Finding Hygge in Denmark and Wintertijd in Leuven

 

...follow the Christmas lights...

It has been a truly enchanting Christmas season here in Leuven! The elaborate woodland winter scene in the Grote Markt between the Old Town Hall and St. Pieter's Cathedral is unlike anything we've ever seen before! The Christmas market near the library (pictured below) was lovely to stroll through in the evenings, and purchasing handcrafted gifts from local vendors there suits the season far better than power-shopping at the mall. Since making our decision to study abroad in Belgium, I dreamed and dreamed about Christmas in Europe. All my romanticizing was not in vain, that is for sure.

But of course, there is a myriad of things I miss about Christmas in Canada, Christmas with my family - both the Walls and the Dases. I miss the snow-laden countryside, trees sparkling with hoar frost, listening to my mum play Christmas carols on the piano and singing along with my sister, the Wall family tradition of picking out the annual Elvis tree decoration for dad, arranging the gifts under the tree with my brother and trying to guess what's in them by putting them on our heads (a magical method), and most of all I miss settling into a church pew with the whole family at a Christmas Eve candlelight service.    

Last year I was blessed to have Christmas with Kyle's family at the Dase acreage. It was a quintessentially Canadian Christmas - tucked away in the countryside of northern Saskatchewan and nestled in the hills and the trees in a log house warmed by a wood-burning fireplace... I saw my brother-in-law hurriedly run out in 20 below weather wearing cow-boy boots, Hawaiian shorts, a t-shirt, and a cowboy hat with rifle in hand to shoot a squirrel who was eating all the birdseed out of the feeders in a corner of the yard. I also saw my husband wander into the woods with an axe and return from some kind of lumberjack-coming-of-age-mission with a giant tree in tow that he proceeded to chop into firewood. It was a perfect winter wonderland last year as we'd had a particularly heavy snowfall and an incredible, glistening display of frost covered the trees in a thick layer of ice-bristles. The northern lights danced for us too on Christmas eve.

Christmas in Europe has a certain kind of brilliance and old, traditional magic... but I'm going to say something I've been saying since I was a little girl after the happy season passes, I can't wait for Christmas to come again next year, this time because I can't wait to spend the season with my Wall and Dase families. Although our little family of rabbit, married couple, and room-mate Brendan is just swell.

Brendaru, out-thugging this christmas ent. 

I love the big bushels of mistletoe above the door! 

busy at the Christmas market!

We all enjoyed some Glühwein (literally 'glow wine')!

Kyle and I took a four-day trip to Copenhagen, Denmark to celebrate Kyle's 25th birthday!

The Danes have this beautiful cultural concept known as 'hygge' which I've heard is very hard to properly translate with a one-word English counterpart, although 'cosiness' is most often proffered. The high season of 'hygge' is Christmas, because 'hygge' is about contending with the cold, darkness of Nordic winters by surrounding oneself with warm light, good food, mugs of glögg, loved ones, and an atmospheric comfort that is noticeably manifest in a lot of Scandinavian interior design.

We found 'hygge' in a delightful little cafe just down the street from our hostel that served fresh pressed juices, homemade bread, vegan sandwiches, teas and coffees. 

Then we went hunting for some history at the National Museum of Denmark and found our favourite Scandinavians... Vikings!

.... the shield and the helmet were made to resemble the real weight and size of those of a Viking. They were quite heavy.... Kyle made me do this. 

Once again, we found ourselves among ancient hordes of gold.

The picture above and below are of artifacts excavated at  Hjortspring Bog in Southern Denmark. The boat is the oldest wooden-plank vessel in Scandinavia built circa 300-400BC and it contained the shields, swords, and spear heads pictured below. The mysterious Hjortpring Bog finds are interpreted as evidence of a battle that took place between natives of the region near the bog and unidentifiable foreign invaders. When the natives managed to defeat their adversaries they gathered up their weapons, threw them in their ship and sacrificed it as a votive offering to the bog. We know nothing about who the invaders were, where they came from, but the bog preserved the weapons so well that we can see from details on the shields and swords that they were individually personalized belongings. This was Kyle's favourite exhibit, for good reason!

I got super excited about this one because its one of my favourite Celtic artifacts - The Gundestrup Cauldron! Also found in a peat bog in Denmark. 

decoration on a gorgeous horse-cart in remarkable condition... found again, in a bog. 

RUNE STONES. 

This one was the coolest/most mysterious...

Danish break. 

Some pretty medieval stag rings. #hipster

Then we went to the Royal Danish Arsenal where we found many a weapon, suit of armour, and uniform. Unfortunately we didn't take very many pictures except for this one of Kyle next to the Japanese weaponry...

