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Mardi Gras on Ærø
Mardi Gras is something very special and rich in tradition on Ærø.
Mardi Gras is big on Ærø - for both young and old. All over the island during the day you can meet children dressed up, walking around and rustling.
In Ærøskøbing, the children also meet early in the morning and wake up the town with a lot of noise. Everyone finishes at the baker's, which offers fresh Hetvier, a kind of Mardi Gras bun, which originates from Southern Jutland and which can still be found on Ærø.
To walk mask
If you are in town on Ærø on Shrove Monday evening, or if you have been invited in by some locals who are in on the joke, you may be lucky that there is a knock on the door and some strange personalities with pipe voices and masks come in and demand to have a shot glass with port and straw. And then robber stories are told in grand style to the great amusement of everyone - preferably about current themes on the island, which the masked people parody.
On Ærø, the adults also walk masks, as it is called - a tradition that was reportedly brought to the island around 150 years ago by a tailor from Bregninge, who got the idea from Als, and which also takes place in connection with the days around Epiphany (January 6). The story goes that when old Maren in Leby owed the tailor money, he disguised himself and almost scared the life out of her, when she thought it was the devil himself!