(no subject)

[rimturse]

We were incredibly lazy today. Played marbles on the floor, first the standard game (C won), then C invented a "football" game, which I won! Then we went for a drive and a walk in town. It was full of kids in costumes (Fastnacht), we met some friends and their sons -the tiniest viking I ever saw and a musketeer whose boots were slipping down his legs- bombed C with confetti. :)

Picked up some durum and DVDs...went home and continued the laziness.

Comments

[maggiemotley.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me like the perfect Sunday :-)

What exactly is Fastnacht -- I don't think we have an equivalent.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Hmm Fastnacht is similar to the Danish fastelavn and when I look fastelavn up in my Danish-English dictionary it says Shrovetide. Do you know this?

[maggiemotley.livejournal.com]

I know that Tuesday coming is Shrove Tuesday -- only it tends to be better known as Pancake Tuesday, for obvious reasons :-)

[frigg.livejournal.com]

uhmm pancakes. :)

I found an English page that explains the Danish fastelavn: click here. There are more traditions than mentioned on this page, but it should give you a general idea. :)

In Switzerland it is somewhat different. The kids dress up, but they do not play the barrel game or go trick or treating. Instead they throw loud fire-crackers and throw confetti at people. The adults dress up as well - they have brass bands on the street and a Swiss version of the Brazilian carnival train. In the evenings many bars will have topless serving. So whereas the fastelavn in Denmark is mainly for the children, the Fastnacht in Switzerland is also very much for the adults.

Oh and in case you're wondering. Here's the fastelavn song:

Fastelavn er mit navn, boller vil jeg have, hvis jeg ingen boller får så laver jeg ballade.

Translated: Fastelavn is my name, I want buns (special creme-filled buns made for fastelavn), if I don't get any buns, I'll make trouble.

The adults must then pretend to be very worried and quickly give the children sweets to keep them nice.

[maggiemotley.livejournal.com]

It sounds like lots of fun :-)

Much more interesting than our Pancake Tuesday.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

What do you do on Pancake Tuesday, apart from eating pancakes? :)

[maggiemotley.livejournal.com]

Nothing really, except the pancakes. The idea is that housewives use the ingredients in their cupboards before Lent, when we aren't supposed to eat much of anything.

Ash Wednesday is a fasting day when people go to church to have ash rubbed on their foreheads. Again, not very fun.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

You're just party-animals :)