Does Anyone Know a Danish Rhyme That Starts with “Reever Rosper…”

Don Larson wrote asking for help with a Danish rhyme... Hi, My grandmother was Danish (married to a Norwegian) and taught us the finger names rhyme– thanks so much for bringing back that memory. She also would say, after a big meal, something that sounded phonetically like ‘reever [...]

Can Anyone Help with a Danish Kids Song?

John Gibb wrote asking for help with a Danish song: I saw your website and thought you might be able to help. I've attached a recording of my grandmother singing a song (see below) that she learned from her mother who was from Denmark. I live in Canada. I understand my great grandmother [...]

Is Anyone Familiar with a Song that Starts with “Socksey cleat und slipper mum”?

David wrote to us asking for help with a song from the island of Fyn in Denmark... I need help with this song. It is found in an oral history from my ancestor on the island of Funen (Fyn in Danish) in Denmark; Odense is the capital. Here's the phonetic version of the song: Socksey

The [...]

Christmas Countdown – Santa Lucia in Scandinavia & Italy

In Scandinavia, there's a beautiful celebration in December called Santa Lucia.  The celebration started in part of Sweden in the 18th century. It slowly spread to the rest of the country in the 19th century and to most of Scandinavia in the 20th century. Traditionally, to celebrate Santa [...]

Symbolism Behind the Phrase "To Tie the Knot"

The expression "to tie the knot" means "to get married".   There are several places where tied knots have been connected to marriage and love. During Roman times, brides wore a belt or girdle at their wedding tied in a Hercules Knot. Only the groom was allowed to [...]

Can Anyone Help with a Danish Poem with "Sipsipanipsip seerum sip" in it?

Tamela wrote asking for help with a Danish poem her father recited.  Here's her email: Hi, I am wondering if you can help me at all.  I am searching for the full words to an old Scandinavian children's poem that my Danish father used to tell us. It is about three children, girls, on [...]

Learn 40 Languages for Free on the Internet

Open Culture has a page of free language learning links covering 40 languages. Here are some of the languages you can find links for... Arabic, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, Gaelic, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, [...]

Happy Santa Lucia! Come Watch a Video of a Song

Santa Lucia's Day is celebrated on December 13th in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. It commemorates the life of Santa Lucia, who is also known as Saint Lucy.  It's the beginning of the Christmas season in those countries and is a celebration of light - at the time of year when the [...]

The Advent Candle

Advent Candles are used to mark the days from December 1st until Christmas Eve on December 24th.  The candles have the numbers 1 to 24 on them, starting at the top with 1 and ending near the bottom of the candle with 24.  Each day you light the candle and let it burn down to

The [...]