Celebrating an 800-year-old Dane

The candles placed in the glace on the many layered birthday cake are lit. The colorful candles are accompanied by the 800-year old ‘Dannebrog’, the Danish national flag consisting of a white cross on a red background. 12 candles in blue, pink, yellow, orange and green and 12 small ‘Dannebrog’ flags on wooden sticks are placed in the strawberry flavored birthday cake to celebrate the 12th birthday of Danish Josefine. The now lit ‘layer cake’ is lifted up from the kitchen counter by her mom and carried to the dining table where Josefine’s guests are seated, singing a Danish birthday song that goes something like: “Today it’s Josefine’s birthday. Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! She will probably get a gift she has wished for.” As mandatory as the birthday song, the cake, the guests and the gits are at birthday parties in Denmark, as mandatory is the presence of Dannebrog. By the front door, on the napkins, on the gift card and wrap and so on.

In Denmark we have a great tradition of flaking with Dannebrog whenever we see just a small hint of an occasion worth celebrating. Birthdays, holidays, people returning from foreign countries in the airport, finishing high school, anniversaries and new born babies are among many events we like to celebrate in the presence of our beloved Danish flag, Dannebrog.

On the same day as Josefine’s birthday party, June 15th, it was also Dannebrog’s turn to be celebrated as it turned 800 years. So Danes celebrated Dannebrog by flanking it all over the country. The myth about Dannebrog tells us that our national flag fell down from the sky in Tallinn, Estonia, in the year 1219 as we, the Danes, were defeating our in enemies in a battle. Thus is Dannebrog the oldest national flag in the world and a one of the greatest Danish symbols, but what happens when people try to change the meaning and use of Dannebrog?

With nationalism sprouting in Denmark as well as all over Europe, right winged parties are using the Danish flag as a symbol of the Denmark they used to know – that is without immigrants, burkas and people not eating ‘our’ beloved pork. At the parliamentary election in 2015, more than 20% of the Danish population voted for ‘The Danish People’s Party’ – a party with a very hostile rhetoric towards immigrants. The party is using Dannebrog in its party logo and has taken some kind of patent on the Danish national flag.

So can we still use Dannebrog for celebrating our birthdays without celebrating the nationalism sprouting in Denmark too? Has the symbolic meaning of Dannebrog changed?

Reclaiming Dannebrog

A twerking bum painted with Dannebrog is the first thing that meets the eye in the music video for the song ‘Danishness’ by rapper Nikoline. Taking a bath in traditional Danish food using roast pork as a sponge and dressing leading Danish politicians as prostitutes in the Red Light District are some of the other scenes that take place whilst Nikoline is rapping about double standards, political corruption and Danishness.

“So I don’t care if you are Danish or Spanish
Serbian, African, Chinese or Afghan
Danishness is both filth and cinnamon
Whether you’re half, three quarters or whole”

Danishness is often associated with Dannebrog as it being one of our national symbols. So when ‘The Danish People’s Party’ try to take patent on Dannebrog, they are also trying to take patent on Danishness and defining what or who is Danish or not. Nikoline tries to break with this and reclaim both Danishness and Dannebrog which the above quote stands as an example of. Danishness should not require having a completely Danish family tree and the color of your skin, the food you eat or the gods you believe in or not believe in, should not determine if you are Danish or not.

“I will rather have people associating Dannebrog with an ass than with DF [red. The Danish People’s Party]”, Nikoline said in an interview with a Danish newspaper the 6th of May 2019. The song stands as an attempt to reclaim and redefine the symbolic meaning of Dannebrog and being Danish and, I think, one of the most important things to learn from her, to some very provocative, song is that a ‘Danishness’ does not have to exclude anyone. As a comfort to us non-nationalistic voters, The Danish People’s Party lost almost half of its influence at the latest parliamentary election on our constitution day, the 5th of June 2019. I hope this a sign of less hostile statements and actions towards immigrants in the future and it comforts my hopes for Denmark, that more people are voting for a different definition of Danishness. I also hope I will see lots of wooden sticked Dannebrog flags in Josefine’s 13th birthday cake.