DENMARK CORONA WEEK 5 - QUEENS BIRTHDAY - DENMARK SINGS OVER THE INTERNET

Here’s our newest #lovelife… stories with no comments, a weekly VNR round-up of an interesting story from Denmark
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At 12pm on April 16th 2020, over 200,000 people gathered online to sing Happy Birthday to Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, who turned 80 under lockdown. And even more joined in with the traditional Danish birthday song from balconies, gardens and the otherwise quiet streets of Denmark, to celebrate their popular monarch.

Queen Margrethe II, who succeeded to the throne upon her father’s death in 1972, is a renowned and respected artist, with many notable works in scenography and painting.

She even illustrated the Danish edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, impressing the author himself, whilst working under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer.

The Danish Monarchy is the oldest continuous monarchy in the world. Queen Margrethe II’s heritage can be traced back more than a thousand years to a king born in the year 900.

The traditions of communal singing in Denmark go back to the 1800s, when new songs brought Danes together under a common national identity. And during World War II, communal singing events were an important way to keep the spirits up. The sing-a-long for Queen Margrethe’s 80th birthday this week was in fact the largest communal singing event since World War II.

Danes sing together at family gatherings and celebrations throughout the year, a tradition which has led to nightly organised communal singing during the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdown. Each night at 7pm, Danes sing together to remind themselves that they stand together, apart, in order to stop the spread of the virus.

Within the last 5 years, 76% of all deaths in Denmark have been in the over 70s age group, or from people with serious illness. Because of their risk from the coronavirus, elderly residents are currently under curfew. The daily singing performance outside this particular care home in Copenhagen, by Nikolaj Schiøtz Winding, is the high point of the residents’ day.

Corona in figures:
Denmark 336 dead. An increase of 5 % in 1 day.

Greenland: All well.
Faroe Island 0 dead. 13 infected. (134, 3 weeks ago)

Sweden: 1.400 dead. 5 % more than yesterday.

Norway: 158 dead - and more than 136.236 tested.
Italy: 22.170 dead.

Spain: 19.130

US: 33.101
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Christian Thygesen
Nikolaj Schiøtz Winding
Kjeld Lauritsen
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Links:
Singing in Denmark:
https://whatdanesdo.com/the-singing/


Margrethe II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margrethe_II_of_Denmark

Oldest monarchy:
https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/monarchy

Corona numbers:
https://sundhedspolitisktidsskrift.dk/nyheder/3073-lynoverblik-dagens-tal-og-vigtigste-nyheder-om-coronavirusstorbritannien-har-nu-flere-dode-end-kina.html