Thyra

PARSLEY /PERSILLE

2021-05-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

Spice Herb

Petroselinum crispum

Parsley Petroselinum crispum is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region and naturalized elsewhere in Europe - it is widely cultivated as a herb, a spice and a vegetable. The Latin name Petroselinum means "that which grows upon a cliff". Parsley was in ancient time shipped from Egypt to Greece and brought on to the Romans who brought it with them to Middle Europe. Today it is cultivated all over the world. Two main groups of parsley used as herbs are curly leaf and the Italian flat leaf group (Petroselinum crispum neapolitanum). The flat leaf group more closely resembles the natural wild species.

In Denmark parsley is not a part of our wild flora but it is often seen feral from cultivating. Parsley is the spice herb most commonly used in Scandinavia.

The fresh look of the plant means that it can be cultivated among the flowers in the garden and it is a fine border plant in the kitchen garden. The ancient Greek gardens were often framed with a border of parsley. Flat-leaved parsley is preferred by some gardeners as it is easier to cultivate, it is more tolerant of both rain and sunshine and has a stronger flavor, while curley leaf parsley is preferred by others because of its more decorative appearance in garnishing. A third type, sometimes grown in southern Italy, has thick leaf stems resembling celery.

Devil, Fanefjord, Møn /GB

Parsley is biennial, the second year arrive lots of umbels with yellowgreen flowers and with the characteristic two-piece fruits. After the blooming season the leaves have a bitter taste. Parsley is easy to cultivate but it takes 7-8 weeks before you see a hint of something above ground. In the old days it was said that it took such a long time because the little seeds had to go seven times to and from the devil to ask permission to get up. Each tour took one week. But when Christianity arrived all the poor little seeds had to go seven times to and from the pope before they could get up through the soil.

The seeds can be sowed directly in the earth or in pots in spring. Some give the advice to put the seeds in lukewarm water for 24 hours before sowing. The seeds have a bitter taste and are not suited for food. Parsley does not require the big care, but the rows with the new plants must be kept free of weed and the earth must be loose If the parsley stands in a very sunny spot it is necessary to water them regularly. Parsley should never be cultivated in the same place two years in a row.

You can start to pluck the leaves as soon as the plant has achieved a fair size. If the plants get enough water they will grow well. Parsley tolerates low temperatures well and you will be able to pluck fresh parsley until Christmas. The plant can overwinter but likes to be covered with sprigs of spruce in the cold period, then you'll have the old plant to pluck in early spring until it blooms and withers, while the newly sowed parsley grows up and is ready for use in early summer.

Before the cold weather arrives in the winter season the plant can be moved to a pot and brought inside. When the leaves are plucked regularly the plant will remain fine and bushy.

Kitchen:

A Greek proverb "to be in the parsley" means that you have just started something.
Parsley can be used as aroma and flavor enhancer in various dishes like vegetables, sauces, soups, stew and fish. Parsley reconciles all kinds of flavor so they go up in an artitstic unit. Parsley leaves and root should be used while fresh, they should not be kept more than two days before use. The leaves loose quickly the C-vitamin contents which is also reduced by cooking

Fines herbes is traditionally: estragon, parsley, chervil, chives.

Bouquet of herbs for bouillabaise: fennel, lovage, 1 stalk hyssop, parsley, thyme, basil, sage, a bay leaf, and a little whole allspice.

Parsley can be frozen or dried, when it is dried it is easy to crush in the hand. When drying parsley the leaves easily grow yellow if the drying proces is too long. It is better to dry the leaves in an open oven by 35 degrees The dried leaves are kept in a glass jar.

After a big meal a cup of parsley tea or a little parsley in vegetable juice is good. If you chew parsley after meals with garlic or onion you'll get a fresh breath .Fresh parsley is also suited for freezing. Put fx finely chopped parsley in the icecube tray and it is then ready to put into the sauce.

Poisonous:

The difference between parsley and hemlock: crushed hemlock has a very unpleasant odor resembling cat piss.

History:

Parsley is described in a Greek herbal in the 3rd century B.C. In the Middle Ages parsley was often called the Devil's herb. People were convinced it meant death if the plant was moved from its place. The ancient Greeks considered parsley a bad plant and as a symbol of death and therefore it was used in funeral rituals.

In Rome however parsley was very popular. A garland of parsley was said to stop drunkenness - and the Romans had already discovered its good qualities in the kitchen too.

In Greek mythology the hero Archemorus took part in the Istmian Games - religious festivals which were celebrated at the island Isthmos in honor of the god Poseidon. Archemorus was wounded and when the drops of blood fell to the ground the parsley grew up and a victory garland was made for him from the herb. The Greeks and Romans decorated themselves with festival garlands where bunches of parsley were braided together with other plants and flowers.

King Mithridates, king of Pontos, was a fine botanist who knew all poisonous plants. He murdered his own family with poison, but he was afraid of being poisoned himself, and he invented an effective antidote: thyme, coriander, rue and many other spice herbs and lots of parsley. Nero later improved the recipe.

Medicine:

The Romans gave the gladiators parsley before they had to go to fight in the arena - it had almost the same effect as the spinach had on Pop-eye whose arm muscles grew to the double !

Parsley was also used as a medicine plant in Antiquitiy, but Plinius warned however people against eating parsley beause it might make men and women unable to have children.

Plinius also wrote that the plant was useful to spread in a fish pond in order to cure sick fish.

Highly fragrant plants had a prominent place among the contraceptives and here was the origin of the brides' myrtle wreath, which should manifest that she no longer needed to drink parsley tea. Since parsley is strongly diuretic and contractive with a strong effect on the uterus, parsley oil was in the past used as a means to induce abortion, The frivolous girls' streets in Paris were called "The Parsley Streets".

Parsley is a useful drug as well as a well-tasting spice herb. In spite of some superstition parsley was highly appreciated in ancient times, also as an effective aphrodisiac. The doctors prescribed it in medicine for almost all everything. It was also in great demand as for gastronomy - and Galen said about 1800 years ago that it was a good and healthy herb to have in the garden. Culpeper said that parsley was ruled by Mercury who was the light messenger of the gods Later he became the protector of the highwaymen and the god of trade.

parsley root, wiki

In medicine it was especially the root and the seeds of the plant which were used. They were a good help in bladder diseases, urinary infections, dropsy, kidney disorders. Soldiers in WWI, who suffered from kidney disorders associated with diarrhea, had prescribed parsley. Parsley's etheric oil contains apiol which irritates the kidneys and therefore works strongly diuretic. It is also used in rheumatic diseases, since it works conducive on the secretion of accumulated waste products in the body.

As said above parsley is strongly diuretic and well suited for the treatment of urinary infections and for water retention, parsley stimulates the uric acid excretion and is good for gout, it increases the amount of breast milk and works stimulating in the musculature of the womb. It is the cause using parsley in migraine, asthma and other conditions which have to do with cramps in the smooth musculature. The substance apiol, which is a part of the etheric oil, works however specifically stimulating on the musculature in the uterus. Apiol is by far the highest concentration of the seeds and pregnant women should not take parsley seeds or compositions made from these.

Parsley , wiki

Parsley was like uniper berries a means against edemas and a good means against long bladder infections The parsley seeds were used in a decoct against malaria, and it was used as a painkilling medicine in neurological disorders. The fresh leaves were put on tumors and insect bites.It was also used in problems with prostate after an inflammation. A mix of chopped parsley, salt and oil was used against toothache.

The fruits and the root are still used in folk medicine against kidney disorders and dysmenorrhea, intestinal colic and as a diuretic.

Warning: Since the fruits - because of the apiol-content - in large doses and for a long times' use can give severe liver damage, intestinal inflammations and even paralysis of the central nervous system they must be used with utmost care,

Vitamines

Parsley is extremely valuable as a nutrient.
Lots of vitamin A, it is also one of the most valuable C-vitamin plants which contains almost twice as much ascorbin acid as black currant. Besides this it has also considerable amount of B vitamin . Parsley has seven times more A vitamin than carrots and four times more than in Spinach and it is very rich in minerals. Parsley is also rich in iron and strengthens the blood.

Cosmetics

Decoct of parsley as face water or upon protruding veins.
Parsley juice used to bleach freckles.

Macerated in water used as a hair rinse.

Source:
Anemette Olesen: Krydderurter i Haven; Annemarta Borgen: Krydderurtehaven på Knatten; Helbredende urter, Politiken ; Li Hillker: Naturens egen lægebog; Magna Leth: Havens Krydderurter; Lægeplanter i farver, Politiken ; Hans Wohlmuth: Lægeplanter og Krydderurter til husbehov.

foto: grethe bachmann
foto: wikipedia

A Medieval Banquet at the Bishop's House

2021-05-02T00:25:00.002-07:00

Spøttrup, a bishop's castle, North Jutland

The chancellor started the banquet by saying grace, and later the curate read from the Holy Scripture. During dinner was entertainment by folk musicians with fifes and drums and some appeareances by the jester. It was a principal concept to let music and other cultural experiences accompany a high gastronomic cuisine. The ten-course dinner was served in several dining rooms in the hishop's house. The bishop himself was dining in the biggest room ('borgstuen') together with his highly trusted staff and special guests. Only the bishop was served every course on a daily basis, but on a big festival all courses were shared by everyone.

Table cloth in several layers covered the tables in the dining rooms. The service were mainly ceramics or wood and eventual pewter, and the cutlery were knives, spoons and the fingers, since the fork had not yet arrived. Glass ware was seldom in use by the Norse Tables, as people had a bad habit of crushing the valuable glass after drinking. A cupbearer, called the 'Kredens', had the job to cut meat and bread - and also to taste food and drink, before it was served to the bishop and the party. A comprehensive domestic staff was present at a ceremony like this; they were young men from the nobility. This was a part of their good breeding in order to be able to serve Royal visitors and other VIPs in the most distinguished way in their own manor one day.

The water bowl for dipping hands at some special parties today is not a new invention. During and after meals servants carried basins with rose water and towels for the party to have their hands washed and dried. Between meals several festive sights were shown to the guests. Servants carried along magnificent show dishes, large decorated centrepieces with peacocks and other animals, together with decorated patés with ingenious lids, indicating the contents.

Example of a menu:
1) spit-roast leg of lamb (spices: thyme, sage, parsley, cinnamon, garlic, wine vinegar, salt)
2) wine soup (egg yolks, sugar, grated nutmeg, saffron, white wine, a stick of cinnamon, grated ginger, butter roasted bread squares)
3) boiled beed (salt, vinegar, chopped sage)
4) poched eggs
5) fried venison tenderloin (fresh ginger, pepper, salt, butter, venisonstock, white bread without crust)
6) boiled pike ( Hamburg parsley, parsley, white bread without crust, white wine, white vinegar, fresh grated ginger, white pepper, crushed cinnamon, sugar, cloves and saffron)
7) paté venison (deer shoulder, fat, salt, black pepper, fresh ginger)
8) fried pigeons ( butter, vinegar, red wine, fresh ginger, a stick of cinnamon, black pepper, sugar, salt, saffron, white bread without crust)
9) fresh cheese
10) fig dessert ( dried figs, evt. mead, white bread without crust, almonds, currants, fresh grated ginger, a stick of cinnamon, sugar, saffron, whipped cream)

For some courses were served vegetables, i.e. all sorts of root and leguminous fruits and cabbage, and leek, onion, garlic. Some of the bread, served for religious feasts were small 'sacred' breads.

Spøttrup, a bishop's castle, North Jutland

Herbs and Spices.
Common medicine plants in Denmark in the Middle Ages were angelica, parsley, chives, horse-radish, Danish cumin, mustard, dill, fennel, cress, dandelion etc. Some other herbs, used to grow in warmer climate, arrived with the monks, who cultivated them in the closter gardens from about 1100s; they were rosemary, basil, lavender, hyssop, savory, marjoram, oregano, currant, sage, thyme, borage, curled mint, peppermint and lovage. The Oriental spices arrived to the North via the Hansa. Black pepper seems to have been most widely spread. Bachelors worked for the Hansa selling pepper and other spices, and they were not allowed to marry. From this custom origins the Danish expression 'Pebersvend' (Pepper Boy). The word Pebersvend is still in use in Denmark, and if a guy is not yet married on his 30th birthday, then his presents might still be some fine pepper pots.

All these herbs and spices are mentioned in the Danish physician Henrik Harpestræng's herbal book, but there is no doubt that only very well-off people could afford such luxury. In the Middle Ages pepper and other Oriental spices were very precious, and spices like saffron , cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, ginger etc. were imported to Denmark in a limited quantity. In the Danish king Christoffer III of Bayern's court accounts from 1447 is told about some purchase of precious spices for a festival.

The doctors at court were very important. From medieval courts at Richard II of England and Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, is described how the doctor at court had to take care of the prince and his family's good health.The doctor and the cooks prepared the food together, and the choice of medicinal herbs played a big part, since they contributed to give the course an intentional balance. During dinner the doctor stood by the prince's table, where he gave instructions as to the proper composition concerning the well-being of the prince.

