Lets kill our friends…
… with cinnamon. Up here in the north we have some weird traditions. One of them is throwing cinnamon at our friends when they turn 25 and are unmarried. This tradition originates from a similar tradition takes place at the same circumstances, except the age is 30 - I'll get in to the history and background later. When I say "throw" I mean completely cover the "victim" from head to toes in cinnamon or pepper. And not just throwing with your hands, naa that’s not always good enough. At times people get creative and start smearing the person in eggs or cooking oil before using the cinnamon or pepper or use devices to throw it at a higher volume or speed, for instance I've seen a leafblower being used or a fire extinguisher.
My personal experience
As I'm only 26 years old it's still a very fresh memory how the whole experience felt like. I was one of the many many unfortunate fellas who weren't married at the age of 25, meaning my friends decided I was to be tortured with the cruel tradition of throwing cinnamon. Around 30 persons attended the "ritual". I was placed on a jetty with my hands tied behind my back and then they started out slowly. First they soaked me in warm water, meaning my pores in my skin would open up a tinny bit. Did I mention I was only wearing a pair of shorts? No? well I was, meaning my skin on my torso, arms, neck, lower legs, head, ears, hair, nose and eyes were exposed. There are two types of friends at these kind of situations, one type is the one that just sprinkle the cinnamon on top of your head, you can't really feel it, just smell it. And then there is the other type. The one that waits for you to inhale before throwing the cinnamon as hard as they can, meaning the cinnamon gets in your nose and mouth. The type that pulls out your pants and drops an entire bag of cinnamon, so that your lower region is filled with this orange/red powder that itches and stings. The type of person who uses his hands to smear it as hard as possible into your skin, so it really fucking burns.It burns, stings, itches and makes it impossible to breath. It hurts your eyes, your skin gets red and annoyed. It is a horrible experience. One of the worse I've ever experienced. Yet also one of the funniest, when you are on the other side of the cinnamon. And obviously you remember who of your friends gave you the most, was the worst etc, so you can get your revenge when they turn 25.
So when did this shitshow start?
As I mentioned in the beginning a danish person gets cinnamon at the age of 25 when unmarried, and pepper at the age of 30. The tradition of throwing cinnamon comes from the whole peppertradition, which originate from the 15th century, where men would get pepper thrown at them, if they werent married at the age of 30. Later, around the 17th century women were included in the peppertradition. It is unknown when the whole cinnamon-shit-show started, but it has spread and grown in popularity throughout the last 10 years.
It's time to wrap the second part of my series "The country in the north". If there is something you would like me to bring in the next "episode", whatever it may be, related to Denmark and its people, feel free to throw it in the comments below!
Thank you very much for reading along, until next time; Happy new year!
/Andy
Source:
Pic 1
Pic 2
I found two videos on youtube I'd love to show you, the first you'll see just how creative people get with this tradition, and in the second you see how wrong it can go (luckily the guy didn't get hurt, only a few hairs got burned off)