Fastelavn, Ikea style

Yesterday was Fastelavn (a Danish holiday in which children dress up in costumes and hit a candy-filled barrel with sticks until it breaks. Below is an old blog post I wrote on the subject when I was here two years ago:

Today is Fastelavn, a holiday marking the beginning of lent and traditionally associated with feasting, killing a cat, and beating your children. "At slå katten af tønden" means "to hit the cat out of the barrel", and originally this was taken literally -- people would hang a barrel with a cat in it from a tree and hit it with wooden clubs until the barrel broke and the cat fell out. Then they chased the cat with their clubs, killing it if they could catch it and otherwise just chasing it out of town. Sin and bad fortune were supposed to be abolished along with the cat. Today, the cat has been replaced with food and candy, and kids take turns hitting the barrel (usually decorated with black cats) until someone breaks it or knocks it down. The lucky child is then dubbed the king of queen of cats, and everyone grabs the candy, like with a piñata.

Another lovely Fastelavn tradition is the Fastelavnsris. This is a tree branch which is decorated prettily with ribbons the night before Fastelavn. In the morning, parents would wake up their children by beating them with the Fastelavnsris to remind them of the sufferings of Christ. Today, the beatings are gentle and just for fun, if they are done at all. Afterwards, the kids put on costumes and walk around the neighborhood singing the Fastelavn song (which we learned in Danish class). Originally, they would go door-to-door asking for Fastelavn buns, but now they mostly ask for money.

So anyway, yesterday I was chaperoning a student trip to Ikea, where some Fastelavn festivities were taking place. They set up a few barrels which the kids eventually managed to break, although it took a pretty long time -- a wooden barrel is sturdier than a normal piñata, apparently. But what was particularly shocking to my American sensibilities was a child there who was dressed up in blackface! Including an Afro wig and brown face paint -- I have a feeling that kind of thing wouldn't fly in the US. Crazy Danes.