Fastelavn

In Denmark, they celebrate a holiday called Fastelavn. It's somewhat similar to Halloween. The kids dress up in costume and in some areas, go door to door, where they are given treats or money.
They also have the traditional event of slå katten af tønden or hit the cat out of the barrel. Traditionally, they would put a live black cat in a large wooden barrel and take turns hitting it with a stick until the bottom would fall out and the cat would escape. Whoever knocked the bottom out was crowned "the Queen of Cats," and then they would continue hitting all the slats out of the barrel. Whoever accomplished this feat was called the "King of Cats." There reasoning with hitting the cat in the barrel was that they believe black cats to be evil and this was their way of eradicating the evil. Fortunately, they no longer place a cat in the barrel, but fill it up with candy. It's quite similar to a pinata, although it takes quite some force to break apart the wooden barrel. Another part of the earlier Fastelavn traditions was for children to "flog" their parents with sticks to wake them up in the morning. Then they would be given a treat. Funny, huh? That's one part of the holiday I don't think we'll be following.
Our ward had a Fastelavn party last week and so it was fun for us to get to experience our first Danish Holiday. The kids loved dressing up and taking whacks at the barrel. But mostly they loved the candy that fell out. =) The thing I loved the most was the traditional Fastelavnsboller. Basically a type of roll filled with cream and topped with icing. Very yummy! It was a fun event. You can read more about Fastelavn here.