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Kildegerd Gymnasium
April 29, 1998
This if for all of you who will not have Benni visiting you. Hopefully we can also send three images to here, which are some of those that we put into Benni's photo book. We will try to send them in separate messages, but may not succeed, as the files may be too big. Below you can see the written material we will put into Benni's box. We hope you will have some questions to ask us! We will be happy to answer.
Class 7b and Mrs. Lisbeth Roeder 
Kildegerd Gymnasium
Kildegerdsvej 87
2900 Hellerup
Copenhagen
Denmark
Material which will travel along with Benni, among other things:
Hello, we are from Denmark. As you may know Denmark is a small country in the North of Europe. There are about 5.2 mio inhabitants. 1.3 mio. live in Copenhagen, where we also live. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. Denmark consists of Jutland, Funen, Zealand, Bornholm and some hundred smaller islands. Most of Denmark is surrounded by the sea, and we have many beaches. 2/3"s of Denmark's inhabitants live by the coast. The highest spot in Denmark is Yding Skovhxj, which is 173 meters above sea level. H.C. Andersen is a very famous writer and he comes from Denmark. He has for instance made a fairy tale which is named "The Ugly Duckling". Denmark is also known for its bacon and beer, Carlsberg.
Our school, Kildegerd gymnasium:
Our school is a private school with about 700 students. It is very big, and it has 2 stories and a basement. There is a library, and a big cafeteria where the we can buy food in the breaks. The school also has a doctor (not always there) and a dentist. Once a year we have a concert called "Mixturkoncert ' (directly translated from Danish: Mixture Concert); then we can come and listen to music performed by students. We have also got something called "Toffee Day" (Danish: Karameldag). That is when the school leavers from our senior high school dress up and throw toffees to the other students, and water balloons, and sometimes disgusting things like shaving foam. They do this on their last day of school at the beginning of May before their exams start. The school has a camp, it is an old farm, but there are no animals. The stables have been made into dormitories. There is a wood behind the camp. Every class can go to the camp once a year.
Our class:
We are 23 students in our 7th grade. We have 9 teachers. Now 7 of us learn German and the last 16 French besides learning English. We have Danish, English (great), German, French, physics, math, biology, geography, word processing class, cookery, history, and P.E, Danes must have at least 9 years of schooling, but most have more than that.
We have got a little classroom on the ground floor. In our class we sit two and two together at each table. We have a telephone in our class. It is a special phone which only calls the headmaster"s office. We have three maps, one with Denmark, one with Europe and one with the World. We have six small cupboards, a blackboard and a notice board.
In the breaks we are allowed to be inside. That"s nice, then we don"t have to stand outside the locked door until the teachers come like we had to when we were younger. But now the small kids may also be indoors in the breaks, except for the lunch break. They have to go outside when they have eaten their lunch.
A little about the history of Denmark:
In the Stone Age people in Denmark were hunters and farmers.
At the National Museum in Copenhagen you can see "Solvognen" (the "Sun Carriage") and two lures from the Bronze Age. "Solvognen" tells us that there must have been a sun cult among farmers, and the lures are the oldest music instruments of the world. They are from about 800-700 BC.
In the Iron Age people learnt to make more and stronger weapons and better ships. Then they went to war against England and Normandy (about 1000 AD), the so-called "Viking raids". In three places in Denmark Viking castles have been found and reconstructed.
Our first king was Gorm den Gamle (Gorm is a name, den Gamle means: the Old). There were some kings before him, but they were only kings of parts of Denmark, and he was the first Christian king. Before that we had Nordic Mythology. Gorm den Gamle ruled in the first half of the 10th century. Then came his son, Harald Bletand (Harald is a name, Bletand means: Blue Tooth), who had a big runic stone (now a sight in Southern Jutland) put up in remembrance of his parents and himself, who was the one to unite Denmark and make the Danes become Christian. He put the stone next to one which his father had had put up in the memory of his wife, Thyra. The runic alphabet came from Southern and Middle Europe, the signs/letters have straight lines which make them easy to carve into stones. About the year of 1100 the runes were replaced by the Latin alphabet.
