Heritage trails: Danish heritage days in Solvang

Although we've loved our trips to Denmark itself, we learned some new perspectives on the era of Danish emigration (and costumes worn at the time of our ancestors) this past weekend at the Danish Days celebration in Solvang, California.

Solvang was settled in the early 1900s by Danish midwesterners looking for a warmer clime. It has retained and capitalized on its ethnic heritage, and has charming windmills, bakeries, and a city trolley ride, along with a half-size Little Mermaid statue and a Hans Christian Andersen museum above the bookstore.

The Danish church is reminiscent of churches we saw around the countryside in Denmark, complete with a Christus statue and a hanging boat. My uncle played a fantastic organ concert there as part of the festivities.

The festival included a torchlight parade, an aebelskiver breakfast (and pictured below, an aebelskiver eating contest). artisan crafts, ax throwing, shopping, and lots of fun costumes.

A particular highlight is the Elverhøj Museum. It was once a home, and showcases the original builders' artistic skills in the craftsmanship and decor.

Its display on Danish emigration was such a wonderful visual to our heritage era. 

The caption says this reproduction painting is entitled Saying Goodbye (A Parting) by Christen Dalsgaard 1860. I felt the heartache that our Sorensens and Hegsteds must have felt at leaving their relatives and homelands.

I loved this visual of a traditional costume and kitchen, and below, how a small rural home in Denmark of 1800s would have looked. We know Nicolai Sorensen brought a green traveling trunk with him, it may have looked very similar to this.

this LDS guy who left his wife and 7 kids behind got a spotlight...

a canteen of the type they may have brought

Seeing so many varieties in costumes, I wanted one too! I learned that it's almost impossible to find them for sale (there is a busy seamstress in town, and some people were wearing their ancestral dresses), but each region had its own particular style. Further research illuminated that our Sorensens would have worn this type of dress:

And my husband's Hegsted and Borglum ancestors from the north would have worn clothes like this:

Given that Maren Borglum Hegsted was a dressmaker, that was particularly interesting to me. 

Tak, Solvang Danish Days, for entertaining and enlightening us!