Around Summer solstice in late June, Danes celebrate Sankt Hans Evening (St. John’s Eve) with bonfires and sometimes witch dolls! This was originally a pagan celebration of summer solstice and the magical shortest night of the year but after the introduction of Christianity it also became the celebration of John the Baptist’s birthday which is supposedly June 24th. There used to be a lot of superstition related to this night. Evil was was fought away with bonfires and sick people travelled to holy springs hoping their illnesses would be cured on this night where light was stronger than darkness. As a symbol of chasing evil forces away, Danes started burning a hay witch on top of the bonfire in the early 1900! Real humans, believed to be witches, were not burned in Denmark after 1693. Nevertheless, the story goes that on the evening of Sankt Hans: “the witches are being sent off to Brocken” (the highest point of the Herz mountains in Germany). Interestingly, this pagan/Christian tradition is still highly popular in Denmark, although …