Theriak.
But there were also other reasons for taking care of the prince and other important persons by the dinner table. A serious problem was the safety around food and drinks, as the period was known for poisoning royalties and other significant people. The 'Kredens' /cupbearer had to taste all food and drinks, before they were served. A preventive means, an antidote, Theriak, was placed upon the table in a fine vessel, often formed like a ship and made in silver, but also the salt and pepper were being watched over. The salt vessel had to be covered, and between meals it was kept in the 'Silver Chamber'.

Theriak was an Arabic invention from the late 1100s, which is also described in the Danish physician Henrik Smith's herbal book. It consisted of birthwort (Aristolochia) , gentian, laurel, the best and noblest myrrh and honey. The original Arabic theriak contained snake, but this was replaced by crushed powder from the strong and poisonous herb birthwort. (Danish name: slangerod =snake's root) It was also a common advise to use the powder of the root against snake bites and as an emetic. In the morning it was recommended to take theriak in the size of a hazelnut. This would protect humans from plague etc., and it was said in general to be suitable for both man and beast.

Medicine puré:
Some medicine puré mentioned in a medical adviser like 'Conserva' and 'Electuarum' and 'Latverge' (German) showed to be a forerunner for today's assorted chocolates and other goodies. In Queen Christina's court accounts from 1510-12 was bought cinnamon- and ginger candy, almond- and anis candy etc. Henrik Smith's collection of recipes from 1546 gave common people the opportunity to make these goodies themselves. A medicine puré could be barley groat puré with figs and raisins, cooked with water into a consistency like a thick syrup, and when cool, sprayed with grounded cinnamon - and maybe served with crême fraiche!

Source: Bente Leed: Danskernes mad i middelalderen, 1999.

photo Spøttrup: grethe bachmann

Labels: clergy, folk medicine, herbs, Middle

2021-04-29T02:33:00.004-07:00

Hello dear followers and readers!

A whole year has gone now with pandemi and corona and vaccination. This has really been and still is a tough period for all of us and I can only hope that we are moving forward to a better and more promising time.

I myself - being old enough - have got two vaccinations with Pfizer.

I hope that I can find and write some interesting articles for you this year. There is fx so much going on about natural environment right now - but also much much more exciting stuff!

Have a nice day!

Grethe Bachmann/ aka "Thyra".

Mistletoe/Mistelten

2020-12-08T10:26:00.001-08:00

Mistletoe/Mistelten Viscum album
photo Paris, October 2009: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan Foto

Flora and Fauna
The Old Norse word for mistletoe is mistiltein. The evergreen 20-70 cm high bushy plant is a parasite, in Denmark found especially on apple, hawthorn, poplar and birch - the stalks are bifurcated and articulated with oblong leatherlike leaves, the small yellow-green flowers are in the bifurcate-corners, the berries contain a sticky juice. It is planted in many gardens and parks, in Knuthenborg park at Lolland (southern DK-island) is a large growth - from here are sold twigs for gardeners and flower-shops at Christmas time.The mistletoe immigrated about 7000 years ago. Pollen analyses show that the mistletoe was common in DK in egetiden (the oak-period), but declined between Bronze and Iron age - it might later have disappeared, but was brought back in the Middle Ages with the improved sweet-appletrees from Middle Europe. The plant was considered a sickly excrescence and was therefore destroyed in many places by people in present times.

Folklore
The word Mistletoe is synonym with the Greek word mysterion, and the plant mistletoe was always wrapped in superstition, mystery and fascinating imaginations. It had a symbolic significance connected to purity and innocence, and it was able to keep away evil, misfortune and witchcraft - therefore people hung it over their doors by midwinter to protect themselves against the evil demons who feared the Green - but the evergreen plant was also a symbol of people's welcome to the increasing light after winter solstice.

Elmer Boyd Smith 1902, Balder

Although many sources say that kissing under the mistletoe is a purely English custom, there is another explanation for its origin that extends into Norse mythology. It's the story of a loving if overprotecting mother. The Norse god, Balder, was the best loved of all the gods. His mother was Frigga, goddess of love and beauty. She loved her son so much that she wanted to make sure that no harm would come to him. So she went through the world, securing promises from everything that sprang from the four elements, fire, water, air and earth - that they would not harm her beloved Balder. But then Loki turned up, a sly, evil spirit, and he found the loophole. The loophole was the mistletoe. He made an arrow from its wood, and then he revealed his nasty and treacherous mind. He took the arrow to Hoder, Balder's brother, who was blind. Guiding Hoder's hand, Loki directed the arrow at Balder's heart, and he fell dead. Frigga's tears became the mistletoe's berries. In the version of the story with a happy ending, Balder is restored to life, and Frigga is so grateful that she reverses the reputation of the offending plant - making it a symbol of love and promising to bestow a kiss upon anyone who passes under it.

Mistel (Mistil) is together with tidsel (tistil) and a little kiste (kistil = box) mentioned in a magic formula upon a rune stone found at Gørlev in northwest Sjælland. A branch placed in the stock of the gun abolished a witchcraft which caused no shot to hit target - at Christmas and New Year's Eve the plant was hung upon fruit trees, which then would bear much fruit. The plant became a symbol of purity and innocence, to kiss under the mistletoe was a sign of love. The girl who did not get a kiss under the mistletoe, would not be a bride the following year. On Christmas Eve it was allowed to kiss every girl who came to you under a mistletoe. The custom origins from England. In the year 1888 the mistletoe was used for the first time in a Danish Christmas - and since then it was often used as a Christmas symbol. Misteltoe is especially imported from Italy.

The folklore and the magical powers of this plant blossomed over the centuries. To burn the herb banished evil, and a magic quality like invisibility was achieved by wearing the herb around the neck. A sprig placed in a baby's cradle would prevent the child from being mixed up or abducted by the fairies. Put under the pillow at night mistletoe promoted sleep and beautiful dreams.

Druids cutting Mistletoe, Henri Paul Motte 1895

From the Celtic tradition the Mistletoe was known as the golden bough, and it was held sacred by both the Celtic Druids and the Norse. The plant was used in forms of immortality conditions and in order to open locked doors, and the Druids used mistletoe in a very special ceremony, held around the sixth day after the New Moon in the new year. The Druids had to cut the mistletoe from a holy oak tree with a golden sickle and let it fall down upon a white cloth. This scenery is also known from Asterix! The priests then divided the branches into many sprigs and distributed them to people, who hung them over their doorways as protection against lightning strikes and other evils. The power of the mistletoe lasted until the Twelfth Night.

Medicine
Mistletoe was once called All-heal, and it was used in folk medicines to cure many ills. Wearing a ring cut in mistletoe prevented illness, and women wore the herb in order to conceive. The use of mistletoe in Denmark goes back to what was written in Antiquity about the plant in southern Europe, where it was considered to be fertilizing. Giving a sprig to the first cow calving after New Year would protect the entire herd. The plant was also known to give good luck in hunting, and if enemies by chance met in a forest where mistletoe grew, they laid down their arms and maintained a truce until next day. If it was plucked in March at new moon and hung around the child's neck it would protect the child against epilepsy. Simon Paulli said in 1648: crushed mistletoe alone or mixed with peony seeds and roots drunk in lily-of-the-valley-water on every change of the moon against epilepsy - some women added gold dust filed from heritage or from their wedding ring - and they felt protected from this terrible and bad disease.

Others.
The plant was considered to counteract nightmares and protect sheep against Fasciola hepatica. Stalks, leaves and berries were written into the Danish Pharmacopoeia in 1772-1850; in Danish pharmacies was still in 1922 used a formula collection with mistletoe, mixed in a means against epilepsy, and "Markgrevindens pulver" (the powder of a countess) was in pharmacies as late as in 1950. From the berries were, cooked together with linseed oil and white spirit, made a birdlime catching little birds, (now forbidden). And cooked with lye-salt the berries gave a good soap.

Source: V.J.Brøndegaard, Folk og Flora, Dansk Etnobotanik, 3, 1979

November Images

2020-11-03T05:06:00.002-08:00

To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
      To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
      For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
   Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
   Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
   Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
      Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
   Steady thy laden head across a brook;
   Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
      Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
   Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
   And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
   Among the river sallows, borne aloft
      Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
   Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
   The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
      And gathering swallows twitter in the skies

John Keats (1795-1821)

Alphonse Mucha and Art Noveau

2020-01-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

Mucha,selfportrait

Alfons Maria Mucha 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939, known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist, living in Paris during the Art Noveau period, best known for his distinctly stylized and decorative theatrical posters . His illustrations, decorative panels, and designs, became among the best-known images of the period.

Alphonse Mucha was born in the small town of Ivancíce in Moravia, now a region of the Czech republic. He showed an early talent for drawing. His father was a court usher, his mother a miller's daughter. In 1871 Mucha became a chorister at the cathedral of Brno, where he received his secondary school education. His singing abilities allowed him to continue his musical education at the Gymnázium Brno in the Moravian capital of Brno, but his true ambition was to become an artist, and in 1878 he applied without success to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, but was rejected and advised "to find a different career".

The Slav Epic. King Premysl Ottokar of Bohemia

In 1880 he travelled to Vienna and found employment as a scenery painter for Vienna theaters. Here he discovered the museums, churches, palaces and especially theaters and also Hans Makart, who created murals for palaces and government buildings in Vienna. His style turned Mucha in that artistic direction and influenced his later work. He also began experimenting with photography, which became an important tool in his later work.

Later in 1881 he went by train to Mikulov in southern Moravia, and began making portraits, decorative art and lettering for tombstones. His work was appreciated, and he was commissioned by Count Eduard Khuen Belasi, a local landlord and nobleman, to paint a series of murals for his residence at Emmahof Castle, and at his ancestral home in the Tyrol, Gandegg Castle. The paintings at Emmahof were destroyed by fire in 1948, but his early versions in small format exist and are now on display at the museum in Brno. He showed his skill at mythological themes, the female form, and lush vegetal decoration.

From Museum in

Prague

Count Belasi decided to bring Mucha to Munich for formal training, and paid his tuition and cost of living at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. He moved there in September 1885. He became friends with a number of notable Slavic artists there, including the Czechs Karel Vitezslav Masek, Ludek Marold and the Russian Leonid Pasternak, father of the famous novellist Boris Pasternak. He founded a Czech students' club, and contributed political illustrations to nationalist publications in Prague. In 1886 he received a notable commission for a painting of the Czech patron Saints Cyril and Methodius, from a group of Czech emigrants, including some of his relatives, who had founded a Roman Catholic church in the town of Oisek, North Dakota. He was happy with the artistic environment of Munich, but found he could not remain there forever; the Bavarian authorities imposed increasing restrictions upon foreign students and residents. With Count Belasi's financial support, he decided in 1887 to move to Paris.In Paris, in 1888, he enrolled in the Academie Julian - and the following year, 1889, Academie Colarossi. His first professors at the Academie Julian were Jules Lefebre, who specialized in female nudes and allegorical paintings, and Jean Paul Laurens, whose specialties were historical and religious paintings in a realistic and dramatic style. At the end of 1889, as he approached the age of thirty, his patron, Count Belasi, decided that Mucha had received enough education and ended his subsidies.

Museum: Prophetess

In Paris, Mucha found shelter with the help of the large Slavic community. He lived in a boarding house called the Crémerie at 13 rue de la Grand Chaumerie, whose owner, Charlotte Caron, was famous for sheltering struggling artists; when needed she accepted paintings or drawings in place of rent. Mucha decided to follow the path of another Czech painter he knew from Munich, Ludek Marold, who had made a successful career as an illustrator for magazines. In 1890 and 1891, he began providing illustrations for the weekly magazine La Vie popular, which published novels in weekly segments. His illustration for a novel by Guy de Maupassant, called The Useless Beauty, was on the cover of the 22 May 1890 edition.

His illustrations began to give him a regular income. He was able to buy a harmonium to continue his musical interests and a camera, which used glass-plate negatives. He took pictures of himself and his friends, and also regularly used it to compose his drawings. He became friends with Paul Gauguin, and shared a studio with him for a time when Gauguin returned from Tahiti in the summer of 1893. In late autumn 1894 he also became friends with the playwright August Strindberg, with whom he had a common interest in philosophy and mysticism. Four of his illustrations, including one depicting the death of Frederic Barbarossa, were chosen for display at the 1894 Paris Salon of Artists. He received a medal of honor, his first official recognition.

At the end of 1894 his career took a dramatic and unexpected turn when he began to work for French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt. As Mucha later described it, on 26 December Bernhardt made a telephone call to Maurice de Brunhoff, the manager of the publishing firm Lemercier which printed her theatrical posters, ordering a new poster for the continuation of the play Gismonda. The play, by Victorien Sardou, had already opened with great success on 31 October 1894 at the Theatre de la Renaissance, on the Boulevard Saint-Martin. Bernardt decided to have a poster made to advertise the prolongation of the theatrical run after the Christmas break and insisting it be ready by 1 January 1897.

