Welcoming the New Year

We enjoyed being in Denmark to welcome the new year. Last year we traveled on New Year's Eve and arrived in Copenhagen the morning of Jan. 1 to find fireworks debris everywhere. We could only imagine the excitement. This year we were able to watch the fireworks from the comfort of our own apartment. Pictured here are the remains of what was launched from the intersection 20 meters from our front door.

Growing up, fireworks were associated with Independence Day. In a way similar to what we saw here, makeshift shops selling fireworks appear shortly before the big day. What was different here, aside from the season, was the power of these fireworks. In the U.S. a person could buy a range of things from firecrackers to small bottle rockets to roman candles. Big rockets that create the colorful sky bursts high in the air were part of professional fireworks displays, and not something launched by you neighbor from the street in densely populated areas. Here they are both legal and abundant and enthusiastically launched to celebrate the New Year. There was a mild prelude over two days which sounded like it could be the background to a reporter's interview in a war zone (scattered cracks, whistles, and booms).

At sundown on New Year's Eve (shortly after 3:30pm) activity picked up with a crescendo building toward midnight when the sky really lit up for about an hour before tapering off slowly. I have to emphasize that this was all done by individuals. Most of the concentrated action was contributed by what is essentially a fireworks display in-a-box. These are boxes with dozens of rockets arranged to launch sequentially with different colors and patterns when they explode in the sky. We had a good view of the intersection closest to our apartment where people gathered to launch their fireworks. At one point on our street, 4 men - all well past middle age - set up to launch their rockets from the middle of the street. When the second rocket went astray and glanced off a third-floor window across the street before exploding above the parked cars nearby, they scampered off like guilty adolescents to a marginally safer location. We could also see (and hear) more fireworks in the reflections of the windows across the street. Those were being launched from the next intersection northwest of us and from the lakes just a bit farther away. A bike ride later on New Year's Day showed that "our" intersection had more than average, but was by no means exceptional, based on the volume of fireworks debris.

A couple more pictures here showing the Christmas decorations around Kongens Nytorv near the city center. A statue in front of the national theater (old stage) bedecked with a wreath, and the lights decorating the department store, Magasin.

The Queen's New Year's Eve speech part 1, part 2 is a traditional part of New Year's Eve. This year she spoke to the country of the need to care for each other and to welcome immigrants whom the country needs (for its labor force) as much as the immigrants need Denmark. She also sends New Year's greetings to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, both part of the Kingdom, though with degrees of autonomy. As people trying to learn Danish, it was good for us to watch because she speaks very clearly. This leads us to ask, "Why can't everyone speak like that?!?" Anyway, frustration aside, we have made progress since last year. It's difficult to notice day-to-day, but during the holiday season, we've found ourselves in similar settings far more able to comprehend the conversation going on around us. Here's to hoping that trend continues in 2008!