Herring Festival: Past and Present

_Herring Festival is one of Denmark's largest angling competitions, which takes place over last weekend in April at Hvid Sande, Denmark. It is also the largest herring festival in the country.

The three day festival attracts fish and festival lovers from different parts of the country. Participants celebrate these days by eating fried Herring fish, fish cakes and other foods made by Herring fish and attending various fishing classes and workshops.

The festival has beeen held in Denmark since 1995. Events include delicious Herring specialities, culinary exhibitions, beer tasting, local food and crafts stalls, live Shanti singers, stiltwalker entertainment, face painting, henna tattos and more. There are also fishing photo exhibitions, fishing and National Trust event-themed children's craft activities.

Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, after a three years hiatus, the Dutch festival Vlagetjesdag or Little Flags Day was held in Cheveningen on Saturday, where more than 200,000 visitors gather and encourage fishermen to bring fresh Herring fishes.

Historically the Saturday holiday before Pentecost was set aside for this year's festival, each fishing boat was named for the competition and decorated with small colorful flags. Before going fishing, the captains of the boats checked their engines and determined the course with the help of a compass.

In the state of North Carolina in the United States, the Herring Festival was nominated at the national level in Jamesville in 2011.

In the United States it is known as the Jamesville Herring Festival, now called the North Carolina Herring Festival in Jamesville, a three-day annual Easter weekend in Jamesville, North Carolina. It was launched in 1949 as a way for Herring fisheries to celebrate the fish's springtime spawning runs.

The economy of the village Clovelli in England once depended on the production of Herring fish, and fishes were caught in large quantities on the coast for a short time. More than 400 years ago, in 1749, the port of Clovelli had about a hundred Herring fishing boats.

The fishing industry was very lucrative at that time, with about 9,000 Herring fishes being able to land at once. Those great days of fishing are long gone, now there are only two fishermen who still catch Herring in a sustainable way using drift nets and long lines.

Marine historian Mike Smiley had returned to the Herring Festival in the village of Clovelli each time with his 'Keeperland' exhibition, dedicated ti the history of Herring fishing. He turns Herring into a fine-tasting keeper and blotter in his smokerhouse.

All art is displayed on judgement day.

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