Fastelavn

"Carnival"

On Valentine's Day, myself along with about 40 exchange students dressed up and celebrated "Fastelavn" (or Carnival in English).

It was a difficult task deciding what to be! The majority of the people going are exchange students who have come to Copenhagen with only one or two suitcases so no one really had any costumes - at least we were all in the same boat! People were very creative though! There were several cats, the three blind mice, a football (soccer) player, and what's a party without someone in a toga! I was a tree, simple but easy and pretty much everyone knew what I was!

Chimney sweep, Pippi longstocking, tree, hippie

We started the afternoon off with homemade Danish Fastelavn buns - delicious!! And then we started making masks and "branch bunches of fertility" that was used by children to wake their parents up after Fastelavn. This tradition was supposed to bring good luck and fertility to the mother. After arts and crafts were over we were able to participate in the traditional "slå katten af tønden" (hitting the cat out of the barrel). It sounds a little bit morbid, and it is. Back in the 1400s, Danish farmers would put a black cat in a barrel and beat the barrel until it broke. The cat would come out, flabbergasted of course, and they would beat it to death. It represented good luck and would prevent the plague from coming to the village. We did the G-rated version of slå katten af tønden. We hit a barrel with wooden sticks until it broke and candy (not a cat) came out - it is like a piñata but with a wooden barrel. The person who made the bottom fall down was crowned Queen, and the person who made the last piece of wood come off was crowned King.

Fastelavn buns + arts and crafts = great fun?

Fertility branches

Kill the cat; get the candy!!

It was a really fun time getting to learn about and partake in the Danish tradition of Fastelavn, even if it did feel like I was in kindergarten again!