Fastelavn

According to one Christopher Evans, tomorrow (Feb 28th) is 'officially' the last day of winter. Looking out the window at the moment, I'm not sure I agree with him! Nevertheless it's true to say that March is almost here, which in Norway means that the celebration of Fastelavn is also upon us. It falls on the Sunday, seven weeks prior to Easter Sunday, and is intended to serve as a reminder that a period of fasting is approaching (Lent).

Fastelavn is marked with the eating of Fastelavnsboller, decorating with Fastelavnsris, and celebrating Karneval. The 'boller' are made out of a sweet bread dough and baked as rolls prior to being served with either raspberry/strawberry jam, whipped cream and icing suger. Fastelavnsris (pictured) are birch branches decorated with colourful feathers. In olden times women, animals, trees and even the plough were often adorned to ensure good crops and healthy offspring. Karneval (carnival) is celebrated 40 days prior to Easter and in the nurseries children dress up much like they do on Hallowe'en in the US.

Meanwhile, in the Robertson household, the imminent onset of Lent has prompted the annual discussion of 'what to give up'. Given that the whole point of Lent is to do without something you really like and eat (or drink) a lot of…my pledge to give up chocolate and crisps fell on stony ground on account of the fact I don't really eat any! We're united in our opinion that giving up alcohol isn't really a viable option so that leaves us with either cheese or bread. Either way, it's going to be grumpy and it remains to be seen how much 'hardship' we can tolerate!

Despite the poor winter weather here, Mr R was recently able to go on a weekend ski trip with the sports and social club from GdF. They drove to a place called Roldal about 3 hours north of here and a great time was had by all. Some of them took time out from the pistes to pose for a picture...second from the right! We've had less success in getting to Sirdal, which is only about an hour's drive away, either because of high winds or because the access road is blocked. Looks like the cross country ski lessons may have to wait until 2015.

A couple of new words for you…barnehage (baa-ner-haa-ger) meaning nursery or day care. For some  inexplicable reason, when I hear this word it makes me want to fall about laughing. Even funnier is to hear a French person pronounce it. It's just a funny word…et morsomt ord…! Staying on the same subject and given that pretty much everyone I know is having a baby (yay!), barn (baan) is the word for child…not too far away from our own 'bairn'.

Right, I'm off to track down some Fastelavnsboller and I'll sign off with a picture of next-door's Viking moggie. Don't be fooled by the cute tilt of the head and those lovely yellow eyes…he's a monster!

Vi sees!