House of Denmark
The HOD cottage is open every Sunday from 12:00 Noon to 4:00 PM. Come by and enjoy some Danish hospitality.

Language class
The members of the House of Denmark are planning to hold a Language class in the near future. Time and dates will be announced as these plans progress.

Children Dance classes
There is a combined children’s dance group among the four Scandinavian Cottages: Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The Danes celebrate “Fastelavn” in February, where the kids dress up like “Halloween” and the kids hit away on barroll much like a “Piñata” and a “King” and “Princess” is crowned.

The Danes also celebrate “Sankte Hans,” which takes place the 23 of June each year. The celebration here in San Diego always takes place on Saturday the 23rd or the Saturday nearest to this date. It alwaus take splace in Crown Point, Pacific Beach (Missions Bay). It is a combined  Potluck/Picnic event followed by burning of the “witch” at the fireplace after dark with some Danish traditional songs and baking of famous Danish “Sno-bread” over the fire.

Lawn Program
The annual lawn program is held on the first Sunday in June each year. As the 4th of June is “Grundlovsdag” the day the Danish Constitution was signed and transferring the oldest Kingdom in the World from a Monarchy rule of law to a Parlamentary rule of law. The Danish Royal family is still extremely popular among the common Danes and has so far not experienced scandals like other European Royal families. Queen Margrethe is highly educated and is a great artist (designer and painter) and the King to be Crown Prince Frederik is also highly educated and a Danish “Navy Seal” and married to sweet Mary from Australia.

Entertainment for this event is done by a storyteller, who is a member of the cottage who talks about fun and historical topics.  A three-man band plays Danish-English favorites with singing. A dance group in their native costumes adds to the color and variety.

December Nights
For the Balboa Park December Nights Holiday Event, you can enjoy the famous Aebleskiver with strawberry jam and apple stew, plus hot cider, cocoa, coffee and Danish cookies. In the beer garden they serve Eggnog, Gloeg (a hot redwine drink), Danish Beer (Carlsberg), the Danish drinks Snaps and Akvarit (strong alcohol normally served at the “Big Danish Lunch” (Smorgasbord) .  The children enjoy a paper craft demonstration, where they get a heart or star made from folded paper.

Christmas Party
December is the time for their yearly Christmas Party.  It is a family affair and is held in the Hall of Nations.  The food is catered and there will be dancing around the Christmas tree and singing and just having fun. In Denmark Christmas is celebrated at the night of the 24th December where the church visit is followed by the Christmas dinner and then signing and dancing around the tree finished off with the giving of gifts. The 25th and 26th is national holidays, where the families and friends normally meet over the very long lasting Big cold Danish lunch (normally takes all day).

The House of Denmark has a colorful display of cultural and historical facts that would create an interest to learn more about this Nordic Country.

One of the most famous landmarks in Denmark is the statue of “The little Mermaid” at the entrance of the Copenhagen harbor.  In 1909 it was commissioned to honor the famous ballerina Ellen Price.  It has survived two world wars without any damage, but in 1988 this famous statue was decapitated.  After many pleas for the return of the head, it showed up one morning in front of a Copenhagen T.V. Station.  It was reattached and has graced the harbor ever since.

Another famous landmark is the “Tivoli” amusement and beautiful garden park in the heart of the city of Copenhagen. It is open from mid April to late September.

Other great landmarks or attractions are Legoland, all the many castles particularly “Rosenberg Castle” with the crown jewels, the National State Gallery (Staten’s museum for kunst) and “Louisiana” the Modern Art State Gallery.

The name “Hans Christian Anderson” is a familiar one around the world.  He was born on Funen Island in Odense on April 2, 1805. For 70 years he lived to write famous children’s books and fairy tails.  Books like “The Little Mermaid,” “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Princess on a Pea,” “The Constant Tin Soldier,” and the “Nightingale” are known to children everywhere.  He had that unique talent of humanizing animals.

July 4th Festival.  Copenhagen in one of the few places who celebrates the U.S. Independence Day.  Danes, Americans, and Danish-Americans gather for picnics and outdoor entertainment and speeches. It is known as the “Rebild Bakker Fest: as it takes place in the location of Rebild Bakker and always reaffirms the very strong relationship between our countries for hundreds of years.

Land Area: 42,394 sq km                                
Population:  5,468,120 (July 2007 est.)
Capital City: Copenhagen                                        
Language:  Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority)
note: English is the predominant second language
Religion:  Evangelical Lutheran 95%, other Christian (includes Protestant and Roman Catholic) 3%, Muslim 2%
Form of Government: Constitutional monarchy
Economy:The Danish economy has in recent years undergone strong expansion fueled primarily by private consumption growth, but also supported by exports and investments. This thoroughly modern market economy features high-tech agriculture, up-to-date small-scale and corporate industry, extensive government welfare measures, comfortable living standards, a stable currency, and high dependence on foreign trade.
Export: machinery and instruments, meat and meat products, dairy products, fish, pharmaceuticals, furniture, windmills

Source: The World Factbook - Denmark