Happy Easter!
Happy Easter weekend! We love Easter because, for us, it really marks the beginning of spring. Flowers are starting to bloom, trees are turning a beautiful shade of green, and the sky is blue again! We aren’t religious, so that side of it does not play into the holiday for us, but of course, for many, it does. In today’s blog post, we want to explore some of the fun Easter traditions that we have in Denmark! If any of them sound particularly enjoyable to you, maybe you can even incorporate one into your Easter this year.
Easter in Denmark
In Denmark, Easter is a major holiday as the country is predominantly Christian. Some Danes do go to church services, but the truth is, most take Easter as an opportunity to unwind after a busy and cold winter and to spend time with family. We have really fond memories of Easter holidays spent with our family, eating good food and celebrating Påske (Easter) with some very particular traditions! We wanted to share three of those unique Danish Easter traditions in our post today: påskeæg, gækkebreve, and påskefrokost.
1. Påskeæg
The first tradition is more of a regional Danish custom, but it’s something that our family is particularly fond of! We love to “trille påskeæg.” What does this mean? It translates to “rolling Easter eggs.” Basically, we first take some regular chicken eggs, hard boil them, and then decorate the shells with paint. We used to love this part as kids, because you get to make your own little designs and decorations that identify that egg as yours. Once the eggs dry, you go outside, maybe for a walk or just to the backyard, and find a suitable hill. Can you guess what happens next?
You take turns rolling your egg down the hill, aiming to roll yours the farthest. But if it breaks – you’re done! You can now eat your egg, unless it has hit a rock or a branch on the way down, in which case bits of egg are likely strewn across the grass at this point. Typically, we allow each person to have 2 or 3 eggs so everyone has a few chances, just in case your egg shatters on the first roll. This is definitely a regional tradition that not all Danes do, but they should! It is so much fun and really brings out the competitive side in people, for better or for worse 😂
2. Gækkebreve
The next Easter tradition is gækkebreve. This roughly translates to a “snowdrop letter,” in reference to the snowdrop flowers that usually mark the first signs of spring. People, most often children, cut out intricate and pretty shapes on white paper, leaving space in the middle to write a poem. They then sign this with a number of dots that correspond to the number of letters in their first name. The poem should rhyme and should tease the recipient a bit, encouraging them to guess who the sender is. The recipient then guesses, and if they guess correctly, the sender owes them a chocolate egg, but if they guess incorrectly, they owe the sender an egg! These are often sent with a snowdrop flower enclosed along with the poem, hence the name gækkebreve.
3. Påskefrokost
The last tradition, but perhaps the most important to many people, is påskefrokost, or Easter lunch! A holiday “lunch” in Denmark is not simply a lunch, but rather a large meal filled with lots of different food, beer, and the most essential ingredient of them all – snaps! Snaps in Denmark is always akvavit, which is a very strong alcoholic spirit. During big lunches, like at Christmas and Easter, people drink shots of snaps as they eat their meal. The meal consists of various courses of meat, fish, and vegetables, washed down with beer and snaps. It’s super delicious and so nice to spend time with family gathered together around the table.
That brings me to the end of today’s blog post – I hope you enjoyed learning more about Danish Easter traditions! If you have any questions, comments, or additions, feel free to write to us in the comment section below. Happy Easter! We hope you get to spend time with family and friends and relax.
