Photographer Bo Thomassen

Denmark does not have a lot of traditions in general. Yet, on the small islands, traditions that have been long forgotten by the rest of the country survive.

The Bird King

In ancient times, the king enlisted anybody he wanted to fight in his wars. With the arrival of the gun, this changed. Wars had to be fought by people who could handle guns, and he was not about to educate poor farmers; therefore, he created “Skydelag,” in which on the best citizens such as the baker and the building master participated. Once a year they gathered and shot at a wooden bird, and the one who brought it to the ground was the Bird King for the year won both honor and year of tax freedom.

Every year in Ærøskøping on the island of Æro, men meet up at 5am for breakfast and snaps. They are in “uniform” and march through the little town playing military music and greeting everybody they meet. After a lunch including plenty of beer, they march to the shooting range and compete. The person who can bring the wooden bird to the ground is the new Bird King. The new Bird King wins both the honor and the duty of having a silver plate with his name and occupation made for the band… however, there is no tax freedom.

Every spring, more than 1000 geese land on Lilleø, (Danish for Tiny Island) off the coast of Æro, for resting and grazing, before they continue their flight to the north of Scandinavia. Three weeks later, the grass is long enough for cows to graze on, so a group of men gather on the beach with 8-10 cows . As it has been done for hundreds of years, they swim the cows over to Lilleø for summer grazing. They do not do this because they are short of grass, but instead to uphold the tradition. On Lilleø, the cows are set free, and they live there alone until October, when the men bring them back to Æro, and the farm.

The tradition of the maypole is known not only in Denmark, but in many Northern European countries. It is a tradition to celebrate the fertility of the spring.

Most of the small population of the island of Avernakø, gather for the celebration in June, and a lot of those who have left the island, return for that day.

The maypole is carefully brought down to the ground. It gets painted and then decorated with newly sprouted branches before it is raised again. As always in Denmark, the day is celebrated with plenty of cold beer and nice food. When the pole is raised, the new alderman raises the flag as a sign that he will start his term as alderman, and the former alderman blows the traditional horn as a sign that he resigns. The horns date back several hundred years.

On the tiniest islands in South Funen, it has been a tradition for generations to trap live hares. Locals, friends and few outsiders gather in the winter. The stand in a long line, carrying nets in between them, catching the hairs in front of them. When the hares try to run away, they sit down and lower the nets, and when the hares try to run between the net, they raise the net as to catch them. The hares are then sexed and put into transport cages. They are then sold and sent to other parts of the country, to be set free to boost genetic diversity. The money is then used on the island for cultural events. The tradition is now banned by the EU.

On several of South Funen’s Islands, it is an old tradition to meet up on the Saturday of Easter and race eggs. No matter the weather, people from all ages meet to boil eggs, drink, and eat together. They boil the eggs for about 20 minutes, and then test them by throwing one high up in the air. If it doesn’t splatter when it hits the ground, they are ready. In some places, they have a contest to see who can roll an egg down the hill fastest.

Island priest

Some islands in Denmark are so small, that they don’t even have their own priest. Therefore, they have to share one with a nearby island. Every second week, the priest from Samsø goes by mail boat or with a local fisherman to the smaller island of Tunø to visit the 70 or so people in residence there. The church is from the 11th century, and despite having a lighthouse, is without electricity. The church’s belfry is one of very few in the world that is used as a lighthouse. Besides giving his sermon, it is the duty of the priest to visit the people of the island. In that way he also has a social duty . Although motorized vehicles with the exception of tractors are banned on the island, one resident has made his own “electric vehicle” so he can get around despite his broken back.