Fastelavn

Yesterday in Denmark, we celebrated Fastelavn, the Danish version of Carnivale.  Fastelavn takes place just before Lent.  For Fastelavn, the little kids get all dressed up in costume, just like for Halloween.  Historically, one of the games they play on this holiday is to whack a barrel with a bat until a cat comes running out of it.  Nowadays, kids play a piñata type game, where they whack a barrel and candy comes out (instead of a live cat).  The first person to break the barrel so candy falls out becomes the "Queen of Cats."  The person who knocks down the last piece of the barrel becomes the "King of Cats."

Queen of Cats

A Cat Barrel Piñata

An important part of celebrating Fastelavn is the BUNS!  The fancy buns I tried were puff pastry disguised as a cream puff, filled with yummy cream.  The little kids go around singing this song, asking for Fastelavnsbolle, the Fastelavn buns.

Original Danish

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.

English translation:

Shrovetide is my name,

buns I want.

If I get no buns,

I will make trouble.

Buns up, buns down

buns in my tummy.

If I get no buns,

I will make trouble.

These buns are amazing! They were giving out free buns (not the fancy ones) at the Metro Station on Friday when Gaius was on his way to school.  Score!

Here are the fancy Fastelavnsbolle that we bought at our neighborhood bakery.

Blueberry, Lime, Plain & Strawberry

Here's a little note on pronunciation.  Anything ending in "avn" is actually pronounced "oun," like in the word "hound."

Fastelavn is "fasteloun."

Christianshavn (where I live) is "Christians-houn."

Nyhavn (the famous picturesque port) is actually pronounced "New-houn" because "Ny" is pronounced "New" and "havn" is pronounced "houn."

Nyhavn (new-houn)

This is just the basic stuff that I am only now figuring out.  I've been here a month, so I think that's kind of late for me to be learning all of this.

My absolute favorite one is this...

Amager is pronounced "Ama."  That's it.  The "ger" is silent.

Vestamager is pronounced "Vestama."  Silent "ger."

Our friend Jared actually told me, "I live in Ama.  It's spelled "A-M-A-G-E-R."

When our friend Roger comes to visit, I am going to just call him "Ro."

På gensyn!