What Fastelavn Means in Denmark
Fastelavn is the Danish name for the Carnival tradition observed in the Northern European, historically Lutheran nations, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. In Denmark today, the festivities are generally considered a time for children's fun and family games. A common theme across all the countries where Fastelavn is celebrated involves children dressing up in costumes, walking door to door while they sing and gathering treats for the Fastelavn feast — a form of trick-or-treating.
Fastelavn is celebrated seven weeks before Easter Sunday and therefore always falls on a Sunday between February 1 and March 7. The holiday occurs the week before the Christian penitential season of Lent, culminating on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
Origins and Etymology
The term Fastelavn comes from Old Danish fastelaghen, a borrowing of the Middle Low German vastel-avent, meaning "fast-evening", or the day before Lent. The word has cognates in other mostly Germanic languages and languages in contact with them, including Kölsch Fastelovend, Limburgish Vastelaovend, Dutch Vastenavond, Scots Fastens-een, Latvian Vastlāvji and Estonian Vastlapäev. The related word Fastelovend is used for Carnival in Germany in Cologne and Bonn with the same meaning.
Fastelavn is related to the Roman Catholic tradition of Carnival in the days before Lent, although after Denmark became a Protestant nation the festival adopted certain distinctive characteristics. The Swedish counterpart is Fastlagen, the Icelandic is Sprengidagur, Finland celebrates Laskiainen, and in Estonia it is celebrated as Vastlapäev.
Customs and Traditions
As in Carnival traditions elsewhere, dressing up in costumes forms an important part of Fastelavn in all the Nordic Lutheran countries where the festivity is celebrated. In some places this involves smaller processions, but in contrast to former times, dressing up in costumes is now mainly a children's activity only.
Fastelavn processions are not practised on any notable scale anymore, but used to form an important part of the festivities for centuries in Denmark.
Cat in a Barrel
A traditional event is slå katten af tønden ("hit the cat out of the barrel"), which is somewhat similar to using a piñata. It occurs following the church service of Shrove Sunday in parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark and, also, at non-religious celebrations in city squares and similar venues. The same tradition is also celebrated in Scania (Skåne) in southern Sweden, a formerly Danish area.
To play this game, a wooden barrel full of candy is strung up in a suitable location and then the game is on: the participants each get a go to strike the barrel with a club or stick. There are sometimes oranges inside the barrel too, and it has the image of a cat painted on it. After the candy pours out, the game continues until the entire barrel has been smashed to pieces. The one who knocks down the bottom of the barrel (making all the candy spill out) becomes kattedronning ("queen of cats"); the one who knocks down the last piece of the barrel becomes kattekonge ("king of cats"). In some places, the person behind the kattekonge becomes kattedronning, although this is not common.
In Denmark and Scania, the barrel tradition has been practised for centuries, possibly introduced by Dutch immigrants to Copenhagen during the reign of Christian II of Denmark in the early 1500s. Historically, there was a real cat in the barrel, and beating the barrel and chasing the cat symbolised demolishing evil and chasing it away. It was practised up until the 1800s, with the last known event occurring in the 1880s. The cat was not killed, but allowed to escape when the barrel was broken. The practice also used to be popular in Holland, and similar events were known from Germany, called "Katzenschlagen". The Danish tradition is still celebrated today, but candy is used instead of a cat.
Songs
A popular children's song in Denmark is sung on various occasions related to Fastelavn, but mostly by costumed children walking door to door as a form of trick-or-treat. Even though the song relates to fastelavnsboller, candy or money is usually offered to the children when they sing.
Shrovetide Rods
Another popular custom, especially among children, is the Shrovetide Rod (fastelavnsris), with which children ritually flog their parents to wake them up on the morning of Fastelavns Sunday (Quinquagesima).
Fastelavnsris have many shapes and forms and differ from area to area. In some areas they are bunches of twigs, usually from fruit trees and preferably with buds, often decorated with feathers, egg-shells, storks and little figures of babies. In other areas, they are a bent willow-branch, shaped like an ankh and wound with crepe paper that has frizzles cut with scissors. Both varieties may be decorated with candy as well.
The custom was known in the 18th century in Germany and it has several roots. It may originate from an old pagan fertility ritual, which has been absorbed into Christianity. The more serious explanation is that after the Reformation, particularly pious people used to lightly flog their children on Good Friday to remind them of the sufferings of Christ on the cross. A similar custom is mentioned in the book "Frauenzimmerlexicon", published in 1715 in Leipzig (Germany), which describes how bachelors and virgins "bid each other goodmorning" by flogging each other and spreading ashes on each other; this custom is also known in both Denmark and Norway. Earlier, it was mainly the young women and the infertile who were flogged. It was also common that a young man would carry his fastelavnsris and gently strike at young women he met on the street. Later it became the children's special right to flog their parents on this day. In any case, the reward given for the flogging would be a fastelavnsbolle.
Food and Drink
In Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Norway a popular baked good associated with Fastelavn is the semla or fastelavnsbolle (literally "Fastelavn bun", also known in English as "Shrovetide bun" or "Lenten bun"), a round sweet bun of various sorts usually covered with icing and sometimes filled with a whipped cream mix or pastry cream. In most bakeries they are up for sale throughout the whole month of February.
There seem to be some small local traditions which are closer to the carnival traditions of other countries, including Ash Wednesday, Carnival parades, Pancake Tuesday and eating special food after Ash Wednesday, but they are not particular to Danish culture.
Religious and Civic Observances
During Shrovetide, faithful Christians attend Mass; on Quinquagesima Sunday, a special family service is held in parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark in which children dress up in costume. The children's sermon focuses on "appearances and what it means to hide behind a mask or be in disguise." After the church service concludes, congregants enjoy Shrovetide buns (fastelavnsboller) while children celebrate the custom of knocking the barrel (which symbolizes battling evil) and then consuming the sweets and fruit within it.
Beyond the church setting, the barrel tradition also takes place at non-religious celebrations in city squares and similar public locations.
Regional Variations
The traditions of Fastelavn vary somewhat by country and by local region, as some traditions have changed over time. Within the Nordic region, the barrel tradition is shared between Denmark and Scania (Skåne) in southern Sweden, a formerly Danish area. In the Faroe Islands the same tradition is held, but the barrel is most commonly empty; the person who finally knocks down the last piece of the barrel becomes kattakongur ("king of cats"). In Iceland, Ísafjörður is the only town that celebrates Fastelavn on the same day as the other Nordic countries, on Monday, locally known as Maskadagur (mask-day).
Within Denmark itself, the forms of the fastelavnsris differ from area to area, ranging from decorated bunches of fruit-tree twigs with buds to bent willow-branches wound with crepe paper.