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SOCIAL

10 things to know about Fastelavn

10 things to know about Fastelavn
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Fastelavn will be celebrated all across Denmark on Sunday, but few people seem to know why. Although the name of the day ought to give some kind of hint, not one of the 16 random Danes polled by The Local on the streets of Copenhagen could explain the reason for celebrating Fastelavn. “It either begins or ends the fast [Lent, ed.],” was the closest guess. Photo: Justin Cremer
Fastelavn was basically the feast before the fast, the 40 days of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday. It was originally a three-day binge: Flæskesøndag and Flæskemandag – Sunday and Monday when <i>flæsk</i> (pork, but akin to flesh) was eaten – meat, as in the Latin <i>carne</i>, hence carnival; and, White Tuesday when revelers consumed dairy foods and the special buns described in the next point. Lent disappeared after the Reformation, but celebrations continued. Scrap the fast, but keep the feast. Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacobms/">Jacob Munk-Stander/Flickr</a>
Fastelavnsboller (buns) are these days mostly eaten on the Sunday now known as Fastelavn, but traditionally the sweets were for White Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mads_klinkby/">Mads Kilkby/Flickr</a>
What are Fastelavnsboller? Well, one website had more than 70 recipes for “traditional” Fastelavnsboller. Our favourites are cream filled and topped with chocolate. Photo: Justin Cremer
In some places, various traditional celebrations live on such as tilting at the rings, that is: galloping at full speed on horseback and trying to place lance through a ring. Leave this one to the pros.Photo: Colourbox
Other traditions died out, like hanging a goose upside down, greasing its neck and holding a competition to see who could yank the bird’s head off. Or, trying to smash an inverted clay pot with a bat while blindfolded. Under the pot was a live rooster buried up to its head. It’s probably little consolation, but the birds were eaten afterwards.Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/">Quinn Dombrowski/Flickr</a>
The one tradition that has thrived through the years is, “knocking the cat out of the barrel,” a game played in schools, day care institutions and around homes. Like a piñata, a barrel is hung and youngsters try to smash it with a bat. When they do, a pile of sweets fall out. In the old days, a live cat was used, preferably black as a symbol of evil. Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sonderborgdk/">Sonderborg.dk/Flickr</a>
The winners of the modern day cat-in-a-barrel game are crowned as the Cat Queen (Kattedronning - the one who knocks the bottom out of the barrel) and the Cat King (Kattekonge - the one who knocks off the last remaining board), although the goodies are divided evenly among the kids. Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/palnatoke/ ">Ole Palnatoke Andersen/Flickr</a>
Kids may knock on your door. They will be rattling coins in what look like non-piggy-formed banks. The ditty they sing asks for a donation … or else. A few generations of parents have frowned upon the practice, as have miserly neighbours. Modern parents prefer their youngsters to beg for sweets that come from Halloween’s trick-or-treating.Photo: WikiCommons
Some grown-ups may wear a costume when accompanying their kids to a Fastelavn function, but they do not hold parties for Fastelavn as they might on Halloween. You’re also unlikely to see any ‘sexy maids’ as you might on Halloween. But if you want to put on a maid costume and have a party, that’s your call.Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jhave/">Jess Have/Flickr


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