are ordered and PET are used to constant changes regarding security. She hasn't any official duties in Jutland, so no problems there either.

-----------------

The Christmas lunches are a modern (and a lot tamer!) version of the old "julelege" = Christmas games or more correctly Yule-games.

That was basically general lewdness and immoral behavior for young people, especially in the countryside in the weeks up to Christmas.
The custom was very old, probably predating the Vikings.
What happened was that the individual farms hosted a "juleleg" for the unmarried young men and women from the neighboring farms, both sons and daughters of the owners as well as farmhands and maids.
That took place in the evening and consisted of food and drink - mostly drinks!
Daily Mail is in the habit of featuring articles about young people in Britain drinking their brains out and acting silly - they would have been considered amateurs in DK anno say 1500! No kidding!

And when you are pretty drunk you feel an urge to act silly and your - ahem - interest in sex goes up proportionally. So there was a lot of kissing and making out in the corners with the inevitable results nine months later...
Surprisingly, even in our so-called liberal eyes today, having children out of wedlock wasn't considered that big a deal until fairly recently. People had a very pragmatic view on such matters - not least because they had attended such "julelege" themselves in their youth. - That changed however, but more on that later.
There were countless games, some of them were borderline pagan, which is why the church was very much against these activities.
Because people back then were just as preoccupied with sex as we are today, the games were very much based on just that!
Some of the more "pagan" games could involve someone dressed up as a ram, an old fertility ritual.
Other were more harmless - sort of.

One favorite was to blindfold a young man and then another one in the party would slap him hard in his behind - and keep in mind that these were strong young men with hands like shovels!
Then the guy who had been slapped was to guess exactly who had slapped him. - I imagine that if he guessed correctly, he would as a reward empty of cup of liquor. If he lost he would as a punishment be required to empty a cup of liquor...
Another game, which was a favorite perhaps especially among the girls, was to put a young man and a young girl on a table and then people gathered around them to knead them as if they were dough. That was basically organized groping

Well of course the reindeer have unionized. It is the 21st century

I can see why the church wasn't too fond of these old games and traditions. Kind of frowned on sex before marriage among other things.

May have to stick to the reindeer strike, the rest not very kid friendly

But I certainly enjoyed a good smile. Thanks

**iceflower** · #**938** 12-19-2020, 05:50 AM

December 19 starts with a special beautiful Greenlandic Christmas tree, no spruces used as in Denmark but juniper. Nice!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CI-JIzpACDS/

Muhler · #**939** 12-19-2020, 06:10 AM

And I can add that translated the Greenlandic word for Christmas Tree is "Build Tree" - very fitting, as that is exactly what they do, as trees are not native to Greenland.

The first record of a Christmas Tree within the DRF is from 1866. The family admired it (as was the custom back then, and in regards to the DRF still is) and presumably sang a few psalms as well, before having dinner: Rice porridge and æbleskiver.
https://mummum.dk/wp-content/uploads...r%C3%B8d-1.jpg
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5507/...2a6be245_o.jpg
https://sandraskoekken.dk/wp-content...r-1170x877.jpg
Æbleskiver can be served with jam, ice, sugar or powdered sugar.

-----------------------

But how do contemporary nisser look, and not least sound like?

A tradition for the past 50 years has been a TV-calendar, counting down the days until Christmas. I.e. 24 episodes.
It's mainly for children and contain some sort of drama connected to Christmas and despite all sorts of trouble, Christmas is saved at the end. Phew!
But once in a while they make a calendar for adults. The Julekalender was aired for the first time some 30 years ago, and has been cult ever since.
In this "drama-documentary" we follow three nisser who have lived for a couple of hundred years or so in America (Canada perhaps?) and as such they speak Danish with an accent, Danglish. Or more correctly, since their Danish is a Jutlandic dialect, they speak Jutlish. They are on a mission to Denmark.
Here they are singing The Boot Dance. It's pretty catching actually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QJH3iPqLkw

eya · #**940** 12-20-2020, 03:32 AM

Today 20 December:

"It is the fourth Sunday of Advent, and the Christmas hymn “Guuterput” emanates from the Greenlandic churches in towns and villages. Not for anything in the world will the elves miss hearing one of the most beloved hymns in Greenland. So, during a service at Hans Egede Church in Nuuk, they have disguised themselves as decorations on an Advent wreath. Here, a choir of more than 70 singers is assembled, and the elves listen with rapt attention from the front row – even though it’s dangerous when a cardboard elf is that close to flames."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJAt5GBgPgv/