Pharmacy Animals
I’ve noticed a lot of “apotek” or pharmacies are called “Løve Apotek” or similar, even when they aren’t in the same city, or owned by the same people. This sparked my interest to investigate further, and I found the below on http://www.apotekerforeningen.dk/ (Pharmacist’s Union):
Many of the older pharmacists have animal names, such as lion, swan or dolphin. We can not give any clear explanation, but there are some plausible theories. In the Middle Ages urban houses were given names to identify them. At that time, house numbers were not used as they became common in the late 1700’s. As many people could not read, it was not very useful to write the house name in letters, so a characteristic figure such as an animal was displayed so one could identify the building. From this the tradition was started to give pharmacists a distinctive name and symbol.
Another possible explanation may be that some neighborhoods had animal names, such as Leo Quarter. So it was natural for local businesses to choose the name of the neighborhood.
One other explanation was that pharmacists linked animal names symbolically, as this played a big role in the past in Christianity, alchemy and astrology. The lion was thus used as a name because it radiated power and was an image of vitality. The swan was an image of wisdom, peace and dignity. The deer was the symbol of the ‘spring of life’ and parts of its body were attributed to strong healing powers. The eagle was a symbol of Christ’s ascension and the victory of light over the powers of darkness. The elephant was simply an interesting eye-catcher because of its size and appearance.
In Denmark, there was a total of 45 lion and swan pharmacies in 1998.
Aarhus recently changed it’s name from Århus to make it easier for tourists to find it online.
In most instances, there is a letter combination in English for the special Danish letters å (can be written “aa”) ø (can be written “oe”) and æ (can be written “ae”). For example, my bank accounts are with a bank called Frøs, but the website is www.froes.dk.
Aarhus is Denmark’s second largest city (after København), and the largest on the Jutland (Jylland) peninsula. It has roughly the same population as the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
Velkommen
So I’ve been in Denmark since the start of February. As I’m moving here permanently, I’ve had to take care of a few housekeeping things like making sure I can stay in the country without being deported, registering for tax, opening bank accounts, registering my business and so on.
Surprisingly, I have achieved most of this in a matter of a few weeks. I have my residency (thanks Dad for the British citizenship) which took about 2 days. I have my CPR number (so the Danish state recognises me as a tax-payer). I have opened bank accounts.
All that’s left to really be established, is my business registration and health card (which I should get next week), and registration at the local Danish language school.
Outside of these formalities, there’s the cultural differences to get used to, and this is probably where most of the content for this tumblr is likely to originate.
Enough text anyway, let’s get on with the pictures!
