What song is traditionally sung around bonfires during Denmark’s Sankt Hans celebration?

The traditional song sung around bonfires during Denmark’s Sankt Hans celebration is Midsommervisen.

Midsommervisen, meaning “The Midsummer Song,” is a Danish song written by Holger Drachmann, with music commonly associated with P. E. Lange-Müller. It became closely linked with Sankt Hans evening, when Danes gather around bonfires on June 23, the eve of Saint John the Baptist’s feast day.

The song’s imagery celebrates the Danish summer landscape and the bright season, making it especially suited to communal outdoor singing. Many public celebrations include a bonfire topped with a straw witch figure, a custom connected with older ideas about driving away evil and later folklore about witches flying to Bloksbjerg. Midsommervisen should not be confused with Denmark’s national anthem, “Der er et yndigt land,” or the royal anthem “Kong Christian stod ved højen mast.”