In addition to innumerable Danish weapons there was a temporary exhibit on Tolkien's Middle Earth! Yes! It featured a bunch of handcrafted small-scale character models as well as the weapons they made at the Weta workshop for the films.

And many cheesy embarrassing photo-ops that Kyle insisted I take because "Meg, its my birthday."

"...oh no don't kill me mr. urukai."

Next to all of Aragorn's swords n sheaths n stuff.

Radagast! 

Our attempt to hastily snap another picture of Kyle next to something not Japanese before they closed the museum. 

It wouldn't be Kyle's birthday without a trip to a board-game store. 

Copenhagen Christmas Market!!!!

Glögg!!!!!!

CHOCOLATE HAUL. AWESOME hazelnut truffles that were vegan from Hotel Chocolat <3

The next day we took the train to Roskilde, one of Denmark's oldest towns (purportedly founded in 980 by Harald Bluetooth!), a hub of the Viking trade routes and one of the most important centres of medieval Scandinavia.  We visited the Viking Ship Museum situated on the Roskilde Fjord and the Cathedral which was built in 1170 by Bishop Absalon. At the ship museum we learned a lot about the defensive tactic of scuttling ships deployed by the Vikings in order to prevent invading clans from reaching the shore. This forced the invaders into negotiations with the Roskilde Vikings and prevented a full-fledged land battle from taking place. At the Cathedral we learned that the Danes don't mind decorating the place with swords and skulls.

It would be great to return here sometime during the summer, when all of their full-scale detailed replica ships are in the harbour!

Then we saw some baby reindeer and I freaked out a little. 

Absalon's Arch! 

We got to listen to this girls' choir practice while we walked around the Cathedral. It was lovely! 

The number of surviving medieval wall paintings here was astonishing! The story of the giant, St. Christopher pictured here, is one of my favourites. 

This guy reminded me of Tutivillus

The remains of Harald Bluetooth are believed to rest below this pillar. Harald Bluetooth, a former pagan viking turned Christian, founded the first wooden church the foundations over which the current Cathedral stands.

See?! Swords! They were everywhere. 

First edition copy of Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum!!!! 

I became aware of this fascinating scandal through the Danish film, A Royal Affair, which is on Netflix! The story is told through the eyes of Caroline and provides an interesting context into the life of a queen consort as well as some 18th century Danish history.

Again, the medieval wall paintings! Sigh! 

Statue of two vikings sounding their Lurs - an ancient wind instrument used during rituals and in battle to frighten the enemy! We saw lots of them at the museum which had been, of course, preserved and found in bogs!

God jul, Vrolijk Kerstfeest, and Merry Christmas from we earth-steppers who cannot express how much we miss our friends and family at this time of year! We know exactly where to make our next Christmas hearth.

Love,

Kyle and Megan

November discoveries, Bruges, and Antwerp

I figured I better make a post before November is behind us. The month has gone by so fast and yet it was one so permeated by emotion, so filled with daily reflection, so eaten up by paranoia and the news, I wonder how all of it fit in what seemed like another blink of an eye. It may have had something to do with the fact we have felt (and have been) quite safe in Leuven, and been able to continue existing within our usual routines. I have been trying to improve my mental routine, however, by making an effort to wake up to every new day with a thankful heart and imprinting those kinds of grateful meditations on my most natural and impulsive state of mind. Some days are more successful than others of course. Anyways, for this post I'm going to list another round of discoveries I've found and have been enjoying all month long. I think, in a way, these kinds of listacles are another way for me to practice thankfulness, even if some of my 'discoveries' are rather mundane. But I think an essential part of thankfulness is finding in everyday the delightful and delicious and then ruminating on them, making a list of them, so that they eclipse some of the negativity that gets into our space. I don't really care of that sounds corny. I think its true, and besides ITS FUN. 

I.  Cam&Nina's Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Kyle has made these for us I don't know how many times. They are so good and so easy and they taste even better when your husband makes them for you!

GO MAKE THESE NOW

Kyle even took this great picture! Yay for Kyle! 

II. My Yoga Practice

Yoga isn't a new thing for me. I've been doing yoga in various forms (workout videos, classes, etc.)  since I was about fifteen... so for seven years! But only recently have I really felt like I have a yoga 'practice' wherein my mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual faculties have an opportunity to connect. But I think its really important to admit that sometimes they don't connect! Sometimes my body will be going through all the yogic positions and motions but my brain will be somewhere else or emotions like anger and frustration will usurp my good intentions. I say these things are important to recognize and admit because it means that I am trying to grow my practice and that in turn is an act of self love, a concept I have struggled with over the years and struggled to cultivate in my life. For many years I used yoga for all of its touted "weightloss" "calorie-burning" "muscle-toning" advantages and just ignored all of the hippy-dippy mind, body, spirit, peace and harmony rubbish which of course is not rubbish. Here is one of my favourite videos to do first thing in the morning! Please try it yourself!

