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Knocking-the-cat-out-of-the-barrel is an old custom of the peasantry which takes place the Monday before Lent. The young men dress themselves gaily, and, armed with wooden clubs, hie them to the village green. Here a barrel is suspended with a cat inside it. Each man knocks the barrel with his club as he runs underneath it, and he who knocks a hole big enough to liberate poor puss is the victor. The grotesque costumes, the difficulty of stooping and running under the barrel in them, when all your energies and attention are required for the blow, result in many a comical catastrophe, which the bystanders enjoy heartily. Puss is frightened, but not hurt, and I think it would be just as amusing without the cat, but the Danish peasants think otherwise. Another pastime which takes place on the same day is called
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The men, wearing paper hats and gay ribbons, gallop round the course, trying to snatch a suspended ring in passing. The man who takes the ring three times in succession is called
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King, he who takes it twice
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Prince. When the sport is over, King and Prince, with their train of unsuccessful competitors, ride round to the farms and demand refreshment for their gay cavalcade, of which
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Æleskiver,
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Valborg's Dag