Wishing you a festive easter and spring holiday! Hopefully there will be some fresh air and outside time, but also a few indulgences here and there too! Back after the holiday!
Holidays are a big thing in Denmark, no matter what the season and right about now we are full in Easter and spring time mode. The kiddies at forest school have been busy - I thought I’d share just a few pictures of their recent creations before the upcoming break.
Easter is a huge holiday here in Denmark and although religious in origin, it is now mostly secular. There are still eggs and chocolates and all the forbidden fruits that children love so dearly, but on the whole, I have to say that Easter is much simpler. Which is bit funny since we get so much time off - 5 days to be precise. And it’s one of the few times the school is closed…
Although the religious components here are nearly gone, the sense of holiday is not. In general, it really does symbolize the transition to spring here (whether the weather is cooperating or not) and so there are lots of decorations of nests and eggs and spring time chicks and birds and bunnies and anything else that symbolizes starting anew. The kids built little moss lined nests to hold a single egg, which they had been dying in various root vegetables in the previous week. Little eggs were painted, and springtime teaser notes cut out. I didn’t get snaps of all of them but a few of the recent ones.
For us, we’ve become acclimatized enough to life here to know that the best way to celebrate something like this is to take it easy. We’re excited to have family in town and personally, I’m excited to have 5 days off of work. We have a few outings and a few walks planned and some special meals here and there but mostly, we’re just looking forward to being together, with no obligations other than to enjoy home, enjoy the weather, and enjoy each other. Isn’t that a real holiday after all?
I realize we are nowhere near Halloween on the calendar. But in going through all the Fastelavn pictures that we posted earlier, I also realized that I never shared these few from our Halloween forest school bash here at the house. We’ve been getting a bit braver about inviting others over from the school to show off a bit about our daughter’s American side. The first big foray into that was of course the American Embassy visit last summer, but then again this fall, we took it one step closer to our own home, literally, and had 30 little revelers over to celebrate Halloween. Halloween is, of course, primarily an American holiday, even though the date itself has various kinds of significance in multiple countries. However, it’s definitely becoming more and more of a deal here in Denmark. Our first year here, I think we barely saw a trick or treater, and by this year, downtown was full of them. I’ve heard quite a few people lament here (even at the school) that American holidays are becoming more and more prevalent. And while part of me understands that not everyone wants that, we were still determined to show the kids a good time and share a little bit about a tradition that really is a big deal where we’re from. Decorating was a big deal, especially since our little one picked out a lot of them. She’s also old enough now to help put them up and I have to say, that was one of the best parts of the party, was simply her and I getting ready for it. Trying to get all those insects up on the glass and the piles of pumpkins to stick, we managed to have a few laughs that I will most certainly remember as part of our time in this house.We tried really hard not to make it about just the candy or the trick or treating (although there was a little candy-less goody bag for everyone to take home at the end), but more about a fall festival type atmosphere. I don’t want to share the photos of all the kiddies here but there were sack races, and carnival games, and face painting, and just plain old running around. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about having these forest schools parties (now that we’ve thrown a few), it’s that we don’t have to over plan. Sometimes, the kids are content enough just to have a change of space and get a little glimpse into how their friends live.
Menu: Lots and lots of “crudite” sticks (those kids shovel those down, seriously), peanut butter and fruit roll ups, grilled sausages in rolls, mac’n’cheese bites, fresh berries, and frozen bananas covered in yogurt (thank pinterest for that one). And just because it was halloween, itty bitty brownies with candy corn. Still, it wouldn’t be Halloween if there wasn’t just a little bit of candy right? We got special permission to sneak in a few pieces which we did with the piñata. And although these kids are pro-fastelavn barrel beaters, for some reason, the piñata was a completely new thing and one that was very welcome. All in all a success, and the party will probably go down as one of our favorite halloween’s to date. After all, it’s nice to share something with people who share with you, right?
Fastelavn has come and gone already for this year, all too quickly I might add. But another parent from our school was lucky enough to do a “tag along” day on the very celebration day that the kids headed out to the woods for their traditional barrel bashing. It was also the day, our daughter became Queen of the Cats…
Queen of the Cats is, of course, the crowning glory you receive if you are the one to deliver the fatal blow to the wooden barrel containing the glorious treats for the Danish Carnival celebration (and so-called because the wooden barrel used to contain a cat, way back in the day).
We talked a little more about this fantastic Danish celebration here and here so I won’t get too much further into it except to say, I think our tot enjoyed her moment of crowning glory.
She wore the crown all day long, literally…at school…at home…after her bath, taking it off only when it was finally bedtime. I think it’s a day she will not soon forget, and I confess, that makes me happy. It’s the stuff of childhood dreams, and I’m elated she fulfilled one of hers here. Plus she was kind to her subjects…at least the ones at home!