WotD # 20 -- Gækkebrev

I'm not as knowledgeable as Collin when it comes to computers so sadly my word-of-the-day is not accompanied by a soundbyte of how to pronounce it.   But the word is

Gækkebrev

and it is pronounced something like

GA-AY-ga-bro   (sort of like that anyway)

It literally translates to "Valentine" on google translate, and looks a lot like a Valentine, but it is actually an Easter custom here in Denmark.  It's a 100s-of-years old tradition where the sender cuts up paper in a creative way (think homemade paper snowflake) and writes a poem around it.  It's important that the poem rhymes.   Instead of signing it, the sender writes as many dots as letters in his/her name and then slyly gives it to the recipient.  If the recipient can guess who made it, the sender has to give the recipient something.  In the  past it was a kiss, now it is a chocolate egg.  If the recipient can not guess who made it, then THEY have to give the sender the kiss/chocolate egg...once the sender reveals himself of course.


Thanks to the Expat in Denmark facebook page for telling me about this custom and for sharing the following video from the Official Website of Denmark (the video is in English!)

Video explanation of how to make a gækkebrev

And thank you to Rikke Storm's blog for the picture!