The Danes have a ridiculous amount of holidays. Example: they celebrate both Halloween and Fastelavn, which is basically Halloween in February, except you also get to eat candy and pastries.. my kind of holiday. Kids go door to door, just like on Halloween, but they ask for money instead of candy. It's celebrated by the Danes on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. For whatever reason, DIS throws us a party a week afterwards instead. My entire host family dressed up and even provided me with a lovely cat costume.
One important tradition of Fastelavn is the "cat in a barrel" game. Back in the old days, like waaayyy old days when black cats were considered super sinister, Danes put a black cat in a barrel and beat it until the cat inside died. For obvious reasons, Danes have given up on this tradition. Instead they put a cute picture of a cat on the outside of a cardboard "barrel" and hit and hit it until someone knocks all the candy out of it, much like a piñata.
Fastelavn is also famous for its... you guessed it... pastries! By far, my favorite game of the day was what I will refer to as the pastry game. Basically, someone holds a stick with three pastries dangling from three strings on the stick. Three people who still haven't burst from all the other delicious pastries have to eat those pastries without using their hands. Whoever eats it the fastest is the winner.
With my pastry-a-day (or every four or five days..) project, I felt like I owed to myself to volunteer for such an event (and by "volunteer," I mean coerce the person in charge into doing one more round. Originally there was only a round for kids 12 and under, but my host sister and I managed to help them see things a little differently..).
I (intentionally) don't have any pictures of me accomplishing this extraordinary feat, so (un)fortunately, I don't have any pictures to share. bummer...
At my practicum on Thursday, I tried stilts for the first time! I don't know if I've ever talked about my practicum before, but I think it merits an entire post for itself.
vi ses, y'all!
One important tradition of Fastelavn is the "cat in a barrel" game. Back in the old days, like waaayyy old days when black cats were considered super sinister, Danes put a black cat in a barrel and beat it until the cat inside died. For obvious reasons, Danes have given up on this tradition. Instead they put a cute picture of a cat on the outside of a cardboard "barrel" and hit and hit it until someone knocks all the candy out of it, much like a piñata.
Fastelavn is also famous for its... you guessed it... pastries! By far, my favorite game of the day was what I will refer to as the pastry game. Basically, someone holds a stick with three pastries dangling from three strings on the stick. Three people who still haven't burst from all the other delicious pastries have to eat those pastries without using their hands. Whoever eats it the fastest is the winner.
With my pastry-a-day (or every four or five days..) project, I felt like I owed to myself to volunteer for such an event (and by "volunteer," I mean coerce the person in charge into doing one more round. Originally there was only a round for kids 12 and under, but my host sister and I managed to help them see things a little differently..).
guess who won.
I (intentionally) don't have any pictures of me accomplishing this extraordinary feat, so (un)fortunately, I don't have any pictures to share. bummer...
vi ses, y'all!
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