When Bernhardt called, Mucha happened to be at the publishing house correcting proofs. He already had experience painting Bernhardt; he had made a series of illustrations of her performing in Cleopatra for Costume au Théâtre in 1890. When Gismonda opened in October 1894, Mucha had been commissioned by the magazine Le Gaulois to make a series of illustrations of Bernhardt in the role for a special Christmas supplement, which was published at Christmas 1894, for the high price of fifty centimes a copy.

Brunhoff asked Mucha to quickly design the new poster for Bernhardt. The poster was more than life-size; a little more than two meters high, with Bernhardt in the costume of a Byzantine noblewoman, dressed in an orchid headdress and floral stole, and holding a palm branch in the Easter procession near the end of the play. One of the innovative features of the posters was the ornate rainbow-shaped arch behind the head, almost like a halo, which focused attention on her face; this feature appeared in all of his future theater posters. Probably because of a shortage of time, some areas of the background were left blank instead of his usual decoration. The only background decoration were the Byzantine mosaic tiles behind her head. The poster featured extremely fine draftsmanship and delicate pastel colors, unlike the typical brightly-colored posters of the time. The top of the poster, with the title, was richly composed and ornamented, and balanced the bottom, where the essential information was given in the shortest possible form; just the name of the theater.

The poster appeared on the streets of Paris on 1 January 1895 and caused an immediate sensation. Bernhardt was pleased by the reaction; she ordered four thousand copies of the poster in 1895 and 1896, and gave Mucha a six-year contract to produce more. With his posters all over the city, Mucha found himself famous quite suddenly.

Following Gismonda, Bernardt switched to a different printer, F. Champenois, who, like Mucha, was put under contract to work for Bernhardt for six years. Champenois had a large printing house on Boulevard Saint Michel which employed three hundred workers, with twenty steam presses. He gave Mucha a generous monthly salary in exchange for the rights to publish all his works. With his increased income, Mucha was able to move to a three-bedroom apartment with a large studio inside a large historic house at 6 rue du Val-de-Grace originally built by Francois Mansart.

Mucha designed posters for each successive Bernhardt play, beginning with a reprise of one of her La Tosca. In addition to posters, he designed theatrical programs, sets, costumes, and jewelry for Bernhardt. The enterprising Bernhardt set aside a certain number of printed posters of each play to sell to collectors.
Early great successes, la Dame aux Camelias (September 1896), followed by Lorenzaccio (1896); Medea (1898);la Tosca (1898) and Hamlet (1899).

The success of the Bernhardt posters brought Mucha commissions for advertising posters. He designed posters for JOB cigarette papers, Ruinart Champagne, Lefèvre-Utile biscuits, Nestlé baby food, Idéal Chocolate, the Beers of the Meuse, Moët-Chandon champagne, Trappestine brandy, and Waverly and Perfect bicycles. With Champenois, he also created a new kind of product, a decorative panel, a poster without text, purely for decoration. They were published in large print runs for a modest price. The first series was The Seasons, published in 1896, depicting four different women in extremely decorative floral settings representing the seasons of the year. In 1897 he produced an individual decorative panel of a young woman in a floral setting, called Reverie, for Champenois.

He also designed a calendar with a woman's head surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. The Seasons series was followed by The Flowers The Arts (1898), The Times of Day (1899), Precious Stones (1900), and The Moon and the Stars (1902). Between 1896 and 1904 Mucha created over one hundred poster designs for Champenois. These were sold in various formats, ranging from expensive versions printed on Japanese paper or vellum, to less expensive versions which combined multiple images, to calendars and postcards. His posters focused almost entirely on beautiful women in lavish settings with their hair usually curling in arabesque forms and filling the frame.

His poster for the railway line between Paris and Monaco-Monte-Carlo (1897) did not show a train or any identifiable scene of Monaco or Monte-Carlo; it showed a beautiful young woman in a kind of reverie, surrounded by swirling floral images, which suggested the turning wheels of a train.

The magazine La Plume made a special edition devoted to his work, and his exhibition traveled to Vienna, Prague, Munich, Brussels, London, and New York, giving him an international reputation.

The Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, famous as the first grand showcase of the Art Noveau, gave Mucha an opportunity to move in an entirely different direction, toward the large-scale historical paintings which he had admired in Vienna. It also allowed him to express his Czech patriotism. His foreign name had caused much speculation in the French press, which distressed him. Sarah Bernhardt stood up on his behalf, declaring in La France that Mucha was "a Czech from Moravia not only by birth and origin, but also by feeling, by conviction and by patriotism."

He applied to the Austrian government and received a commission to create murals for the Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Exposition. The temporary building built for the Exposition had three large halls with two levels, with a ceiling more than twelve meters high, and with natural light from skylights. His experience in theater decoration gave him the ability to paint large-scale paintings in a short period of time.

Mucha's original concept was a group of murals depicting the suffering of the Slavic inhabitants of the region caused by the occupation by foreign powers. The sponsors of the exhibit, the Austrian government, the new occupier of the region, declared that this was a little pessimistic for a World's Fair. He changed his project to depict a future society in the Balkans where Catholic and Orthodox Christians and Muslims lived in harmony together; this was accepted, and he began work. Mucha immediately departed for the Balkans to make sketches of Balkan costumes, ceremonies and architecture which he put into his new work. His decoration included one large allegorical painting, Bosnia Offers Her Products to the Universal Exposition, plus an additional set of murals on three walls, showing the history and cultural development of the region. He did discreetly include some images of the sufferings of the Bosnians under foreign rule which appear in the arched band at the top of the mural^.

As he had done with his theater work, he often took photographs of posed models, and painted from them, simplifying the forms. While the work depicted dramatic events, the overall impression given by the work was one of serenity and harmony. In addition to the murals, Mucha also designed a menu for the restaurant of the Bosnia Pavilion. His work appeared in many forms at the Exposition. He designed the posters for the official Austrian participation in the Exposition, the menu for the restaurant at the Bosnian pavilion, and menu for the official opening banquet. He produced displays for the jeweler Georges Fouquet and the perfume maker Houbigant, with statuettes and panels of women depicting the scents of rose, orange blossom, violet and buttercup. His more serious art works, including his drawings for Le Pater, were shown in the Austrian Pavilion and in the Austrian section of the grand palais.

His work at the Exposition earned him the title of Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph I from the Austrian government, the Legion of Honor from the French Government. During the course of the Exposition, Mucha proposed another unusual project. The Government of France planned to take down the Eiffel Tower, built especially for the Exposition, as soon as the Exposition ended. Mucha proposed that, after the Exposition, the top of the tower should be replaced by a sculptural monument to humanity be constructed on the pedestal. The tower proved to be popular with both tourists and Parisians, and the Eiffel Tower remained after the Exhibit end.

Mucha's many interests included jewelry. His 1902 book, Documents Decoratifs, contained plates of elaborate designs for brooches and other pieces, with swirling arabesques and vegetal forms, with incrustations of enamel and colored stones. In 1899 he collaborated with the jeweler Georges Fouquet to make a bracelet for Sarah Bernhardt in the form of a serpent, made of gold and enamel, similar to the costume jewelry Bernhardt wore in Medea. The Cascade pendant designed for Fouquet by Mucha )1900) is in the form of a waterfall, composed of gold, enamel, opals, tiny diamonds, paillons, and a barocco or misshapen pearl.

After the 1900 Exposition, Fouquet decided to open a new shop at 6 Rue Royale, across the street from the restaurant Maxim's. He asked Mucha to design the interior. The centerpieces of the design were two peacocks, the traditional symbol of luxury, made of bronze and wood with colored glass decoration. To the side was a shell-shaped fountain, with three gargoyles spouting water into basins, surrounding the statue of a nude woman. The salon was further decorated with carved moldings and stained glass, thin columents with vegetal designs, and a ceiling with molded floral and vegetal elements. It marked a summit of Art Nouveau decoration. The Salon opened in 1901, just as tastes were beginning to change, moving away from Art Nouveau to more naturalistic patterns. It was taken apart in 1923, and replaced by a more traditional shop design. Fortunately most of the original decoration was preserved, and was donated in 1914 and 1949 to the carnavalet museum in Paris, where it can be seen today.

Mucha's next project was a series of seventy-two printed plates of watercolors of designs, titled Documents Decoratifs, which were published in 1902 by the Librarie central des beaux-arts. They represented ways that floral, vegetal and natural forms could be used in decoration and decorative objects. In about 1900 he had begun to teach at the Academy Colarossi, where he himself had been a student when he first arrived in Paris.

In March 1904 he sailed for New York and the beginning of his first visit to the United States. His intent was to find funding for his grand project, The Slav Epic, which he had conceived during the 1900 Exposition. He had letters of introduction from Baroness Salomon de Rothschild. When he landed in New York, he was already a celebrity in the United States; his posters had been widely displayed during Sarah Bernhardt's annual American tours since 1896. He rented a studio near Central Park, made portraits, and gave interviews and lectures. . At one Pan-Slavic banquet in New York City, he met Charles Richard Crane, who commissioned Mucha to make a portrait of his daughter in a traditional Slavic style, and he shared Mucha's enthusiasm for a series of monumental paintings on Slavic history. He became Mucha's most important patron. When Mucha designed the Czechoslovak bills, he used his portrait of Crane's daughter as the model for Slavia for the 100 koruna bill.

He still had commissions to complete in France, and returned to Paris at the end of May 1904. In 1906, he returned to New York with his new wife, (Marie/Maria) Chytilová, whom he had married on 10 June 1906, in Prague. He remained in the U.S. until 1909. Their first child, Jaroslava, was born in New York in 1909. His principal income in the United States came from teaching; he taught illustration and design at the New York School of Applied Design for Women, at the Philadelphia School of Art for five weeks, and became a visiting professor at the Art institute of Chicago. In 1908 he also undertook one large decoration project, for the interior of the German Theater of New York; he produced three large allegorical murals, in the Art Nouveau style, representing Tragedy, Comedy and Truth. Besides the decoration, he made graphic designs, stage and costume designs.

Artistically, the trip was not a success; portrait painting was not his strong point, and the German Theater closed in 1909, one year after it opened. He made posters for the American actress mrs Leslie Carter (known as 'The American Sarah Bernhardt') and the Broadway star Maude Adams, but they were largely echoes of his Bernhardt posters. His finest work in America is often considered to be his portrait of Josephine Crane Bradley, the daughter of his patron, in the character of Slavia, in Slavic costume and surrounded by symbols from Slavic folklore and art. His contact with Crane made possible his most ambitious artistic project, the Slav Epic.

Mucha made a considerable income from his theatrical and advertising work, but he wished even more to be recognized as a serious artist and philosopher. He was a devoted Catholic, but also was interested in mysticism. In January 1898 he joined the Paris masonic lodge of the Grand Orient de France. . The Pater Noster (Lord's Prayer): why not give the words a pictorial expression?". He considered Le Pater to be his printed masterpiece, and referred to it in the New York Sun of 5 January 1900 as a work into which he had "put his soul".

In the second part of his career, at the age of 43, he returned to his homeland of Bohemia-Moravia region in Austria and devoted himself to painting a series of twenty monumental canvases known as The Slav Epic, depicting the history of all the slavic peoples of the world, which he painted between 1912 and 1926. In 1928, on the 10th anniversary of the independence of Czechoslovakia, he presented the series to the Czech nation. He considered it his most important work. It is now on display in Brno.

During his long stay in Paris, Mucha had never given up his dream of being a history painter, and to illustrate accomplishments of the Slavic peoples of Europe. He completed his plans for the Slav Epic in 1908 and 1909, and in February 1910, Charles Crane agreed to fund the project. In 1909, he had been offered a commission to paint murals on the interior of the new City Hall of Prague. He made the decision to return to his old country, still then part of the Austrian Empire.His first project in 1910 was the decoration of the reception room of the Mayor of Prague. This quickly became controversial, because local Prague artists resented the work being given to an artist they considered an outsider. A compromise was reached, whereby he decorated the Lord Mayor's Hall, while the other artists decorated the other rooms. He designed and created a series of large-scale murals for the domed ceiling and walls with athletic figures in heroic poses, depicting the contributions of Slavs to European history over the centuries, and the theme of Slavic unity. These paintings on the ceiling and walls were in sharp contrast to his Parisian work, and were designed to send a patriotic message.

The Lord Mayor's Hall was finished in 1911, and Mucha was able to devote his attention to what he considered his most important work; "The Slav Epic", a series of large painting illustrating the achievements of the Slavic peoples over history. The series had twenty paintings, half devoted to the history of the Czechs, and ten to other Slavic peoples. The canvases were enormous; the finished works measured six by eight meters. To paint them he rented an apartment and a studio in the Zbiroh Castle in western Bohemia, where he lived and worked until 1928.

