Fastelavn

Fastelavn is seven weeks before Easter Sunday and is sometimes called a Nordic Halloween, with kids dressed up in costumes going trick-or-treating. The holiday is considered to be a time for children's fun and family games. The traditional events include "Slå katten af tønden" (hit the cat out of the barrel), which is similar to using a piñata. The Danes use a wooden barrel, which is full of candy and sometimes oranges and has the image of a cat on the outside. In the olden days, there was a real black cat in the barrel, and beating the barrel was considered a protection against evil. Now a days, once the candy pours out, the game continues until the entire barrel is broken. The one who knocks down the bottom of the barrel (making all the candy spill out) becomes kattedronning (queen of cats), and the one who knocks down the last piece of the barrel becomes kattekonge (king of cats).

In Denmark a popular pastry associated with the day is a Fastelavnsbolle, a round sweet roll usually covered with icing and sometimes filled with whipped cream, jam or custard. The fastelavn song in Denmark goes like this:

"Fastelavn er mit navn,

boller vil jeg have,

hvis jeg ingen boller får,

så laver jeg ballade.

Boller op, boller ned,

boller i min mave,

hvis jeg ingen boller får,

så laver jeg ballade!"

Fasterlavn at school:
At school, only the smaller classes get to celebrate Fasterlavn, but because my friend wanted to show that we weren't too old to also celebrate, she handed out a couple of small accessories to wear.

Fasterlavn party in Lynge:
Stella and I celebrated fasterlavn with the family at the church. This was yet another fun event for the whole town. We saw some friends from school. When the church gudstjeneste was over, we went outside where we played "Slå katten af tønden" and ate fasterlavnsboller. Luckily, I won the game and became the cat queen. I was dressed up as a happy clown and Stella as the queen of hearts. We filled our bellies with fasterlavnbollers and our minds with good memories.

Fasterlavn with friends:
Stella went with some of her friends to go "trick-or-treating". She got a bunch of candy and some money. Later, I got a call from one of my friends asking me if I wanted to come and rasle (trick-or-treating) with her. We met up and went out to collect candy. What a fun weekend!

More fastelavn pictures here.