Is Getting Married a Big Deal in Denmark?

Variety might be the spice of life, but cinnamon is apparently the spice of singlehood -- at least in Denmark. The Scandinavian nation maintains a centuries-old tradition in which an unmarried person gets covered in cinnamon on his or her 25th birthday. The story goes that for ages, spice merchants in Denmark were so busy traveling from town to town that they never had time to settle down and get married. Today, however, being doused with cinnamon (and water, to help it stick) is thought of as a fun birthday prank. There isn't a social stigma about being unmarried in modern Denmark. In fact, the average age for women to marry is 32, while for men it's 34 and a half. Even so, If someone remains unmarried at 30 -- which is more than likely -- friends break out the pepper instead of the cinnamon and do it all over again.

Delving into Denmark:

• Denmark boasts the longest-lasting monarchy in the world, having started with a king more than 1,000 years ago.
• Denmark has twice as many bicycles as cars and offers more than 7,456 miles (12,000 km) of bike paths.
• In 1989, Denmark became the first country to approve same-sex unions, although it stopped short of calling them "marriages."