While living in Paris Mucha had imagined the series as "light shining into the souls of all people with its clear ideals and burning warnings." To prepare the project he traveled to all the Slavic countries, from Russia and Poland to the Balkans, making sketches and taking photographs. He used costumed models and still and motion picture cameras to set the scenes, often encouraging the models to create their own poses. He used egg tempera paint, which, according to his research, was quicker-drying and more luminous, and would last longer.

He created the twenty canvases between 1912 and 1926. He worked throughout the First World War, when the Austrian Empire was at war with France, despite wartime restrictions, which made canvas hard to obtain. He continued his work after the war ended, when the new Republic of Czechoslovkia was created. The cycle was completed in 1928 in time for the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic.Under the conditions of his contract he donated his work to the city of Prague in 1928. The Epic was shown in Prague twice in his lifetime, in 1919 and 1928. After 1928 it was rolled up and put into storage. From 1963 until 2012 the series was on display in the chateau in Moravsky Krumlov in the South Moravian region in the Czech Republic. Since 2012 the series has been on display at the National Gallery's Veletrzni Palace in Prague.

While he was working on the Slavic Epic, he also did work for the Czech government. In 1918, he Jeu de Paume museum, with 139 works, including three canvases from the Slav Epic.

Hitler and Nazi Germany began to threaten Czechoslovakia in the 1930s. Mucha began work on a new series, a triptych depicting the Age of Reason, the Age of Wisdom and the Age of Love, which he worked on from 1936 to 1938, but never completed. On 15 March 1939, the German army paraded through Prague, and Hitler, at Prague castle, declared lands of the former Czechoslovakia to be part of the Greater German Reich as the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Mucha's role as a Slav nationalist and freemason made him a prime target. He was arrested, interrogated for several days, and released. By then his health was broken. He contracted pneumonia and died on 14 July 1939, a few weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War. Though public gatherings were banned, a huge crowd attended his interment in the slavin Monument of Vysehrad cemetery, reserved for notable figures in Czech culture.

Mucha was and remains best known for his Art Noveau work, which frustrated him. According to his son and biographer, Jiri Mucha , he did not think much of Art Nouveau. "What is it, Art Nouveau?" he asked. "...Art can never be new." He took the greatest pride in his work as a history painter.Although it enjoys great popularity today, at the time of his death Mucha's style was considered outdated. His son, author Jiri Mucha, devoted much of his life to writing about him and bringing attention to his artwork. In his own country, the new authorities were not interested in Mucha. The Slav Epic was rolled and stored for twenty-five years before being shown in Moravský Krumlov. The National Gallery in Prague now displays the Slav Epic, and has the major collection of his work.Mucha is also credited with restoring the movement of Czech Freemasonry.

One of the largest collections of Mucha's works is in the possession of former world no.1 professional tennis player Ivan Lendl, who started collecting his works upon meeting Jiří Mucha in 1982. His collection was exhibited publicly for the first time in 2013 in Prague.

Knud Lavard was murdered at Christmas in 1130

2019-12-08T08:50:00.002-08:00

Knud Eriksson Lavard
* March 12. 1096 + January 7. 1131

Sct.Bendts Church, Ringsted, Zealand

Knud was a son of Erik 1. Ejegod and Bodil Thrugotsdatter. After his parents' death on a pilgrimage the seven year old Knud was first brought up by the legendary Zealand chief Skjalm Hvide and later by Herzog Lothar of Saxony, who became German king in 1125. Knud was married to Ingeborg of Russia in 1116; she was a daughter of Grossfürst Mstislav 1. of Kiev and Christina of Sweden, and about the same time , when he was about 20 years old, he became Jarl of the border and Hertug of Schleswig. His mission was to protect the merchants and the trade routes against the Wends, which he did so successfully that the merchants appointed him their patron protector. His byname Lavard was a name of honour; the word originated from Old English hlaford = Lord. It meant Lord(Herre) in Saxon and other Germanic languages - the original meaning was bread giver.

In the beginning of the 1100s Henrik Gottskalkssøn, a son of the Abodrit knés Gottskalk, threatened the Danish south border, since king Niels, his mother's brother, would not pay the inheritance after his mother Sigrid, a daughter of Svend Estridssen. Knud Lavard fought for some years several times against Henrik, until a peace was contracted between Danes and Abodrits. After Henrik Gottskalkssøn's death Knud became - with the assistance from king Lothar - Henrik's successor as knés over the Abodrits under Saxon superiority. Knud Lavard was in this way both the Danish and German king's vassal.

As a son of king Erik 1. Ejegod Knud Lavard was an obvious candidate to the Danish throne, also because he had important and friendly contacts to king Lothar and the Wends, but others were more than interested in the royal power. Among those were his cousin Magnus, a son of king Niels - and another cousin, Henrik Skadelaar, a son of Svend, who like Niels and Erik Ejegod was a son of Svend Estridssen. Svend had been desperate for gaining the Danish crown, but he died on 1104 on his way to Viborg Thing. Henrik had inherited his father's dream; he conspired with Magnus against Knud Lavard for years.

Roskilde Cathedral, ZealandIt all started seemingly peaceful Christmas 1130 in a cosy get-together of the royal family. King Niels, who was about 66 years old, had gathered some of his family in Roskilde. At that point his queen, Margrethe Fredkulla had been gone long ago, it is said she died about 1117. The family members assembled that Christmas might have been Magnus and his wife, Richiza of Poland and their children; Henrik Skadelaar was probably alone, since his wife Ingerid, who was a brother's daughter of Margrethe Fredkulla, had run away with her lover - unless he had brought her back again. The story says he found her in Aalborg. They had three sons.The special Christmas guests were Knud Lavard and his pregnant wife, Ingeborg, and possibly their three daughters, Margrethe, Christina and Cathrine, the eldest was about 13-14 years old. Ingeborg's mother, Christina,was a sister of Margrethe Fredkulla - everyone in these Christmas days were closely related - and yet something sinister went on underneath the surface.

Margrethe was known to be a peacemaker. Her byname Fredkulla meant "The Peace Girl", and while she lived, she had probably enough to do keeping peace among Svend Estridssen's strong willed sons and grandsons. A source says that she had made bad blood between Magnus and Knud Lavard, but it was more plausible Henrik Skadelaar, who intrigued with Magnus against Knud. Henrik was often mentioned as a bitter person, filled with envy and hate against Knud Lavard.Knud was blamed for his royal behaviour and luxurious "foreign" clothes; it was not suitable to outshine the king himself. Maybe it was on this Christmas holiday that Henrik exclaimed that Scarlet clothes would never secure Knud against a sword, to which Knud replied that Henrik was not at all safer in his sheepskins.

After the visit in Roskilde Knud Lavard and his wife and daughters went to visit another kinsman, a daughter of Knud the Holy, Cæcilia and her husband Erik Jarl on their manor house near Haraldsted Church north of Ringsted. Cæcilia and Erik had strong family ties to the powerful Hvide family, since their daughter Inge was married to Skjalm Hvide's son Asser Rig (Ryg). Inge and Asser had two little sons, Absalon was two and Esbern(Snare) three years old. They didn't know yet, but they would soon become the sworn brothers of Knud and Ingeborg's son Valdemar.

While Knud Lavard and Ingeborg were guests by Cæcilia and Erik Jarl, Magnus summoned Knud for a friendly meeting in Haraldsted Forest on January 7th. Ingeborg was suspicious and tried to persuade her husband not to go, but Knud suspected no foul play. He went off with only a few men and straight into an ambush, in which he was murdered by Magnus and his men on the day after Twelfth Night.

Haraldsted Church, Zealand

It is easy to imagine the horror and grief in Knud Lavard's family. Cæcilia asked - probably on behalf of the shocked Ingeborg - that Knud's body should be brought to Haraldsted Church and buried there, but some days later his coffin was carried to Ringsted. On January 14th, seven days after her husband's murder, Ingeborg gave birth to a son, who was named Valdemar after her grandfather, Grand Prince Vladimir Monomachos of Kijev.

Ingeborg spent probably some time by the family in Haraldsted, and she decided that it would be safest for her son to be brought up in the strong and loyal Hvide family like his father before him. Years later she made another important decision for her son. On September 18th in 1137 king Erik 2. Emune was murdered, and the chief Kristiern Svendsen, a cousin of Knud Lavard and one of the mightiest men in the country, wanted the six year old Valdemar pronounced king of Denmark, but Ingeborg opposed strongly and did not give her consent.

Sct. Bendts Church, Ringsted, Zealand

After Knud Lavard's murder the Zealand chiefs held a thing and forced king Niels to send Magnus in exile. Knud's half brother Erik Emune acted as Knud's avenger and was pronounced king in Skaane. Henrik Skadelaar still worked behind scenes and persuaded king Niels to send for his son again, and it was actually Magnus' return, which started several years of bloody civil war between Niels and Magnus on one side and Erik Emune on the other.

Down south the situation was also tense. The German-Roman emperor Lothar (crowned emperor 1133) wanted revenge for the murder of his vassal. In 1134, during the civil wars, the new pope, Innocens, abolished the independence of the Danish Church and placed it under Hamburg-Bremen again. This caused archbishop Asser to join Erik Emune - and so did the migthy Hvide family.

After years of violent civil wars and various victories and defeats it ended on June 4th 1134 in a battle by Fodevig near Lund in Skaane. The battle was a total defeat for Niels and Magnus. Magnus and Henrik Skadelaar were killed, and Niels fled to Schleswig,where he was recognized and killed by the citizens who wanted to revenge Knud Lavard. Erik Emune came on the throne and started at once the efforts to strenghten his legality by having Knud Lavard sainted.

Knud Lavard's chapel, Haraldsted, Zealand

According to tradition a spring welled up where Knud Lavard was murdered - and another spring where the bearers stopped on their way to Ringsted. Soon miracles happened by his grave, and an abbey was founded in 1135 to take care of the grave and help the pious pilgrims, who came to visit. Upon the scene of the murder a chapel was built, which gave good income by pilgrimages.

Finally the Holy See had to acknowledge Knud Lavard as a saint, and in a great ceremony his bones were moved into a glorious shrine upon the high altar of the big - not yet finished abbey church, which later was given the name Sct. Bendts Church. This happened on June 25. 1170, which became Knud Lavard's official Saint's day. At this point Knud's son had gained power long ago. He was crowned sole king in 1157 by the name Valdemar the Great.

photos: grethe bachmann

NOVEMBER

2019-10-31T07:29:00.000-07:00

November

November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.

- Clyde Watson
November is the 11th month of the year, but it was the 9th month in the old Roman calendar. It was named Novemb which means 9. In old Danish it was called Slagtemåned (Slaughter Month), because the animals were being slaughtered before winter.

Mortensaften on the 10th of November is connected to bishop Martin of Tours. He had to be elected bishop in the year 371, but he didn't want to and was hiding among a flock of geese. They revealed him by their cackling, and according to Danish tradition we slaughter and eat the geese on Mortensaften, because they betrayed Morten .

Morten (= St. Martin) is the protector of all domestic animals and the guardian angel of all boozers. Mortens dag is on the 11th November, but the Danish celebration is the evening before, on the 10th. But not only geese are popular on the dinner table that night. Duck, turkey, venison, the tradition has changed like so many other traditions.

A weather omen says that a mild Mortensaften on the 10th of November promises a white Christmas.

A few things happening out in the Danish nature now:
There is only one little bird singing in November , and it sings through the whole winter; it's the wren, the smallest but one bird in Denmark.
The last hedgehogs are hiding for their winter sleep.
The ermine is changing its brown summer fur to winter white.
Some years invasions of crossbills arrive from the north.
Tufted ducks arrive to the country by the thousand.

photo: gb

Jelling and the Jellingstone - Denmark's Birth Certificate

2019-10-27T15:22:00.007-07:00

Denmark's Birth Certificate

With the hills, the church and the rune stones Jelling was not just meant to be a royal mausoleum but quite distinctly also meant to be a powerful center of the Danish kingdom.

Two very special rune stones stand outside the church in Jelling church in the middle of the two biggest grave hills in Denmark. The big stone, Jellingstenen or Harald's sten, is known as Denmark's birth certificate and is the most magnificent runic memory of Denmark. It is dated to a time between Harald's baptism ab. 965 and his death, latest in 987. Upon the broad side of the three-sided big Jellingstone is an inscription which takes up an exceptional position because of the horizontal runes. The inscription is sourrounded by winding bands. The words from Harald himself are:
'Kong Harald bød gøre disse kumler efter Gorm sin fader og efter Thyra sin moder, den Harald, som vandt sig hele Danmark og Norge og gjorde danerne kristne'.

