Fastelavn in Norway
February 15 · Level 6 · #909 of 2238
Fastelavn is Norway's celebration before Lent, often compared with other pre-Lenten festivities such as Maslenitsa. For many families today, it means a cheerful gathering over something sweet. Its date moves with the Easter calendar.
How it is celebrated: families bake fastelavnsboller, buns split open and filled with whipped cream, often with jam as well. Twigs decorated with colourful feathers brighten homes, and children may take part in costume celebrations.
Those feathered branches also support charitable work. Selling them is a longstanding fundraising tradition of the Norwegian women's organisation Norske Kvinners Sanitetsforening.