Christianity resulted in about 2000 village churches being built, which now characterize the landscape of Denmark.
The row of kings and queens is from Gorm den Gamle to our Queen Margrethe the 2nd, there have been 54 of them. The most famous ones are Queen Margrethe the 1st, who was very clever and who in 1357 united Denmark, Norway, and Sweden to one kingdom, and Christian the 4th, who had very many famous buildings made (e.g. a castle in Copenhagen called Rosenborg and the Round Tower in Copenhagen).
Norway belonged to Denmark from 1380 until 1814, the south of Sweden until 1658, and Slesvig-Holsten (now belonging to Germany) until 1864. Participation in various wars led to the decrease of our country. We did not participate in the First World War, during the Second World War Denmark was occupied by Germany. We participated in the foundation of the UN, we are a member of NATO and of the EU.
An important legend:
Valdemar Sejr (Valdemar is a name, Sejr means: Victory) was king of Denmark from 1202 to 1241. He went to war against Estonia to make the people become Christian. While he was fighting, an arch bishop was standing on a mountain holding his arms up towards the sky, and as long as he managed to do that, the Danes were winning, but when he got tired and let his arms down, the pagans seemed to be winning. Then all of a sudden a miracle happened. When the Danes were about to lose, a banner fell down from the sky, a red banner with a white cross, and this gave the Danes their victory. The precious banner was hidden for a long time, and people thought that where it was, victory would be certain. The banner was named "Dannebrog". It is now our flag.
Another legend:
About the year of 800 there was a king in Denmark called Gudfred. He had a son whose name was Holger. His father gave him to the French king because he was in debt to him. When Holger came to France, the king told him that if his father had not paid the debt within one year, Holger would die. After three years Denmark would be destroyed. Five years passed. The French had forgotten about the deal with Denmark, but suddenly they remembered. Holger should die and Denmark would be destroyed. Then suddenly the French castle where Holger was, was attacked by Saracens - and Holger saved all the French people. Today there is a statue of him in the casemates of Kronborg, a castle in Elsinore (Helsingoer), up north along the coast from Copenhagen. The legend says that Holger will be sitting there asleep until one day when Denmark needs him; then he will wake up!
The weather in Denmark :
We have a temperated coast climate. The weather is characterized by the position of our country, the Atlantic ocean in the West and the European continent in the East. February is very cold, -1 degree Centigrade on an average. July is our hottest month, 17 degrees Centigrade on an average. In one year we have 70-80 frosty days. We have lots of clouds, many in December. In May and June we have a lot of sun: 250 hours in each month. It rains a lot in August, about 80 mm.
In summer it is not very warm because of the winds from the West. In winter it is mild, also because of the winds from the West. But sometimes the wind will come from the East and then it will be very frosty. The lowest temperature measured is -32 degrees Centigrade. The highest is 36 degrees Centigrade.
Government:
Denmark is ruled by a parliament called "Folketinget" (= something like the House of the People), and a queen. There are 179 members of the parliament, 4 of them are from the Faroe Island and Greenland, which are parts of Denmark. There are 8 parties in "Folketinget", they need 2% of the votes to get into Parliament. There must be an election every fourth year, but usually we have more than that. We have to be 18 to vote. Usually 85-90% of the people vote, and the women got the right to vote in 1915. About 1/3 of the members in our parliament are women. The prime minister is chosen by the ruling parties and then accepted by the Queen. The country is divided into 14 "amter", which are divided into 277 smaller parts called "kommuner". Every fourth year there is an election. The leader of an "amt" and the leader of a "kommune" is a "borgmester" (=mayor).
Some customs:
Birthday:
We get presents and we celebrate all day long. We sing birthday songs and have birthday cake with candles in it. There are as many candles as the number of years we will be. This is the best day of the year. On our birthdays people are in a good mood. We give goodies to the other students and our class. One of the birthday songs that we sing is "Happy Birthday" and in the second verse we sing "How old are you now?". The person whose birthday it is, must then sing all alone "I'm 12 years today", or how old he/she might be.