King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian." (Rundata, DR 42)

The lion and the snake

The ornamental and figurative style makes the Jellingstone unique in the Scandinavian find from the Viking period. The winding style of the lion and the snake is the same early Jelling style as upon the little silver cup from the North hill. The ornamentation indicates that it might have been executed by a North English or Irish visual artist.

(The Silver Cup see my blog):
Ancient Danish Families June 2006 /article Preface Gorm & Thyra).

Christ with ornaments.On the third side is Christ without a cross surrounded by the typical winding bands. The figures are on all three sides carved in low relief and were probably painted from the beginning of their existence. The Christ figure is the earliest known of the North.

The earliest mention of Danmark.

In the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great's prologue to Orosius' World's History the name Danmark (Denemearcan) is mentioned for the first time in the World's Literature. It started as a local name Danernes Mark ,which was used and contracted as Danmark before year 900. Considering king Alfred's paper the name Danmark must have been in use already before 900. Gorm's stone has the earliest (in Denmark) recorded use of the name Danmark. The stone is raised afterGorm became king in 934 and before his death in 958. The stone is raised after Thyra's death, and we do not know her date of death.

Gorm's memory of Thyra

kurmr kunukr karthi kubl thusi aft thurui kunu sina tanmakar but
Gorm konge gjorde kumler disse efter Thyra kone sin danmarks bod

'King Gorm made this monument in memory of Thyra, his wife, Denmark's salvation'.
The little stone was in year 1600 used as a bench in the porch of the church, but was in 1639 placed close to the big stone.

The stones are strongly identified with the creation of Denmark as a nation state.

Stones by the North hill from the Stone Ship System

In the heart of the North hill was a small Bronze Age hill, exactly at the northern point of a huge stone ship system which southern point ends under the South hill. The northern part of this stone ship system must however have been levelled in the Viking period simultaneous with the extension of the earlier hill, which was then covered in turf. Inside the hill was built a burial chamber with ceiling, wall and floor of wood. The dendrochronological test datings of the chamber have proved that the wood was cut down in 958-959. This is supposedly the time for both the building of the chamber and for king Gorm's year of death. The south hill is supposedly contemporary.

Jelling church and a small corner of the North hill

Jelling church was built ab. year 1100, but before this three succeeding wooden churches were placed here according to excavations in 1976-79. The earliest church from Harald Bluetooth's time was a rather big church, even bigger than other early wooden churches in Scandinavia at that time - a size fitting for a royal church building. The wooden church in Jelling might have been larger than any earlier Danish building and with its forest of columns more magnificent too. The groundplan was influenced by contemporary German churches. There was probably an influence from the palaces in Aachen and Ingelheim.

Gorms burial place is under the short silver bands

It is rather remarkable that under the traces of the wooden churches in the east was a burial chamber like the one in the North hill, and in the room were bones from a man , about 40-50 years of age and about 1.72 m tall. After the examination it was declared that he 'like most middle-aged Danes suffered from osteoarthritis in the bottom part of the spinal column'.
Unfortunately the chamber was broken up and emptied in ancient time. Only little was left, biut it shows after all that the grave furniture must have been very rich. Traces of gold thread which came from fabrics of the highest quality were found together with two silver strap plates (remendebeslag = riding equipment) In the Jelling style like the silver cup from the North hill. When the chamber was cleared they overlooked the little silver cup, which is now at Jelling Museum opposite the church. Unfortunately the Bronze Age hill was disturbed and robbed in the early Middle Ages.

Harald had probably after his christening decided that his father necessarily had to be moved from his heathen grave to a grave in a Christian church. Thyra's burial place is still a big mystery.

Jelling church interior, the frescoes were damaged and have been copied by a modern painter.
On December 3rd in 2000 the Millenium was celebrated in Jelling church after a new and comprehensive decoration.

Jelling Museum opposite the church.

The stone mason and rune carver Erik the Red (Erik Sandquist) has carved a new rune stone and a landmark for Kongernes Jelling, the museum and communication center in Jelling. He says that he felt it a great honour to be allowed to make this stone. It took him 350 hours to carve the 3000 kilo granite block and he made it in the Mammen style with winding dragons and ornamentation. There are six succeeding styles: 1) Oseberg, 2) Borre, 3) Mammen, 4) Jelling, 5) Ringerike, 6) Urness. The styles begin about year 800 and succeed one another for the next 400 years. They are named after the geographical places where the biggest and most important finds have been made.

A big granite stone is now changed into a runestone of the Present. It has four sides, one with the Tree of Life, one with a mask, one with birds and one with a runic text. It is one of Erik's biggests works - and it is a masterpiece. The ornaments are painted in strong old viking colours . The background of the granite stone is not painted, since it was important to see that this was a real granite stone and not a plastic one.

Erik the Red's runic text:

Tyd du tidernes runer
I Kongernes Jelling
Erik huggede dette kuml.

Interpret the runes of times
in Jelling of the Kings
Erik carved this stone.

Past and Present in Jelling, the North Hill and a Jet.

Source:
Politikens Danmarkshistorie, bd. 3, Da Danmark blev Danmark, Peter Sawyer
Exploring the World of the Vikings , Richard Hall
Fortidsminder i Danmark, Henning Dehn-Nielsen
Fortidens Jelling, Runemesteren Erik den Røde

Jelling Museum
photo 060408: grethe bachmann, Jelling, Southeast Jutland

The Danish Crown Jewels at Rosenborg Castle

2019-10-21T05:00:00.002-07:00

Christian 5.s Crown of the Absolute Monarch

The best known of the Danish crowns is Christian 5.s crown, which was made for Denmark's second absolute monarch Christian 5. in 1671. It was used by all absolute monarchs of Denmark from Christan 5. till Christian 8. The crown is also depicted in the top of the Danish royal coat of arms and the Danish national emblem of arms.

The goldsmith behind the more than two kilo heavy crown (total weight 2080gr.) was the German goldsmith Paul Kurtz, who worked in Copenhagen. The crown is made in gold, decorated with flat square taffelsten (table-cut stones) and enamel decorations. The round bow of the crown forms a closure, which was inspired by the crown of the absolute monarch of France, Louis 14., and it symbolizes the monarch's absolute power. The bows of the crown meet at the top in a globe or rigsæble (orb), which is a sign of power and dignity of the monarch.(insignia). Above the globe is a little cross, it shows in the symbolic language of that period that the church is the only power above the royal power.

The crown is decorated with several precious stones, like winding rows of diamonds, saphires and garnets. At the top of the cross is a socalled korund: a saphire with a stripe of ruby, and upon the front part of the crown is a square block-stone with Christian 5.s monogram in gold thread. The precious stones in the crown are supposedly re-used from earlier jewelry, like the saphire on the front of the crown, which is traced back to Frederik 1. It was probably a gift to his father Christian 1. from the Duke of Milan in 1474.

Christian 5.'s crown was latest used at Christian 8.'s anointment in 1840. The crown became redundant for ceremonial use, since the constitutional monarchy was introduced in Denmark in 1849, the absolute monarchy was abolished and the regent was no longer crowned or anointed. Christian 5.'s crown is still used at the monarch's death, where it is placed upon the coffin in the socalled castrum doloris. Last time the crown was used was at Frederik 9.'s death in 1972.

The Queen's Crown.
The queens crown was made for Christian 6.'s queen, Sophie Magdalene, by court jeweller Frederik Fabritius in 1731. It was used until 1840. The taffelsten (table-cut stones) origin supposedly from Sophie Amalie's crown from 1648. The new crown was made for Sophie Magdalene, because she denied to wear a crown, which had been worn by the hated Anna Sophie Reventlow, the second wife of Frederik 4.

Christian 4.s Crown

Christian 4.'s crown was made by goldsmith Dirich Dyring in Odense 1595-96. It is gold with enamel, taffelsten (table-cut stones) and pearls, total weight 2895 gr. The figures in the big points of the crown show the virtues of the good regent. In front, above the king's forehead and repeated above the king's ear, is a pelican which pecks its own chest to feed its chicks, originally a symbol of the death of Christ, but here it is the symbol of the king's obligation to protect his people with his own blood. Above the king's right hand is Fortitudo, the horsewoman upon a lion, a symbol of the king as a warlord, and above the left hand Justitia, the woman with sword and scale, a symbol of the king as the supreme judge; above the king's neck Caritas, the mother with a suckling child, a symbol of the king as the head of the church, his love for God and for his subjects.
Inside the points of the crown are the coat of arms of the king's kingdoms and countries; the crown is open, although the fashion prescribed a closed crown at that time. The Nordic Union-kings had used open crowns, and by following his forefathers example Christian 4. marked that he was the heir of a united North. The crown was used for the last time by Frederik 3. in 1648. The coat of arms were re-newed, and a bow was put on, which closed the crown. Frederik 3. even had to redeem the crown from a banker in Hamburg, where Christian 4. had pawned it in his late years. Christian 5. let the bow and closure remove and melt and re-used the gold and diamonds for the closed crown of the absolute monarch

The Crown Jewels.
The crown jewels history goes back to Christian 6.'s queen Sophie Magdalene. She decided in her will from 1746 that her jewels should not be inherited by one person, but always be available to the queen of the country. Her reasoning was that "there were so few jewels and no crown jewels at all in this royal house". Sophie Magdalene's crown jewels were among others dimond studded hairpins, earrings and pearl necklaces, but most of her original jewelry was remade by the following queens according to changing fashion. Today the crown jewels are primarily four big jewelry sets or garnitures : a brilliant garniture, an emerald garniture, a pearl-ruby garniture and a rose stone garniture. All four garnitures consists of necklaces, earrings and broches, and one has a tiara. (the emerald). The jewelry can be disassembled and be combined in various ways.

The four Garnitures.

The Emerald garniture (with tiara)

Set of emeralds and brilliants with diadem, necklace, brooch and earrings. Made in 1840 by C.M. Weisshaupt. The emeralds were originally a gift from Chr. VI to Sophie Magdalene in 1723.

The four garnitures have the form which Christian 8.'s queen Caroline Amalie gave them in 1840. With a re-use of Sophie Magdalene's original jewels, supplemented with extra precious stones, she had made four garnitures according to the fashion. Besides the four big garnitures the crown jewels consist of additions to the collection by later queens, fx Frederik 8.'s queen Lovisa's pearl "Bayadere", a very long pearl necklace with pearl tassels, and her three pearl bracelets with brilliant- and emerald-locks.

The Brilliant garniture

Set of brilliants consisting of necklace with seven pendants, brooch in form of a floral bouquet, and earrings. Made in 1840 by C.M. Weisshaupt. The jewelry dates back to Queens Sophie Magdalene, Caroline Mathilde and Juliane Marie.

The crown jewels belong to the Danish State, but are available to the Danish queen, who usually wear them when it's galla time at the New-Year's Banquet or in connection to State Visits or other big events in the royal house. It is customary that the crown jewels stay in Denmark, which means that the queen cannot wear them on visits abroad. When the crown jewels are not in use, they are kept in the Skatkammeret (Treasury) in the cellar at Rosenborg slot and in "Guldburet" (the Golden Cage ) at the Amalienborg Museum. The Danish crown jewels are the only in the world, which are both on exhibition as museum pieces and used by the queen of the country.

The queen and the other women in the royal family have also a collection of private jewels for their own disposal, among these a ruby garniture from the Napoleonic period, which the crownprincess has used several times. The private jewels are not exhibited, but can be seen when they are used at big galla-events in Denmark and visits abroad.

The Pearl-Ruby garniture

Set of pearls, rubies and diamonds with necklace, brooch and earrings. Made in 1840 by C.M. Weisshaupt. The pearl necklace belonged to Chr. V's consort Charlotte Amalie.

photo september 2008: grethe bachmann, Rosenborg slot, København.

Boletus edulis/ Karl Johan rørhat.

2019-09-19T05:34:00.002-07:00

Boletus edulis, English names: penny bun, porcino or cep, is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere across Europe, Asia and North America; it does not occur naturally in the Southern Hemisphere although it has been introduced to various countries there. It is a very popular mushroom in Scandinavia, where it grows in big numbers. It is known as the Karl Johan mushroom all over Scandinavia, named after the Swedish king Karl XIV Johan, who liked this mushroom very much.

Karl Johan, stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan Foto.

In Italy it is described as the wild mushroom par excellence. The Italian name is porcini, meaning "little pigs", but it is often called the king which underlines its status as the most outstanding of all mushrooms. In Toscana it is often cooked with thyme. In a simple dish like an omelet, this well-tasting mushroom shows to its best advantage. In Russia it is known as White Mushroom, meaning noble. In North America are found a number of species closely related to Boletus edulis. (see link below)

The English name porcino seems to derive from the Roman time in Britain, since the Italian name is porcini. I'll call it porcino in this small article. It is one of the most sought after mushrooms of Europe. Many boletus are edible, some with a good taste, others tasteless and others unpleasantly bitter. Boletus edulis is the best - edulis means eatable or edible. Porcino is considered one of the safest wild mushrooms to pick for the table as there are no poisonous species that closely resemble it. The mushroom has to be plucked while young, old porcinos get soft and swampy. Specimens should not be collected from potentially polluted or contaminated sites. Boletus edulis is known to be able to tolerate and even thrive on soil that is contaminated with toxic heavy metals.

