Store bededag, translated literally as Great Prayer Day or more loosely as General Prayer Day, "All Prayers" Day, Great Day of Prayers or Common Prayer Day, is a holiday on the 4th Friday after
Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
. It is currently observed in the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
, where it is called dýri biðidagur, and in
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
().
Overview

Store bededag was one of three original fast- and prayer days that were introduced by Hans Bagger, the bishop of Zealand in 1686. ''Store bededag'' was a statutory holiday in Denmark. It was one of the few holidays that survived in the great holiday reform carried out in 1771 during the reign of
Christian VII, when his
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
,
Count Johann Friedrich von Struensee, was in power. However, it was not Struensee who came up with the idea of this particular reform, as the church commission which had worked on it had been instituted several years before Struensee arrived at the Danish court.
Traditionally, bells in every church announce the eve of ''store bededag''.

There are very few traditions associated with ''store bededag''. Formerly, citizens and students of
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
strolled the city ramparts on the evening before the holiday; the students of
Copenhagen University
The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University.
The University of Copenhagen c ...
did this to honour the many students who had died defending Copenhagen during
the assault on Copenhagen. In the evening before the holiday, it was customary to buy and eat ''varme hveder'', a traditional bread, because bakers were closed on holidays and people bought bread for the following day.
Today, the city ramparts are gone and instead the tradition is to walk along Langelinie on Copenhagen's waterfront or on the fortification of
Kastellet, though only few follow this tradition depending on the spring weather. It is more common, also outside Copenhagen, to still buy and eat ''varme hveder''.
This and ''Kristi himmelfartsdag'' (Ascension Thursday) are the only two days, other than Saturdays and Sundays, on which
confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on o ...
s take place, for confirmation is part of regular church services.
The earliest possible day is 17 April (if Easter falls on 22 March), the latest possible day is 21 May (if Easter falls on 25 April).
Danish abolishment in 2023

On 14 December 2022, Prime Minister
Mette Frederiksen
Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been the Prime Minister of Denmark, prime minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Social Democrats (Denmark)#Leaders of the Social Democrats, leader of the Social Democr ...
proposed abolishing the holiday in 2024 as a means of increasing Denmark's
defence spending.
The government estimated that cancelling the holiday would provide an extra three billion
Danish kroner
The krone (; plural: ''kroner''; currency sign, sign: kr.; ISO 4217, code: DKK) is the official currency of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, introduced on 1 January 1875. Both the ISO code "DKK" and currency sign "kr." are in common ...
to be used toward's Denmark's defence budget.
The proposal did not include removing the holiday from the
Faroes
The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
and Greenland. This proposal was received negatively by
the opposition parties, trade unions,
the national church, and the general public, with a petition to keep the holiday receiving more than 477,000 signatures as of 28 February.
In early February 2023, ahead of the government's vote on the matter, around 50,000 protesters gathered outside the
Danish Parliament
The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...
to protest the proposal.
On 28 February 2023, the Danish Parliament voted 95-68 to abolish Store Bededag, effective from 2024.
Store Bededag was celebrated in Denmark as a public holiday for the last time on the 5th of May, 2023.
References
{{Reflist
Sources
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
External links
Great Prayer Day
Holidays based on the date of Easter
Protestant holy days
Public holidays in Denmark
April observances
May observances
Friday observances
2023 controversies
1686 establishments
Recurring events disestablished in 2023