Fastelavn

Today my family and I went to a DIS Fastelavn celebration. Fastelavn is a holiday similar to Halloween in Denmark where children dress up in costumes and eat candy. However, my favorite part of the holiday is the sweet iced buns that everyone eats. For Fastelavn, I went all out and wore a full skeleton suit that my host family had lying around. The whole family dressed up, and though Jonas was against wearing a costume at first, he came around in the end. 

At the party, we ate our share of desserts and then broke barrels with sticks. This tradition is similar to breaking pinatas at parties. But the meaning behind the barrel breaking is different here. In the past, they used to put a live black cat inside the barrel and break it. It was supposed to get rid of any bad luck that the cats represented. Now they fill the barrels with candy; PETA wouldn't be too happy if they kept the cat thing going. The person to break the barrel and release the candy is awarded queen, regardless of whether it's a boy or girl. After the candy is on the ground, you keep swinging at the barrel until the last piece is knocked down. The person who achieves this feat is the king. I was the king of my barrel, and Jonas was queen of another. We also bobbed for apples and some people ate buns dangling from strings. I only succeeded in soaking my head in the bucket, but Jonas snagged one without a problem. It was a fun time and great to experience an annual Danish holiday.