The time is fast approaching when every kindergarten, school activity centre, sports club, chamber of commerce or houseowners’ association with any self-respect invites children and those young at heart to tilting at the barrel. There stands Princess Goldilocks with a pink skirt of tulle in a queue along with one of the three musketeers and waits half-freezing for it to be their turn to give the barrel a real solid whack. When young people nowadays ‘Beat the Cat out the Barrel’

at Shrovetide and the bottom falls out of it, sweets and other goodies drop out. The one to achieve this is crowned Bottom King and is given a small golden crown – and the person to knock off the last barrel stave becomes Cat King and gets the BIG golden crown! We find this a festive, fun tradition in the depths of winter – but that is not always how things have been!

In olden days, Shrovetide was actually also a time when one had the opportunity of being cruel to animals! There WAS in actual fact a cat in the barrel, which must really have suffered terribly from the hollow boom that resulted from the barrel being struck. Elsewhere, a live goose was hung up by its feet and its neck smeared with soap, so that it was difficult to get a proper hold when one rode beneath it and tried to pull its head off! These barbaric customs were, however, prohibited just before the 18th century.

Even though Shrovetide was originally part of the Christian world of ideas, some of the Shrovetide customs actually contain elements of pagan origin. For example, the farm hands used formerly to flog women and female animals with willow or birch rods to enhance fertility. This custom has survived in the form of coloured Shrovetide rods that children either make in kindergarten or are given by their parents, decorated with sweets and small presents.

A number of other Shrovetide customs are still going strong: it is still possible to buy extra-delicious buns and pretzels at the baker’s as Shrovetide approaches; children dress up and go round the neighbourhood rattling a money-box; and the old custom of tilting on horseback can still be seen, e.g. in Dragør and Store Magleby on the island of Amager, just south of Copenhagen.

It is a grand sight when the riders meet at 10am, dressed in a large white shirt – there’s plenty of room for several layers of thermal underwear underneath – embroidered jacket with silver buttons, black trousers and high hat. The horses are decorated with coloured headgear, ribbons and the special ‘snekketøj’ – a harness studded with small shells in decorative patterns.

The story behind this is that most of the farm hands from Amager did their military service with the Hussars in Næstved, where they became so enthusiastic about the special headgear used then as now at the parades that they brought the custom back with them when they returned home. This special harness is handed down from one generation to the next and is worth a great deal of money! Originally, it was only farm hands from the large Dutch farms in Store Magleby, Tømmerup and Ullerup that took part in the Shrovetide tilting – and it is still only male Shrovetide riders that participate in Store Magleby, whereas female riders also take part in Dragør.

The procession moves off with two flagmen bearing the Danish flag, Dannebrog, on specially decorated poles at its head, and accompanied by music carts drawn by horses. The participants pay calls around the town all day long and at each place of call they receive a glass of rum punch, which they pay for with a toasting song in honour of the host couple they

happen to be visiting. The climax of the day is beating the barrel at 4pm. Each rider has now quite a few glasses of punch under his belt, so there is both (Dutch) courage and plenty of atmosphere when, at a wild gallop – during which the onlookers must make sure not to get all too close to the suspended barrel – the riders bash away at the barrel, which has lain in water for several days so as to offer optimum resistance. So it may take up to half an hour before the last barrel stave has been knocked down and this year’s barrel king can be declared and get a kiss from the barrel queen, the eldest unmarried woman in the Shrovetide company.

In Dragør, beating the barrel takes place at Blushøj on Shrovetide Sunday, while in Store Magleby it takes place in the main street outside the Amager Museum on Shrovetide Monday. On both days, it starts at 4pm – but come in plenty of time and wear lots of clothes, for it is nearly always bitterly cold at Shrovetide.

Dates in 2003: 2nd and 3rd March
Dates in 2004: 22nd and 23rd February