The cap is greasy (especially after rain), brown to greybrown, it is often a little nubbly, it is about 10-15 cm diameter, but some porcinos might be 25 cm in diameter. On occassions it can reach 35 cm in diameter and 3 kilo in weight. Like other boletes it has tubes extending downward from the underside of the cap, rather than gills. The pore surface of the porcino's fruit body is whitish when young, but ages to greenish yellow. The stout stem is white or yellowish in colour, about 5-10 cm tall and 2-4 cm thick, equipped with a fine white network, the brownish stem species have often only a clear white net at the top near the cap - the stem has usually a big bump lowest, which can reach high up on the stem, and this is a good indicator that it is a porcino, but other informations should be used for safety's sake.

photo:GB

Boletus edulis lives in forest, but it is not choosy, it is found in both softwood and hardwood forests, often in boundaries between those two forest types. It is a common fungi in the Danish forests and can be harvested in large numbers. It is a rather big mushroom, only a few specimens are necessary for a meal. This mushroom is held in high regard in many cuisines. The flavour has been described as nutty and slightly meaty with a smooth creamy texture and a distinctive aroma, which reminds about the leaves in the forest, where it grows.The stem is good as raw snacks, and the cap can be cooked in many ways - sautéed with butter, ground into pasta, in soups and in many other dishes. The delicate nut-taste and the creamy meat its good for risotto and pasta-dishes and sauces and as a accompaniment to venison or a big steak. Porcini risotto is a traditional Italian autumn dish. All boletus give off much liquid during making, which has to be removed or used for a fond or soup.

Boletus edulis has not been successfully grown in cultivation, but is available fresh in autumn. It is sold fresh in markets in summer and autumn and dried or canned at other times of the year. It keeps its flavour after drying. Distributed worldwide to countries where they are not otherwise found. It is low in fat and high in protein, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre.

Løvenholm forest, stig bachmann nielsen Naturplan Foto

Confusion: Tylopilus félleus, fel meaning bile because of its bitterness, (DK: Galde Rørhat) and Bolétus réticulatus, called Summer cep, (DK: Sommer Rørhat). Boletus edulis is often confused with this very bitter Tylopilus felleus, but can be distinguished by the reticulation on the stalk; in porcino it is a whitish net-like pattern on a brownish stalk, whereas it is a dark pattern on white in Tylopilus. The porcino has white pores, while the other has pink. If in doubt, tasting a tiny bit of flesh will yield a bitter taste.The Summer cep's flesh is less firm than other boletes. The most similar mushroom may be the Devil's bolete (Boletus santana), which has a similar shape, but has a red stem and stains blue on bruising.

"I confess, that nothing frightens me more than the appearance of mushrooms on the table, especially in a small provincial town."
Alexandre Dumas, early 19th century.

5 good edible mushrooms:
Boletus edulis: Porcino, Cep, Penny Bun ; (DK: Karl Johan)
Agarius campestri: Field champignon, in North America Meadow champignon, (DK: Mark champignon);
Cantharellus cibarius: Chanterelle, (DK: Almindelig kantarel);
Craterellus tubaeformis: Yellowfoot, Winter mushroom, Funnel chanterelle, ( DK: Tragtkantarel);
Craterellus cornucopioides: Trumpet of death, Black chanterel, Black trumpet, Horn of plenty, (DK: Stor Trompetsvamp).

Source: Politikens Svampebog, Svampe i Skandinavien, Danmarks Fugle og Natur, Felthåndbogen,Wikipedia.

I'll have to add this:
Whether or not Boletus edulis occurs in North America is up for debate, says this website from: Mushroom Experts Com.

Wild Apples/ Vilde æbler

2019-09-19T05:28:00.003-07:00

Malus species.

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The ancient Egyptians planted apple trees by the Nile, the ancient Greeks cultivated apples - and the Etruscians and Romans cultivated apples. Wild apples have grown in Denmark since the beginning of time, but the cultivating of apples started not until the Middle Ages. The monasteries were significant for the spreading of apples in Europe. The earliest identification origins from a monastery in England in the year 1204.

The autumn is a treasure chest of wild raw materials . There are lots to be found- mushrooms, hazelnuts or wild apples, sloe, rowanberry, juniper berry, blackberry, cowberry, elderberry - probably a rich season this year.

The wild apples are sour and best mixed with cultivated apples in jelly, marmelade, stewed fruit apple wine and so on.

But if you have gathered some wild apples, then they are also fine in a Russian Apple Pie. (Sharlotka) First use dark, dry bread crums, and fry them in butter . Remove from heat and add red wine , lemon juice, sugar (a little more than usual) and orange peel. Mix well. Add vanilla sugar. Butter a tin well and sprinkle it lightly with dark bread crumbs . Put a layer of the bread crumb mix at the bottom of the tin, then a layer of thin apple slices and cinnamon. Eventually more layers. Finish with the bread crumb mix. Put the tin in the oven for moderate or low heat = 150 degrees and let it bake for a little hour. Serve it hot - eventually with whipped cream.

photo Hærvejen Mid Jutland: grethe bachmann

Cowberry/ Tyttebær

2019-09-19T05:19:00.003-07:00

Cowberry/Tyttebær
Vaccinium vitis-idaea

An evergreen 5-20 cm high shrub with shining darkgreen leaves and pink or white flowers in clusters . The scarlet berries ripen in September. It is common in the heather-moors and woods of Jutland and East Zealand, but else rare in Denmark.

The berries were ab. 1800 a large commodity in Jutland, women and children from humble homes made a good profit. People gathered the berries in baskets, in linen-bags and boxes. The the beginners did not pluck clean; they run all over and were disliked by the skilled pluckers. The best berry-places were kept a secret. Cowberries were considered healthy, they were sold to the merchants of the district and sent in large portions to Copenhagen and other large cities, it was a welcome extra earning for the smallholder families. The owner of the heath got a certain quantity of berries or the family worked for him harvesting or lifting potatoes.

Plucking cowberries in Dollerup Bakker

The women usually respected each other's domains, but if unfamiliar women suddenly emerged, tempered discussions happened about ownership and sometimes rough and tumble, while the chilren laughed and yelled. Every Friday the berries were sent to the market, the smallholder's wives sent their own load, it was sometimes so high that they had to go beside the wagon.
Upon a 2200 hectare large heath in Kongenhus mindepark was the plucking organized since 1942, and the income was for the maintenance of the park. The best cowberry-year in 1947 gave ab. 30.000 kilo. In the old days a wife could gather 25 kilo daily, in 1947 a woman at Sønder Omme plucked a record of 49 kilo. The harvest was sold to private, hospitals, hotels and to the gardener-auction in Copenhagen. In Ulfborg Skovdistrikt in West Jutland between Ringkøbing and Holstebro people might pluck as many cowberries they wanted, but only for their own use, not for sale, and the Mid Jutland State-Forests and private forest owners announced that people might pluck cowberry for 2-3 days, but they had to fetch an allowance card.

Food and Tea
The juice of riped berries were cooked and kept in glass- or stone-jars, eaten for steak etc. The boiled juice was used like lemon juice for a punch, and giving taste on wine soups and alikes. The juice could preserve raw meat like vinegar. Boiled down juice gives a very fine jelly. Cowberry jam is popular for panncakes and apple cakes, it is a traditional accompaniment for a roast beef ( and venison). The berries need only half the sugar than what is neccessary for other berries when making jam. In some districts in Jutland, i.e. in Vendsyssel the cowberries were preserved togther with pears and apples. Poor people used fresh or dried cowberry in sweet soup, buttermilk-gruel or as raisins in cakes. From very riped berries were made wine and snaps. In the Egtvedgirl's coffin from Bronze Age were found rests of cowberry-wine. The leaves can give a good tea, and the spring leaves gives a tasty daily drink.

Folk-Medicine
Cowberry was stated in the pharmacopoiea in 1772. The juice mixed with water and sugar gave a cooling and stimulating drink for fever-patients. A tea of fresh cowberry was used against soar throat, crushed berries were placed upon skin diseases, i.e. when children had German measles. The Jutland heath-farmers eat dried cowberries for stomach ulcer. In Greenland the berries were eaten against scurvy.

Dyeing
The leaves dye black , the berries give a red but not fast colour; silver cooked in cowberry-juice turns white.

Proverb.
When the rye is ripe the cowberry is ripe.

Source: Folk og Flora, Dansk Etnobotanik 3, V.J. Brøndegaard, 1979.

photo ⓒ Dollerup Bakker, grethe bachmann

Bilberry/ Blueberry/ Blaabær

2019-09-19T05:17:00.000-07:00

Bilberry/Blåbær
Vaccinium myrtillus

A very branched 15-40 cm high dwarf-shrub with green, edgy branches, egg-shaped and serrated leaves, round red-green flowers and black blue-dewy berries. Common in thicket, high forests and on heather hills in Jutland, North Zealand and Bornholm.

The berries were from old times plucked in large numbers and eaten on the finding spot or brought home to the household or for sale. At Horsens market places were in ab. 1800 sold several hundred pots of dried bilberries each year. In the dune north of Agger (Northwest Jutland) a planter estimated in 1860 that about 50 barrels bilberry were gathered each year. Poor people from the dune districts plucked barrels full of bilberry and cranberry, old poor women got themselves a little extra earning, and the owners of the area turned usually a blind eye to the plucking. Or else it was mostly the children who were sent out to pluck, sometimes followed by the farm wife or the servant girls; they seldom asked for permission and gave no money to the owner, but it might happen that he or his foreman came up, told them off and took the berries from them. No one could get out of it by telling a lie, their coloured fingers, mouth and lips were betraying them - and when the children came home they were blue-black in the face.

A household with very diligent pluckers could earn 50 kroner daily, that was much at that time; a family in a parish in West Jutland sold in ab. 1900 in one summer bilberries for 1000 kroner, and that was a fortune. A young girl gathered bilberry from first August till late October 1929 and earned money for her bridalwear. In the year 1967 was in a Copenhagen market place sold 5.600 kilo bilberry.

Food and Wine
Berries were eaten fresh with milk and sugar like strawberries, berries were dried in the oven and kept in bags on the loft planks. They were used for a soup eaten with rusks or as currants in cakes. Bilberry jam for panncakes or steak. Bilberry/Blueberry-pie and -cake. Wine can be made of the berries and crushed berries on snaps give a good and healthy liqueur. The dried leaves give a fine tea.

Bilberry thicket in May

Folk medicine.
The medieval physician Henrik Smid (1546) said that wine-decoct from the branches or flowers could be used against diarrhoea. The berry-juice held in the mouth, or chewing ripe berries or leaves healed mouth sores; the crushed leaves could be used as a compress on a swollen head and as a pain-relieving compress on the stomach. Another physician (from the 1600s) Simon Paulli did not quite agree, he said that bilberries could give diarrhoea. But the juice or soup from the oven-dried berries "cool the hot temper of the stomac and the liver".

People who could not endure feather duvets, could instead use matresses and pillows filled with bilberry leaves, this was also recommended for rheumatic pain. The unsweetened juice or tea from the leaves were drunk against scurvy and diabetes. The juice was also drunk against cold and bronchitis, and the berries cooked into a thick puree put on facial eczema.

On the Faroe Islands the leaves were used as a blood-purifying tea. In Greenland the fresh cut leaves were mixed with food against constipation.

Others.
The berries cooked with alum mordant wool dye purple, with iron vitriol olive; painters mix the juice with copper chalk and ammonium chloride and gets a red colour, the branches dye brown. Easter Eggs were dyed with the bilberry juice. (ab. 1800). It was once a common thing to colour white wines red with the bilberry juice, it was also used for colouring ( and forgering) red wine. From the berries were made bilberry-snaps and wine. The shrub except the root can be used for tanning.

Proverb.
Many bilberries are a sign of a good barley harvest.

Blueberry is one of the most healthy things you can eat.
Please read on the net for much more new information.

Source: Folk og Flora, Dansk Etnobotanik, V.J.Brøndegaard, 1979

Painted Lady / Tidselsommerfugl

2019-08-13T06:51:00.001-07:00

Cynthia cardui

The Painted Lady has a wing span of 50-60 mm. It is easy to recognize, and there are almost no variations. The orange colour might be blurred by dark "scales". In rare cases are the circular spots in the seams of the back wings larger and blue in the middle.

The Painted Lady arrives (to Denmark) from North Africa in May-June or (infrequently) in April. Danish descendants fly from late July until beginning of October. As a migrating butterfly it is seen everywhere and breeds in all sorts of open areas. In the migration periods it is often seen in large numbers in flower-rich spots along the coast.