 Yoga Love Flow


III. Marginalia from The Gorleston Psalter! 

The Gorleston Psalter (1310-1324) is pretty well known among medieval manuscript enthusiasts, I think. I personally like how many rabbits there are in this one! I don't know if you can use the words 'wacky' and 'gorgeous' to describe the same thing, but those are the terms that come to mind. Flip through the whole ms here: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=add_ms_49622

I thought this one was sooo cool. Illuminated manuscripts like this one often have little fighting scenes, whether it is a fight between a snail and a knight or a couple of fantastical grotesques, they are fun little doodled duels. This one is interesting because the little fellow on the left appears to be waging war against that fly. But the artistic style of the fly is odd, it doesn't seem to fit among the whimsical flourishes and elongated figures. It looks like a real fly!  I like to think that the scribe was being pestered by a medieval house fly that kept landing on his vellum as he tried to paint, so he decided to paint the fly in and let him pay for his impertinence by doing battle with the little spear-brandishing man! 

These hungry pigs are waiting for someone to come knock those acorns down from the oak tree! This was actually how it was done in the medieval period, and was called "right of pannage" or "common of mast." Pannage is the practice of releasing domestic pigs into a forest so that they can eat the fallen acorns, chestnuts, and whatever else they found on the forest floor to fatten up. 

This one: because that rabbit obviously has a force-field protecting him from the centaur's arrow. 

Clever rabbit making all of his friends jealous because he escaped from the confines of the line-filler! 

I like this one because Jesus looks so dang cool! I think this is an image depicting one of my favourite passages in the New Testament too, one of Jesus' many appearances after the resurrection. The most detailed and entertaining version, I think, is found in Luke 24: 36-49 when Jesus all of a sudden appears among his disciples and scares the crap out of them. To prove he is not a ghost, Jesus says "Peace be with you" and invites all of them to touch his wounds and see that he is indeed flesh and bone! All the disciples are amazed and overjoyed and meanwhile Jesus is so gosh darn hungry after being crucified and rescuing people from hell for three days is all like..."do you guys have any food?" I love it. Go read it. 

This one because in a bunch of preceding marginalia you see a poor deer being chased by hunters and their dogs... but it turns out the deer is okay because he is hiding out with the rabbits in their warren. I like to think that the two rabbits are like a husband and wife rabbit-couple and the wife has just come home from dropping off the kids at soccer practice to find out her husband's old college buddy buck is crashing at their place tonight until he can get in the clear from those dang hunters and the wife is a little cheezed off about it... "not again, George!"

IV. Ellen daughter of Edmund le Berebreyt 

Who, on June 7 1327, was pardoned for "not appearing before the late king to answer for breaking the king's park of Odiam and for hunting and carrying off the deer therein."
(Great Britain. 1891. Calendar of Patent Rolls. Edward III, 1327-1377. London: H.M.S.O.)

One day I was just being a total nerd flipping through an online edition of fourteenth-century Calendar Patent Rolls and I found this delightful entry that made me really excited! Here we have a piece of rare evidence that medieval women hunted and moreover, poached in the king's deer parks! It is significant that Ellen appears to have been a single woman at this time since she is identified as "the daughter of" her father and not "the wife of" a husband, which also might suggest she was also quite a young woman! I have come across other cases where women acted as accomplices with their husband's poaching ventures, but had yet to find a woman acting alone. She was pardoned both for her misdemeanour and failing to appear in court, which suggests that she was too poor to pay the large fine she likely incurred. I'm not entirely sure how these kinds of records work but I think that this court was held in York, whereas Ellen's waiver was issued in the county of Southampton which is on the completely opposite end of the island - a very long ways for Ellen (or Ellen's dad) to travel to appear in court! I am quite happy for Ellen. Seems like a spunky lass.
Odiam (now Odiham) deer park has a very interesting history as well! There is an interesting project plan underway to restore much of the medieval deer park that is currently being developed by the Odiham Parish Council and the Hampshire Archaeological Society. Read more about Odiham here: http://www.odiham.org.uk/history.html






That is all for my monthly discoveries! Here are some pictures from the recent trips we took to Bruges and Antwerp! France and Denmark are next on the list! Yippy!

Tympanum at Antwerp Cathedral! 

There was a lovely exhibit of renaissance Flemish altar pieces and Petrus Alamire music manuscripts! Kyle looking very cultured here. ;)

Kyle loved this wall painting. If you stood and stared at it long enough, all the tendrils and foliage looked like it was moving, a kaleidoscopic optical illusion effect!  

This one was my favourite, mostly because of the contextual history, see below! 

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