Easter in Denmark

Apr 08, 2020

Easter is big in Denmark. It kicks off the summer season after a long, dull Nordic winter, and the Danes go all in for it. a

For Danes Easter means being together with loved ones, relaxing and having fun making new memories.

Here are a few ways Danes celebrate Easter.

Decorate the Home

Like everywhere else in the world, the egg is a major symbol of Easter, also in Denmark. It symbolizes new life and a new beginning. For decoration using egg shells, you can blow out your own egg by making a tiny hole at the bottom and top with a needle. You might decorate some hard boiled eggs and have them on the side to admire. You could collect some twigs from your garden and hang home made salt dough decorations on them too.

Spring flowers are also collected and displayed inside the home to embrace the element of nature.

Get Together

During Easter, Danes celebrate mostly the arrival of springtime and with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday being national holidays, they find Easter as a good opportunity for a short escape to their summer houses.

Easter lunch, is a must for most Danes. It means getting together with family or friends for a huge feast that involves a fish starter (herring, salmon, breaded fish fillets or crab) and then moving onto a meat main course that would normally involve lamb and some seasonal vegetables like asparagus.

Many Danes also throw Easter eggs as a game. The eggs are boiled and you line up outside to see who can throw their eggs the farthest. Children in Denmark also enjoy receiving a giant chocolate egg filled with sweets.

Make a Snowflake

Making a gækkebrev is a traditional activity for Danish children and their families. They create a paper snowflake and write a rhyming riddle in the middle and then send it to someone along with a snowdrop. Children will not sign their names on the letter, but will instead put one dot for every letter in their name.

Recipients then have to guess who sent them the letter. If they guess right, the sender has to give them a chocolate egg. If they don't guess the sender's identity, then the recipient has to give the egg.