Maslenitsa (Fastelavn) in Denmark

Fastelavn marks the beginning of preparations for a long post. It is celebrated annually on the Monday preceding the Catholic Ash Wednesday. On this day in cities and villages, children get up first and wake up their parents with festive songs.

Then they dress up in colorful costumes, put on masks and, picking up birch branches of Fastelavnsris, decorated with bright paper and candy, walk the streets and sing songs in the hope that the townspeople will fill their boxes with sweets. At the end of the day, children gather around a large wooden barrel hung on a tree or pole. In turn, they try to break her with a baton.

He who succeeds in this, becomes the owner of a pile of sweets and fruits with which the barrel is filled; he is appointed king of Fastelavn and put on his head a paper crown, after which the king chooses a queen. In the old days, a black cat was put in a barrel and beat on a barrel until the animal died. Only adults did this. In modern Denmark, only a black cat painted on a barrel resembles this barbaric tradition.

In some cities on this day in the morning, a procession of riders takes place along the streets, which is accompanied by a wagon with musicians. They stop at the request of the townspeople and perform a song in exchange for hot rum. In the evening, the riders break their barrel, suspended on ropes between two pillars. Each rider, riding on a galloping horse, throws a heavy stick into the barrel. When the barrel completely falls apart, the gathering proceeds to elect the queen and king of the barrel, who then open the ball of the barrel.

ALENA MICKLASHEVSKAYA