It cannot overwinter in Denmark, neither as a grown-up butterfly nor as egg, caterpillar and chrysalis. In North Africa, from where the Danish migrators origin, flies the Painted Lady all year and propagates especially in the winter period.

The caterpillar's fodderplants are thistles (Carduus and Cirsium) and many other composites and nettle (Urtica) and several other low plants.

The flight is quick and whirring, and in the migrations the Painted Lady might appear in hundred- thousands or in millions. It is attraced to many various flowers, especially Eupatorium (named bonesets, thoroughworts or snakeroots), thistles and buddleias in gardens.

The frequency is variable, depending on the arrival from the south. The Painted Lady might completely fail to come in some years - and most years it is only seen in few numbers. In Denmark it arrives in large numbers in average every 10th year. It was extremely numerous in 1988 and 1996. Seen and found all over the country.

Source: Michael Stoltze: Dagsommerfugle i Danmark, 1997.

The Painted Lady in other countries: Wikipedia

photo:grethe bachmann

Cranberry Fritillary / Moseperlemorssommerfugl

2019-08-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

Boloria aquilonaris

Naturplan foto: stig bachmann nielsen

Cranberry Fritillary has a wing span of 32-42 mm. It is recognized by the multicoloured underside of the back wing and on the tip of the back wing, which creates a sharp angle. The upperside reminds of the upperside of other fritillaries, but the front wings are pointed and narrow, and the black spots in the middle field make usually a distinct coherent curved line.

The size varies much, and some populations mostly have small individuals. The spread of the dark marking of the upperside vary and the details of the underside vary considerable as to markings and colours.

It flies middle June till late July. Its habitat is bogs with cranberry. It overwinters as a tiny caterpillar in low bog-vegetation, mostly upon the underside of a cranberry leaf. The fodderplanmt of the caterpillar is cranberry.

photo:grethe bachmann

Cranberry Fritillary lives in Scandinavia, Poland, Czeck Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and in a few localitites in France.
In Denmark has the Cranberry Fritillary has disappeared in many places because raised bogs have been destroyed. At Fyn (Funen) and Sjælland (Zealand) are only left 3 or 4 localitites. The species have disappeared in many places in the eastern part of Jutland, but lives well in other places.

Protection:
A natural high water level has to be maintained in the rest of the raised bogs, so they do not overgrow - and the bogs must not be exposed to grazing or manuring. Many localities are marked by drainage trenches, which should be filled up - or else grow the bogs into forest, because the peat is exposed to air.

Source: Michael Stoltze, Dagsommerfugle i Danmark, 1998

photo:
Cranberry Fritillary, bog north of Madum sø, Himmerland, July 2011:
stig bachmann nielsen Naturplan foto: & grethe bachmann

Small Tortoiseshell/ Nældens Takvinge

2019-08-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

Aglais urticae

Small Tortoiseshell, here from a church yard in Himmerland

Small tortoise shell is one of the first butterflies we see each spring . It is Denmark's National butterfly, and it is wellknown and common all over the country. The frequency changes from year to year dependent on migrations.

Small tortoiseshell, Underside

Small tortoiseshell (wing span 46-53 mm) is easy to recognize with its clear colours and the white spot on the front wing. The variation is modest, but the three black spots on the front wing might be small or miss completely in very rare cases. Some rare specimen have white-yellowish colours instead of the usual clear brick red. The flying period is from last June until October in one or two generations and again in March-June after overwintering.Its habitat is everywhere, where nettle grows, especially at buildings - and the larvae's fodder-plant is nettle. (Urtica).

Small tortoiseshell and a bumble bee

The butterfly roams about and is seen everywhere. It overwinters as a grown-up butterfly in hollow trees, caves, cellars and not at least in un-heated rooms in houses. The flight is quick and whirring, and the mating couple are often seen flying close together high up in a spirale flight. The males are territorial, since thy from their resting places fly up against all disturbing insects or other passing animals. Both sexes seek to various flowers, not at least to Hemp agrimony, Thistle and Field scabious or to Asters, Buddleias and flowering herbs in gardens. The tortoiseshell is also attracted to fermenting windfalls.

Flying tortoiseshell and Buddleia

photo: grethe bachmann

Silver-washed Fritillary/ Kejserkaabe

2019-08-13T06:37:00.001-07:00

Argynnis paphia

Silver-washed Fritillary
Bjerre Skov, Horsens, Jutland

The Silver-washed Fritillary is active right now in July until late August, and each year I go to Bjerre forest by Vejle fjord to look for it. It flies in glades and sunny spots of the wood and loves the blackberry flowers. The Danish name Kejserkåbe means Emperor's Cape and this fine coloured pattern would certainly be a beautiful cape for an emperor. The Silver-washed fritillary lives in Europe except southern Spain, Scotland and the northern part of Scandinavia.

The Silver-washed fritillary butterfly is deep orange with black spots on the upper side of its wings and has a wingspan of 54–70 mm, with the male being smaller and paler than the female. The underside is green and unlike other fritillaries has silver streaks instead of silver spots, hence the name silver-washed. A rare variation in some years is a special female, which is green-black with a straw coloured base.

Unusually for a butterfly, the female does not lay her eggs on the leaves or stem of the caterpillar's food source (in this case violets) but instead one or two meters above the woodland floor in the crevices of tree bark close to clumps of violets. The larvae's fodder plants are various Violas.

The Silver-washed Fritillary is a strong flier and more mobile than other fritillaries and as such can be seen gliding above the tree canopy at high speed. Its flight is safe, fast and sailing and it seeks especially to flowers of blackberry and thistles. The mating dance, which can be watched on good localities in the morning, is very characteristic and beautiful. The male flies down under and then steep up in front of the female, who continues to fly straight on, while the male lose speed and once again dives down under and steep up in front of the female.

In Denmark Argynnis pahia is still common at Lolland-Falster, Møns Klint, Sydsjælland and Bornholm, but has during the 1970s and 1980s declined much in Jutland, at Funen, West- and North Sjælland.

Protection of the species:
This species needs many small and unfertilized glades. It thrives well in forests with extensive utilization, like in stævningsskove, (coppicing) which hold many glades in various growth. The Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) is on the Danish Red List as moderately endangered.

In the old days the Silver-washed Fritillary was especially connected to the stævningsskove (Coppicing woods). It is in a serious decline in Denmark, possibly caused by the lack of light-open varied forests. Until ab. 1990 it was numerous in North Jutland in Rold Skov and in Lille Vildmose, but after 1990 it is only known in a few examples, i.e. Rebild, and outside North Jutland in the forests by Vejle fjord, in Gudbjerg skov at Funen and Gribskov in North Sjælland. Still numerous populations in the rest of Sjælland, on the southern islands and Bornholm.

photo Bjerre Skov grethe bachmann

Dragonfly/Guldsmed

2019-08-13T06:32:00.003-07:00

Dragonfly in culture
Dragonflies have often been seen as sinister. Names like "Devil's darning needle" and "ear cutter" link them with evil or injury. A folktale from Romania says that the dragonfly was once a horse possessed by the devil. In Swedish folklore the trolls use the dragonflies as spindles when weaving their clothes. They are often associated with snakes, a Welsh name is "adder's servant".
In East Asia and among Native Americans, dragonflies have a far better reputation, one that can also be said to have positively influenced modern day views about dragonflies in most countries, in the same vein as the insect's namesake the dragon, which has a positive image in the east, but initially an association with evil in the west.

They also have traditional uses as medicine in Japan and China.In some parts of the world it is considered lucky to have a dragonfly land on you, even to the point of yielding seven years of good luck. Images of dragonflies were common in Art Noveau, especially in jewelry designs. They have also been used as a decorative motif on Fabrics and home furnishings.
About 300 million years ago dragonflies could be about 1 m long and with a wing span of ab. 1,2 m.

photo 2005/ 2009: grethe bachmann

Black-tailed Skimmer /Stor Blåpil

2019-08-12T10:31:00.001-07:00

Orthetrum cancellatrum

Black-tailed Skimmer/ Stor Blåpil
Vest Stadil Fjord,West Jutland

Black-tailed skimmer is common in North Africa and the most of Europe. In Norway it is considered extinct. In Denmark it is known from all districts. Since Denmark is on the northern border of its area of distribution it is possible that the Danish occurence of black-tailed skimmer might be influenced by climatic changes.

The male has a blue abdomen with a black tip and transparent wings and the female has a yellowish brown body with black zigzag marks along the abdomen and the transparent wings. It is an active skimmer that patrols its territory aggressively frequently resting on patches of bare ground or stones although it will occassionally rest up in vegetation. It favours open areas of still water that has a hard not muddy substrate.

How to help dragonflies and skimmers:
Leave patches of bare ground around the edges of larger water bodies and leave cut grass and other vegetation to dry out in ‘habitat piles’. These pale areas will attract basking dragonflies. Skimmers hunt from low perches, so placing a few sticks or twigs close to the water’s edge will also encourage them.

photo Vest Stadil Fjord , DK : grethe bachmann

Legends from Denmark - Clausholm

2019-05-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Much has been said about the ghosts at Clausholm. The most wellknown tale is about the 22 steps and a guest at Clausholm experienced this in 1918. He describes: "When evening came the broad castle yard between the long grey wings was filled with shadows and the dusk was creepy. Every hour - just when the bells died out - a figure came out from the gable, stopped in the middle and began to sing. It was the watchman who all night through sang the old watchman-songs, while the bats flew in the light of the dusk".

When people heard the echo from the songs they could sleep tight. He told he slept tight until the latest night, but about 30 minutes after midnight he heard the sound of long heavy steps from Anne Sophie's cabinet. In the same moment he remembered what he had promised the matron - that he had to lock the outer door. He was sure that some tramp tried to get in to have some night lodgings, and he went with a candle in his hand to the small tapestry door where he counted the last 22 steps of the creature behind the door - he opened the door very fast - but the room was empty! But one of the double doors which was locked the evening before was now wide open.

One of the owners of Clausholm wanted to reveal the 22 steps, which were said to be the steps of Anna Sophie Reventlow (d 1743) Frederik IV 's queen of the left hand. He sat one night in the room where the haunting took place. He placed a table with two loaded pistols beside the chair. His servant was ready beside him. At midnight the steps started and the servant handed the pistols to the lord. The lord cried"Stop or I shoot!" but the steps went on and he fired two shots which made a terrible noise through the castle. When the echos had died out the rest of the 22 steps were heard. Since then no one has tried a ghost hunt again at Clausholm.

There is much unrest at Clausholm. In the night sounds from wagon rumbling are heard in the castle yard and clairvoyants say they can see a coach with four black horses - some even say the horses have no heads. There is also a secret passage somewhere but no one knows where it begins or ends.

Once in the beginning of the 20th century a box was found upon the attic. It contained some documents and it was carried it down into the sitting room in order to investigate it further. But while people were searching the box an arm with a lace cuff came out from the air and took one of the documents and disappeared. The paper was never found again.

Source: Gorm Benzon, Sagnenes Danmark, Midtjylland/Himmerland/Djursland . 1984.

Horseradish/ Peberrod

2019-05-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

Armoracia rusticana

Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana, syn. Cochlearia armoracia) is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli and cabbage). It is a root vegetable used as a spice and prepared as a condiment.

The plant is probably native to southeastern Europe and western Asia. It grows up to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) tall, and is cultivated primarily for its large, white, tapered root.

The intact horseradish root has hardly any aroma. When cut or grated enzymes from the now-broken plant cells break down sinigrin to produce mustard oil, which irritates the sinuses and eyes. Grated mash should be used immediately or preserved in vinegar for best flavor. Once exposed to air or heat it will begin to lose its pungency, darken in color, and become unpleasantly bitter tasting over time.

After the first frost in autumn kills the leaves, the root is dug and divided. The main root is harvested and one or more large offshoots of the main root are replanted to produce next year's crop. Horseradish left undisturbed in the garden spreads via underground shoots and can become invasive. Older roots left in the ground become woody, after which they are no longer culinarily useful, although older plants can be dug and re-divided to start new plants. The early season leaves can be distinctively different, asymmetric spiky, before the mature typical flat broad leaves start to be developed.

History
Horseradish has been cultivated since Antiquity. According to Greek mythology, the Delphic oracle told Apollo that the horseradish was worth its weight in gold. Cato discusses the plant in his treatises on agriculture, and a mural in Pompei shows the plant. Horseradish is probably the plant mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his natural history under the name of Amoracia, and recommended by him for its medicinal qualities, and possibly the wild radish or raphanos agrios of the Greeks. The early Renaissance herbalists Pietro Andrea Mattioli and John Gerard showed it under raphanus. Its modern lonnean genus Armoracia was first applied to it by Heinrich Bernhard Ruppius in his flora Jenensis 1745, but Linneaeus himself called it Coclearia armoracia.