"Fastelavn":
At "Fastelavn" in February we put on all sorts of stupid clothes. E.g. we dress up as princesses, cowboys, nurses, Batman, soldiers, rabbits, cats, or Indians. We sing songs and we have a special custom where we with a club hit a barrel which is hanging in a rope. The aim is to knock down the barrel. In the good old days there was a real cat in the barrel (cruelty!!!!!), but now we only have a paper cat on the outside of it. The one who knocks down the barrel will be "kattedronning" (Queen of Cats), and the one who knocks down the last board will be "kattekonge" (King of Cats). Sometimes there will be presents, goodies or fruit in the barrel. "Fastelavn" means Shrovetide.
"Sankt Hans" ( = Midsummer Day):
It is on the 23rd of June. This is longest day of the year. The old tradition is that we burn witches on big bonfires and we sing songs around the fire. We make a witch of a long stick and some old clothes for example.
The Queen's birthday:
When it is the Queen's birthday on the 16th of April, there will be many people in the square in front of her palace, " Amalienborg", in the center of Copenhagen. The people who are gathered there will carry Danish flags and shout "Hurrah", and the Queen will come out on the balcony and wave to them. She also drives through the City in a carriage drawn by horses.
``Gfkkebrev":
A "gfkkebrev" is a letter we cut out in beautiful shapes and on which we write a poem or rhyme. Then we send it to a friend or someone we care about, but without writing our name on it! It is done in the time before Easter. The receiver must guess who sent the letter. If he/she does not guess right, he/she must give the sender an Easter egg. But if he/she does guess who sent the "gfkkebrev", the sender must give the receiver an Easter egg. Usually we put a snowdrop in the letter, as in Danish a snowdrop is called "vinterGFK". Besides the verb ``gfkke" means "tease". We have enclosed an example of a "gfkkebrev". They may also be cut so they have the shape of an egg for example.
Popular food:
The most popular food among young people in Denmark is burgers (from McDonald's), spaghetti, and pizza. "Frikadeller" (meat balls) are very popular among people of all ages. Almost a national dish is herrings; we have got all sorts of herrings.
Some important holidays:
Christmas holidays:
A very important holiday in Denmark is Christmas, and in Denmark we call it ``jul". Christmas Eve is on the 24th of December. When December starts we decorate our houses with little alfs/pixies, they wear little red, peaked caps and red blouses and grey trousers. There are several kinds of advent calenders (we call them "julekalendere" = Christmas calendars). There some on TV, and then there are those with small presents and those where you open a door every day of December. On Christmas Eve we have a big dinner. Some people have duck and others have goose or roast pork, and some maybe turkey. For dessert we get something that is called "ris a la mande". It tastes great! Or else we get something called "risengrxd" (= rice porridge ). Ris a la mande is made from from risengrxd. After we have eaten, we "dance" (walk!) around the Christmas tree and sing Christmas carols, and then we open presents. We open our presents on the 24th and not the 25 th of December. We have Christmas holidays for about 2 weeks. But public holidays are only the 24th, 25th, 26th of December and the 1st of January.
Easter holidays:
When it is Easter, we decorate our homes with painted eggs and Easter bunnies. Most students have a week and 1day off, but other people only have 5 days, including a weekend. Kids most often get Easter eggs with chocolate, candy, or money.
Summer holidays:
We have summer holidays for 6 weeks. Some of us go travelling abroad and others stay home. We go to the beach almost every day in the summer if the weather is good what it usually is. Many people have a cabin where they go to in the summer holidays and other holidays, or perhaps at the weekends. It can be in Denmark or in other countries.
Autumn holidays:
The autumn holiday lasts one week of October (week no. 42 of the year). Some people travel and others stay home. There are no traditions for this holiday, and it is not a public holiday, just a school holiday. If people do not have to work, they stay home and have fun with family and friends.
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