Attention, all of my American Paizo friends!
While most of you are probably getting ready for Halloween, the same thing is happening here in Denmark. All day, I've watched Danish kids run around in costumes and reluctantly handed out candy to a couple of trick-or-treat groups who came calling. The kids, aided greatly by local businesses eager for another holiday to market, are naturally thrilled about the concept. And a steady number of parents caved and buy into the whole thing, even though Halloween has never traditionally been celebrated in Denmark. As such, I must congratulate you on another successful export of American culture (thank you for Coca Cola, Star Wars, Pathfinder and all the other great stuff, btw).
The thing is, they do the exact same thing in February, and have been doing it for decades, in celebration of Fastelavn. The. Exact. Same. Thing. The costumes, the house-calls, the treats, everything. Only exception is that instead of pumpkins, there is the ritual beating of a barrel and eating of baked goods filled with whipped cream. Only now the kids get to do it twice a year.
So, in order to maintain transatlantic cultural balance, the only option I see is that you adopt the custom of Fastelavn!
Here is what you do:
1. Read THIS LINK to brush up on the custom. If you have further questions, just ask. Don't sweat the details, though. Very few Danes have any clue what Halloween is all about, except that it involves candy, pumpkins and costumes.
2. Alert you local business, and advice them to store all their surplus Halloween merchandise until February. All they have to is ask their Marketing dept. to replace the word Halloween with Fastelavn in the ads, and they are golden. Oh, and local coopers and bakers should appreciate the extra business.
3. Find a calender and look up Ash Wednesday. Now find the first Sunday before that, and write "Fastelavn".
4. When the day arrives, tell your kids to put on costumes and go trick-or-treating. They probably won't question why, but if they do, be sure to tell them all about the long tradition Americans have for celebrating Fastelavn and why it is so important for them to carry on the tradition. If they are anything like Danish kids, it won't be a hard sell. Oh, and there is a song they are supposed to sing.
5. For extra credit, gather the folks from your local school or church, hoist up a barrel, slap the image of a black cat on it and fill it with candy and/or oranges. Then smack it repeatedly with a baseball bat until it breaks and the goodies spill out (yup, same concept as a pinata, only harder to break). Here's a video tutorial.
6. Repeat every year. If it custom fails to gain traction in your local community, be sure to remind the kids about the candy, and the business owners about all the Fastelavn-themed stuff they get to sell.
7. Congratulate yourself on having adopted a charming European custom. Once we see Fastelavn-related activities on the rise, we'll start thinking about adopting Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July or something.
Now on to Día de los Muertos :)
No.
No.
Ahw, come on...it's just like Halloween, only with extra stuff. Did you read about the part where kids get to flog their parents with a bunch of twigs?
Nej! ;)
btw, is interesting to hear of danish traditions
I'm in. I missed out on Halloween last night anyway.
Now on to Día de los Muertos :)
A lot of cities here celebrate it! It's bigger in NYC, but Seattle has a bunch of related events; most were in late October but there's another tomorrow, as well as ongoing things at the Sculpture Park.
Re: Fastelavn, the flogging and barrel-smashing sound like great additions to Carnival! The tradition here of Easter trees might be related to Fastelavnsris, but it's not something you hit anyone with.
Another fun tradition: St. Lucia's Day, which for Lutherans in the Midwest involves a girl with a crown of lit candles serving cookies and buns (and followed by someone with a bucket of water), people making Jul logs, and a small feast of Scandinavian-American holiday foods (meatballs, rollepulse, lefse, raebleskiver, krumkakke, rømmegrøt, etc.). I always wanted to carry the bucket but never got to. :(
By chance, St. Lucia was also the patron saint of a neighborhood I lived in in Brooklyn, but it's an Italian (Catholic) community there, so the traditions were different (there was a parade with her statue, not sure what all else).
Now on to Día de los Muertos :)A lot of cities here celebrate it! It's bigger in NYC, but Seattle has a bunch of related events; most were in late October but there's another tomorrow, as well as ongoing things at the Sculpture Park.
That is sooooo cool! :D