What is a gækkebrev? A single piece of paper, cut into a lace-like design, sent anonymously in the days before Easter. This Danish tradition is slowly dying out due to the country's rush towards digitalization. Paper letters have almost disappeared; it's quite possible to go for months without receiving any physical mail at all. Sometimes children make gækkebrev at school and bring them home to their parents. Of course, they are supposed to be anonymous, so parents pretend not to know who has sent them.

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"Hitting the Cat in the Barrel" is a popular Danish children's game to celebrate Fastelavn, the local version of Mardi Gras. Danes enjoy the Fastelavn parties but have mostly jettisoned the religious holiday behind it. They often assume that anyone actively religious is backward, ignorant, or morally weak. One Dane told me that believing in God was like believing in Santa Claus.

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Income inequality in Denmark is growing, despite the country’s traditionally egalitarian culture. The rich go skiing in January, while the rest of the country stays home and tries to pay off Christmas overspending. Candles, TV, sweaters, warm slippers and hot tea are often packaged as "hygge", but it’s often just being broke and not being able to go anywhere.

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