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Denmark - Midsummer Eve
- Description:
- In Denmark the solstitial celebration is called Sankt Hans aften ("St. John's Eve"). It was an official holiday until 1770 and in accordance with the Danish tradition of celebrating a holiday on the evening before the actual day, it takes place on the evening of June 23. It is the day where the medieval wise men and women (the doctors of that time) would gather special herbs that they needed for the rest of the year to cure people.
It has been celebrated since the times of the Vikings and of Odin and Thor, by visiting healing water sources and making a large bonfire to ward away evil spirits. Today the water source tradition is gone. Bonfires on the beach, speeches, picnics and songs are traditional, although bonfires are built in many other places where beaches may not be close by (i.e. on the shores of lakes and other waterways, parks, etc.). In the 1920s a tradition of putting a witch made of straw and cloth on the bonfire emerged as a remembrance of the church's witchburnings from 1540 to 1693 (but unofficially a witch was lynched as late as 1897). This burning sends the witch to Bloksbjerg, the mountain 'Brocken' in the Harz region of Germany where the great witch gathering was thought to be held on this day.
Finland - Midsummer Eve/St. John's Eve
- Description:
- Before 1316, the summer solstice was called Ukon juhla, after an old Finnish god Ukko. In Karelia, people had many bonfires side by side, the biggest of which was called Ukko-kokko (the "bonfire of Ukko"). At present the midsummer holiday is known as Juhannus, or midsommar for the Swedish-speaking minority, and is the year's most notable occasion for drunkenness and revels.
Most of Finland burns bonfires (kokko) at lakesides and eats smoked fish from the same lakes. In the coastal areas that are the stronghold of the Finland-Swedish, these are supplanted by a maypole tradition transferred from Sweden and pickled herring.
When Finland was Christianized, the holiday was named after John the Baptist (Johannes) in order to give a Christian meaning for the pagan holiday. The traditions, however, remained quite unchanged and survive in modern-day Finland although they have lost their original purposes.
Latvia - Midsummer Eve./St. John's Eve
- Description:
- In Latvia, Midsummer is called Jani (Janis being Latvian for John) or Ligo Svetki (Svetki = festival). It is a national holiday and Latvians consider Jani about as important as Christmas.
Midsummer is celebrated on a large scale by almost everyone in Latvia and by people of Latvian origin abroad. Wherever you go in Latvia during Jani, you'll see solsticial bonfires. Celebrations consist of a lot of traditional elements (eating Janu cheese, drinking beer, singing hundreds of Latvian folk songs dedicated to Jani, jumping over the bonfire, wearing wreaths/crowns made of flowers (for the women) and oak leaves (for the men) together with modern commercial products and ideas. Small oak branches with leaves are attached to cars in Latvia during the festivity.
Luxembourg National Day
- Description:
- Luxembourg National Day
Abolition, Reform and the Politics of Global Incarceration
- Description:
- The 13th Biennial International Conference on Penal Abolition is to be held over three days in Belfast on 23-25 June 2010. It will open at 10am on Wednesday 23rd in the Council Chamber, Lanyon Building at Queen’s University. On Friday 25th June it will move to the community and will end that evening with a buffet meal and a music session.
To keep costs manageable, accommodation and meals are not provided at the conference but there are affordable places to eat close by and we have provided a range of accommodation alternatives in the vicinity. Thus, there will be no registration fee. We request a contribution to the final evening’s function.
There will be no prison visit because we know it would be stage-managed. However, we will be showing two films during the conference: Mickey B a contemporary adaptation of Macbeth set in Maghaberry Prison and acted by long-term prisoners. It received its world premiere this April at the Belfast Film Festival to universal acclaim.
There will be a Panel QandA after the showing with the Director and one of the prisoners who has since been released. There will also be a showing of H3 a film made on the 1981 hunger strikes and written by Laurence McKeown and Brian Campbell, both former prisoners. There will be a Qand A with Laurence after the screening.
Please complete the Registration Form and email to:
Deaglan Coyle
d.p.coyle@qub.ac.uk
3rd Annual Global Anti-Corruption Summit USA
- Description:
- The 3rd Annual Global Anti-Corruption Summit USA will keep you updated on upcoming legislation, provide in-depth analysis of the best compliance programs, and help companies in developing a risk assessment system to identify where compliance functions work and where they fall short in the field of prevention of corruption.
For more info please see: http://www.ethicalcorp.com/globalethics/index.asp
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