Sunday in Denmark: Karensminde & Jelling

Every day was better than the last on this trip. Coming off the high of the Lego House, I was worried everyone would be bored, or let down with our last day in Denmark. It was a Sunday and Sundays are always special for us, but not in the amusement park or attraction sort of way. We attend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I love that everywhere in the world the services and class lessons are the same. It always instantly feels like home and family, wherever we are. I am especially grateful for that with our life of moving as frequently as we do. I did a quick search online for the nearest church to where we were and found it was over an hour and a half away, and since none of us speak Danish, I decided we would do something different. I carefully planned our day so that it would still be special in the way that we would feel a greater connection as a family, and to Jesus Christ. To me this is the whole point of the Sabbath and is something I am working at in my life. Attending church to take part in the ordinance of the Sacrament is a deeply important part of this to me, so I hate to miss it, but I am trying to really focus on what is happening inside of me on the Sabbath no matter what is happening on the outside.

Near Billund, there is a historical farm and WWII museum called Karensminde. There was only one other family there, so we really felt like we had the whole place to ourselves seeing all the farm buildings and getting up close with all the animals.

This was from the front room which they only used at Christmas or when a special visitor came.

The house part of the farm was left as it was in the 1930s and my kids definitely felt a greater appreciation for the many comforts of modern life that we have now. I loved he white-washed walls, the thatched roof, the red and green trim, and the red brick out buildings. We laughed and laughed at the angry geese, and the bleeting sheep, and the massive pigs who kept rubbing up against the walls and beams to get to an itch. My kids were also laughing at the one calf who had managed to poop over and over again on top of the wall of his stall…it was a poop shelf.

I also loved the ironwork of the blacksmith, especially these open hearts for the garden that they had used to cover in seasonal greenery. I don’t have my own garden back in Germany, but I loved them so much Matt insisted that we take one home. He’s so good to me! It sits at our apartment door with fall leaves wrapped around right now.

From Karensminde, we stopped back at our rented farmhouse for a quick lunch and then drove about 20 minutes away to Jelling (pronounced Yelling) which is the home of the viking kings of Denmark and a place of deep historical and spiritual significance. Matt has ancestors from Denmark which made visiting this site even more special for us.

I booked a walking tour of this site and am so glad that I did! It was just us, which made it even more special. I don’t think we would have felt the significance of what we were seeing had we just arrived on our own. The museum on site is free and incredibly well done to tell the story of Gorm the Old and King Harald Bluetooth (yes, the Bluetooth you’re well familiar with is connected to him with the Bluetooth symbol being a combination of his initials) and their history at this site from the 10th century, and before.

The site itself consists of two large burial mounds, an active church and cemetery in the middle, and two significant Runic stones, as well as markings of the original monument as it was made and the perimeter wall.

Gorm the Old placed the first Runic stone at the site in memory of his beloved wife, and built the monument in the shape of a large boat. We don’t know exactly why this site was chosen but research indicates it was a place of religious importance for a very long time, even before King Gorm.

Later, Gorm’s son, Harald Bluetooth also brought a large Runic stone which carried an important message. The kingdoms in the south and surrounding areas had been taken over and converted to Christianity, King Harald indicates on this stone that he is choosing to convert to Christianity on his own and that he is the king of Denmark and Sweden. One side depicts a lion intertwined with a snake which can be interpreted as Christianity now intertwined with their Norse traditions. Another side shows Jesus with his arms stretched out, in full military dress, looking straight on. This is showing strength and that Jesus was their leader.

What it looks like now vs then.

The initial burial mound was once the tomb of King Gorm, but his remains had been moved to the church at some point. It wasn’t until the 1970s when excavations of the church floor discovered the remains of a man with items matching what had been left in the burial mound chamber that Gorm’s remains were found. His burial location is marked in the church with a silver marking on the floor.

The church itself had been mostly whitewashed when the Reformation swept through northing Europe, erasing much of the Catholic art and alters there. It was beautiful to see some of the murals and artwork that had been carefully uncovered and restored there.

Fun fact: Why was Harald called Bluetooth? He had a dead tooth in his smile that turned a blue-gray color.

After our tour, we were all tired and ready to go back, but not Nola. She wanted to climb the other burial mound one more time so I went back with her while the others left. I am glad I did. I don’t know when or if I’ll ever get back to Jelling, but it was such a special place to visit for us.

The drive back home was so beautiful I want to come back to Denmark again. We didn’t visit any big metropolitan places, but I really fell in love with the countryside and the pace of life we felt there. It’s a beautiful country!