What happens on Pancake Day in Denmark?
Christine Baker emailed to tell us about bun day in Denmark . “In Denmark we also indulge before the beginning of lent. Although not many people fast for lent these days, it’s a welcome excuse to indulge… We celebrate on the last Sunday before lent, so the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday. The day is called “Fastelavn”. On this day it is custom to eat Danish style buns with the middle taken out and then filled with whipped cream and/or jam. All the kids dress up in any way they like. Some are cats, pirates, princesses or Shrek, to name a few options. The kids all meet up to “hit the cat out of the barrel”, which is the old days included bashing a barrel with a bat while there was a live cat inside. Fortunately for the cats, this is no longer the case, and the barrels are instead filled with sweets. The kids bash the barrel until it breaks and then run to get the sweets that are lying on the snow. The two kids to do the best bashin are crowned Cat King and Cat Queen. Afterwards there is u
