Fodbold in the snow and hitting the cat out of the barrel

Today was a very eventful day! This morning I had my first soccer game with ØKF (Øresendskollegiat Fodboldklub). We played on a field that was completely covered with at least an inch of snow and even more in some places! Luckily my host parents decided to come cheer us on and my host dad happened to have a shovel in his van. So he shoveled the out-of-bounds lines and the 6 yard box for us. Despite his much appreciated efforts, the field was still very slippery and very unpredictable. Luckily we came out on top and ended up winning 3-2.

After warming up a bit it was time to celebrate Fastelavn! It's a holiday that is a combination of Fat Tuesday and Halloween. It celebrates the days before lent and the kids dress up in costumes and participate in the Danish version of trick-or-treating where they get money instead of candy. For me, this holiday included a delicious Danish pastry called Fastelavnboller (a croissant ball with either cream or fruit filling and topped with icing) and watching the traditional barrel hitting. Dragør, a city on the same island that I live on, is the only city that still participates in this tradition, so it was really cool to get to see a rare part of Danish culture. Originally they put a cat in a barrel and hung it from a rope then they rode by on horses and hit the barrel until it broke open. Now they are much more humane and just paint a picture of a cat on the side of a barrel but they still hit it until it shatters--it's the Danish version of a piñata. There were twenty or so men and women on horseback and they just kept riding up and down this one street that was lined with people, whacking a wooden barrel with their special Fastelavn bats. It was very entertaining and I found myself getting very into it. The person who broke the last piece of the barrel got a trophy/cup thing, some flowers, champagne and she led the procession for the rest of the day. Apparently the rest of day was filled with lots of celebrating and lots of rum punch but my host parents and I opted for some delicious pizza and watching the Olympics.

Here's some more pictures from my soccer game:

Good work, Jan!

And more pictures from Fastelavn:

The barrel before it got its beating

I was so enamored with this event

This little guy has a crown on because he busted open a carboard/kid friendly version of the cat barrel that was full of candy
Another action shot
Dragør, an adorable fishing town full of small houses, many still with thatched roofs. Also, it's a requirement for all the houses to be yellow with green shutters