Easter

In the weeks leading up to Easter, you will find Danish children making gækkebreve or fool’s letters. The letters are carefully cut out from folded paper, so that when you unfold them, delicate patterns will appear. On the letter a ‘teaser poem’ is written, which is the clue to guessing who the letter is from. Fool’s letters are anonymous, but signed with a number of dots equivalent to the number of letters in the sender’s name. If you are able to guess who sent you a fools letter then the sender owes you a chocolate egg, but if not you owe the sender an egg. Other Easter traditions are hunting for eggs in gardens, blowing and painting eggs and of course, a big Easter lunch with dishes such as pickled herring, pastry shells with chicken and asparagus and eggs in mustard sauce.

Read more about how the Danes celebrate Easter here.