Medicine
Both root and leaves were used as a medicine during the Middle Ages both in fol medicine and in traditional medicine , fx as a means against fever. As a means against gouts a poultice with horseradish was placed upon the sick joint.

Kitchen
The root was used as a condiment on meats in Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain. It was introduced to North America during European colonialization; both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson mention horseradish in garden accounts.William Turner mentions horseradish as Red Cole in his "Herbal" (1551–1568), but not as a condiment. In The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes (1597), John Gerard describes it under the name of raphanus rusticanus, stating that it occurs wild in several parts of England. After referring to its medicinal uses, he says:

"[T]he Horse Radish stamped with a little vinegar put thereto, is commonly used among the Germans for sauce to eat fish with and such like meats as we do mustard."

The word horseradish is attested in English from the 1590s. It combines the word horse (formerly used in a figurative sense to mean strong or coarse) and the word radish.

Cooks use the terms "horseradish" or "prepared horseradish" to refer to the grated root of the pepparroot.

Horseradish sauce made from grated horseradish root and vinegar is a popular condiment in the United Kingdom and Poland. In the UK, it is usually served with roast beef, often as part of a traditional Sunday roast; but can be used in a number of other dishes also, including sandwiches or salads. A variation of horseradish sauce, which in some cases may substitute the vinegar with other products like lemon juice is known in Germany as Tafelmeerrettich. Also popular in the UK is Tewkesbury mustard, a blend of mustard and grated horseradish originating in medieval times and mentioned by Shakespeare. Falstaff says: "his wit's as thick as Tewkesbury Mustard" (in Henry IV Part II). A very similar mustard, called Krensenf or Meerrettichsenf, is popular in Austria and parts of Eastern Germany. In Russia horseradish root is usually mixed with grated garlic and small amount of tomatoes for color.

In the US the term "horseradish sauce" refers to grated horseradish combined with mayonnaise or salad dressing. Prepared horseradish is a common ingredient in Bloody Mary cocktails and in cocktail sauce, and is used as a sauce or sandwich spread.

In Central and Eastern Europe horseradish is called khren, hren and ren (in various spellings like kren) in many Slavic languages, in Austria, in parts of Germany (where the other German name Meerrettich is not used), in North-East Italy, and in Yiddish. There are two varieties of khreyn. "Red" khreyn is mixed with red beetroot and "white" khreyn contains no beetroot.

horseradish with beetroot

In Ashkenazi European Jewish cooking beetroot horseradish is commonly served with gefilte fish. In Transylvania and other Romanian regions, Red beetroot with horseradish is also used as a salad served with lamb dishes at Easter. In Serbia, ren is an essential condiment with cooked meat and freshly roasted suckling pig.In Croatia, freshly grated horseradish is often eaten with boiled ham or beef.In Slovenia, and in the adjacent Italian regions and nearby Italian region of Veneto, horseradish (often grated and mixed with sour cream, vinegar, hard-boiled eggs, or apples) is also a traditional Easter dish.Further west in the Italian regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Piedmont, it is called "Barbaforte (strong beard)" and is a traditional accompaniment to Bollito misto. In the southern region of Basilicata it is known as "rafano" and used for the preparation of the so-called "rafanata", a main course made of horseradish, eggs, cheese and sausage. Horseradish is also used as a main ingredient for soups.

wasabi plant , painted by Asaki Kanen.

Relation to wasabi
The Japanese condiment wasabi although traditionally prepared from the true wasabi plant (Wasabia japonica), is now usually made with horseradish due to the scarcity of the wasabi plant. The Japanese botanical name for horseradish is seiyōwasabi or "Western wasabi". Both plants are members of the family brassicaceae.

Pests and diseases

Widely introduced by accident, "cabbageworms", the larvae of Pieris rapae, the Small White butterfly, are a common caterpillar pest in horseradish. The adults are white butterflies with black spots on the forewings that are commonly seen flying around plants during the day. The caterpillars are velvety green with faint yellow stripes running lengthwise down the back and sides. Full grown caterpillars are about 1-inch (25 mm) in length. They move sluggishly when prodded. They overwinter in green pupal cases. Adults start appearing in gardens after the last frost and are a problem through the remainder of the growing season. There are three to five overlapping generations a year. Mature caterpillars chew large, ragged holes in the leaves leaving the large veins intact. Handpicking is an effective control strategy in home gardens.

Help the Bumblebee!

2019-04-05T00:54:00.000-07:00

People in usual have a soft spot for the bumblebee - that little plump creature is forever fighting with its helter-skelter way of flying while it is humming so lovely - a symbol of a sunny day in the garden or a summer day out in the country.

When the bumblebee-queen wakes from her winter sleep, it is early spring. The bumblebee endures low temperatures better than the honeybee, but in many places the cultural landscape is a problem for the bumblebee. It has lost terrain because of corn crops, lesser and lesser windbreaks and almost no earth banks or stone fences , which means that the bumblebee has been declining during the last decades.

A garden owner is able to help the bumblebee to get started in the early spring by i.e. planting Goat willow, crocus, Christmas rose and early flowering heather, which is good food for the bumblebee in the early spring. Nest-places can be established by leaving part of a woodpile or a bundle of twigs - or maybe build a small stone fence in the garden. A nesting box for the tit with a hole of two centimeters diameter could be a fine home for the bumble bee.

Source: Natur og Miljø, Nr. 1 March 2010, article by Jan Skriver.

Bumblebee with flower dust on its back.

photo : grethe bachmann

The famous cat Maru

2019-01-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

Many Maru 23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgm-NSg3Zeg

Classic Cocktails

2018-12-28T05:30:00.000-08:00

WHISKY

Manhattan

1/3 sweet Vermouth
2/3 American blended Whisky
1 spray Angostura bitter
2-3 ice cubes
1 cocktail cherry
orange peel.

Vermouth, whisky, angostura and ice into the mix-glass. Stir carefully with the bar-spoon so you do not "spoil" the spirits and "muddle" the drink. Put 1 cocktail cherry in the cocktail glass. Put the strainer over the mix-glass, pour into the cocktail glass. Press the orange peel over the glass with the outer side turned to the glass. The oil from the peel will lay upon the surface of the drink, giving a characteristic aroma (do not put the peel into the drink)

Rob Roy

1/4 sweet Vermouth
3/4 Scotch Whisky
6-8 ice cubes
1 orange peel

Vermouth and whisky into the mix-glass and then ice cubes Stir carefully Strain and pour into a cocktail glass. Press the orange peel over the glass and put it into the drink

Rusty Nail

1/2 Scotch Whisky
1/2 Drambuie
2 ice cubes

Whisky and Drambuie into an old fashion glass Then ice cubes. Stir lightly.

Irish Handshake

1/2 Whisky
1/4 green Chartreuse
!/4 cream
shake with ice

GIN

Dry Martini

3/4 gin
1/4 dry vermouth

The "original" Martini was introduced as Martinez ab. 1860. It started with 1/2 gin and 1/2 dry vermouth. The name was changed to Martini in 1890. now with 2/3 gin and 1/3 vermouth. The change went on and the drink became more and more dry.
Each Martini fan has his own opinion about the method. Some use only a spray of vermouth,others just rub the vermouth cork on the glass. The drink is therefore by experts considered to be too raw if it is only mixed, but if it is shaked quickly with ice the Martini gets a more gentle taste and at the same time the drink is cooled in a perfect way. And there is no need for ice cubes which would make the drink thinner.

Gin Fizz

1/3 lemon juice
2/3 gin
1 spoon icing sugar
3-4 ice cubes
club soda

lemon juice, gin an sugar into the mix-glass. Stir well until the sugar is dissolved. Put ice cubes in. Shake well.. Strain through the strainer and pour into a medium size glass. Rinse off the shaker with a little club soda which is put into the glass.

Pink Lady (or Cover Club)
1/6 lemon juice
5/6 gin
1 teaspoon grenadine
1 egg-white
a little cream
3-4 ice cubes.

Lemon juice, gin, grenadine, egg-white, cream and ice cubes into the mix-glass. Shake well and strain it. Serve in a cocktail glass.

Singapore Sling

2 ice cubes
1/8 cherry heering
1/8 lemon juice
3/4 gin
water

Ice cubes, cherry heering, lemon juice and gin into a medium size glass. Fill up with cold water and stir.
Singapore sling is said to origin from Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and some claim that the original drink besides the mentioned ingredients also include a few drops Benedictine and brandy, 1 orange slice and a little fresh mint
Some recipes say club soda instead of the cold water Then it is called Singapore rickey and not
Singapore sling.

Tom Collins

1/4 lemon juice
3/4 gin
1 1/2 tesaspoon icing sugar
2 ice cubes
club soda
1 orange slice
1 cocktail cherry

Lemon juice, gin and sugar in a whiskyglass , stir with the bar spoon until sugar is dissolved. Put in ice cubes and fill the glass up with club soda. Decorate evt. with an orange slice and/or a cocktail cherry.
Rum is often used instead of gin and then the drink is called Rum Collins. But bourbon, brandy, scotch whisky or vodka might also be used instead of gin. With bourbon or blended whisky the drink is called John Collins.

VODKA

Black Russian

1/4 kahlua
3/4 vodka
2-3 ice cubes.

Kahlua and vodka into the mix-glass and then ice cubes. Stir lightly. Strain and pour in a coctail glass.

Bloody Mary
8-10 ice cubes
2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon tomato juice
3/7 (evt 1/3) vodka
4/7 (evt. 2/3) vodka
2 drops Worcestershire sauce
2 drops Tabasco
fresh grounded pepper
a little celery salt

Ice cubes into the mix-glass, then lemon juice, tomato juice, vodka, worcestershire sauce and Tabasco. A little fresh grounded pepper, evt. a little celery salt upon the top.
If Bloody Mary is served on the rocks it is done as above and poured into a glass with 2-3 ice cubes.

RUM

Cuba Libre

juice from 1/4 lemon
1/3 rum
3-4 ice cubes
2/3 coca cola
a lemon slice

lemon juice, rum and ice cubes into a tall glass. Fill with coca cola, stir and decorate with 1/2 lemon slice.

Daiquiri

1/ 4 lemon juice
1 teaspoon icing sugar
1 teaspoon Cointreau or Triple sec
3/4 white rum
3-4 ice cubes
evt. a little egg.white.

Lemon juice and sugar into the mix-glass and stir with the bar-spoon until the sugar is dissolved. Add the Cointreau or Triple sec, rum and ice. Shake well, and pour through the strainer into the cocktail glass.
In order to make the Daiquire still more foamy,try to add a little egg-white before you shake.

Mai-Tai

Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/6 apricot brandy
1/6 curacao
2/3 dark Jamaica rum
3-4 ice cubes
1 cut of fresh pineapple.

Lemon juice, apricot brandy, curacao, rum and ice cubes into the mix-glass. Shake well, strain and pour into the cocktail glass. Decorate with a cut of frech pineapple

TEQUILA

Margarita I

1 lemon slice
a little coarse salt
1/5 lemon juice
4/5 tequila
1 1/2 teaspoon icing sugar
3-4 ice cubes

Rub the inside of the edge of a cooled cocktail glass with lemon slice. Put salt on a plate and dip the glass in it so a thin layer of salt is on the glass edge. Lemon juice and sugar into the mix-glass and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add tequila and ice cubes, shake well, strain it into the salt-edged cocktail glas.

Margarita II

1 lemon slice
a little coarse salt
1/5 lemon juice
3/5 tequila
1 /5 Triple Sec
3-4 ice cubes.

Same procedure as Margarita I.

COGNAC

Sidecar

1/3 cointreau or Triple sec
2/3 cognac
1 spoonful lemon juice
3-4 ice cubes

Cointreau or Triple sec, cognac, lemon juice and ice cubes into the mix-glass. Shake well and strain through the strainer into the cocktail glas.

Stinger
3/4 cognac
1/4 creme de menthe
3-4 ice cubes

Cognac, the white creme de menthe and the ice cubes into the mix-glass. Shake well and strain it into the cocktail glass.

CHAMPAGNE

Champagne cocktail

6 measure icecold champagne
1 orange peel
1 teaspoon cognac

The icecold champagne into a champagne glass. Wring the orange peel above the glass and put it in. Pour slowly the cognac in so it is floating on the champagne.

Black Velvet

1/2 cold guiness stout
1/2 cold champagne

Traditional way : Hold cold stout in one hand and cold champagne in the other. Pour into a tall cold glass at the same time. A more simple way is to first pour stout in an then fill the glass very slowly with champagne. Do not stir but drink at once before the bubbles die and the good taste disappears.

WINE

Kirr

2 ice cubes
5/6 dry white wine
1/6 creme de cassis
1 lemon peel

Put ice cubes, white wine and creme de cassis in a large wine glass. Wring the lemon peel over the glass and put it in. Stir lightly.

Source: Vin og spiritus/Alverdens kogekunst/ 1968 -1970