The Thai-Nordic Association (TNA) invited to celebrations of Fat Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras. Though given it was on a Friday, the event was called The Social: Phat Friday.
As TNA had promised, it was “like Fat Tuesday, but phatter.”
About 70 Nordics and Nordic friends gathered at the Rembrandt in Bangkok and showed that TNA is building bridges across cultures and generations. Attendees enjoyed Swedish Semlas, finger food, snacks, and drinks while playing a fun social game to win beads from each other.
The event committee for The Social: Phat Friday consisting of Kim Alexandersen, Fillip Wallberg, Kunnuda Wallberg, and Alexander Wetterling, was very satisfied with the great turnout, seeing the great interest in social events for Nordics and Nordic friends in Thailand. Alexander shared Fat Tuesday and Semla history with the partygoers.
In New Orleans, Mardi Gras is synonymous with parades, costumes, masks, and multi-colored strings of beads. It has also become infamous for “wearing less clothing than considered decent in other contexts.”
While one would think that’s a new phenomenon, it is not. The Times-Democrat in 1889 decried the “degree of immodesty exhibited by nearly all female masqueraders seen on the streets.”
TNA kept the beads and skipped the indecencies.
In the Nordics, the celebrations focus on eating, and TNA served Swedish Semlas at the event. The Semla and similar delicious cream-filled buns are served throughout the Nordics around this time. Iceland is the exception.
In Denmark and Norway, it’s called Fetetirsdag (Fat Tuesday), and people eat fastelavnsboller. In Sweden, it’s Fettisdagen (which also means Fat Tuesday), and the Swedes eat a sweet roll called fastlagsbulle or Semla. The Finns call it laskiainen and eat green pea soup and laskiaispulla, which is the same as the Swedish Semla.
Iceland skips the sweet, cream-filled buns on Sprengidagur (Bursting Day) and instead eats salted meat and peas. While the Swedish Alexander pronounced “laskiaispulla” fairly well, he had a harder time with “Sprengidagur.”
So, who won the bead game? Three contestants had amassed a large number of bead necklaces. To crown the winner, Paul Jeffels counted the beads. Patty had collected the most beads and won fantastic prizes, like a mini air purifier and a voucher to dine at Rembrandt’s eminent restaurants.
It will be interesting to see what The Social by Thai-Nordic Association comes up with next for the party-hungry Nordics and Nordic friends in Thailand.
