![\"RB](\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3ARB_2007_-_01_ubt.jpeg\")
<\/a>Rebild Bakker in Himmerland<\/p><\/div>Knowing that many of my readers are Americans, I can\u2019t find any excuses not to have a post about the Rebild Festival! \ud83d\ude42 Yeah, I should\u2019ve been there in person, to tell you about all the taler<\/strong> (speeches) and flag<\/strong> and festkl\u00e6dte mennesker<\/strong> (people in gala). (Click here<\/span><\/a> to see some photos of last year\u2019s event!)<\/span> Fortunately, I\u2019ve been to Rebild Bakker several times, so let\u2019s take a look at the place\u2026<\/p>\n A bakke<\/strong> is a \u2019hill\u2019, and Rebild is a small village in the region called Himmerland<\/strong>, in eastern\u00a0Nordjylland<\/strong> (Northern Jutland). Just outside the village there is a marvellous landscape of bakker<\/strong>, covered with lyng<\/strong> (heather). The hills are crisscrossed with stier<\/strong> (pathways), leading travellers across shady dips and round hilltops. It\u2019s a wonderful place to explore as a child! Landskabet<\/strong> (the landscape) has a feeling of mystery and wildness to it that is rarely found in flat, industrialized Denmark.<\/p>\n I guess the party-planners of 1912 must have come to Rebild and felt the wind in their faces and thought: \u201dWell, this reminds me of the prairie back in Kansas\u2026\u201d To remind us of this heritage, a US-style blokhus<\/strong> (log cabin, literally \u2019block house\u2019) has been built in the highest part of the plateau. It currently serves as a museum<\/strong> [moo-SEH-oom].<\/p>\n Why celebrate the national day of a foreign country? If I had a chance to interview the participants of Rebildfesten<\/strong>, I\u2019m sure they\u2019d have loads of good arguments\u2026 Although Denmark is now busy making new friends in places like China<\/a>, there is a historical link between the US and Denmark, in particular between the US and Jutland \u2013 as seen in the stories of Danish-Americans and in\u00a0jysk<\/strong> (Jutlandic, Jutish) literature such as Himmerlandsfort\u00e6llinger<\/strong><\/em> (Himmerland stories) by Johannes V. Jensen, the great 20th Century Jutland storyteller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Knowing that many of my readers are Americans, I can\u2019t find any excuses not to have a post about the Rebild Festival! \ud83d\ude42 And 2012 is the right year to tell you about it, as it is exactly 100 years ago a group of danskamerikanere (Danish-Americans) and Danes combined forces and launched the first mayor…<\/p>\n
\nAnd 2012 is the right year to tell you about it, as it is exactly 100 years ago a group of danskamerikanere<\/strong> (Danish-Americans) and Danes combined forces and launched the first mayor celebration of American Independence on Danish soil. It was a great success, and each year on July 4th Danes and Americans have flocked to Rebild Bakker to take part in what has become known as Rebildfesten<\/strong> (the Rebild party), or, in English, the Rebild Festival. Today, it is rumored to be the biggest July 4th celebration outside the US\u2026<\/p>\n