Slå katten af tønden

Yesterday I went to a great party in the lab where I’m working and it was really funny. We dressed up with costumes; ate very spicy Indian food and drank a lot. Furthermore we played to different games: A song quiz; different challenges… But the most surprised game was a typical Danish game called "Slå Katten af tønden" (Kick the Kitty Cat).

Danish people play that game in Carnival. For playing that game you have to buy a wooden barrel and cover it with wet towels for at least 8-10h in order to make the wood more resistant to break. 

Then you have to paste a picture of a cat into the barrel and fill the barrel with candy, sweets and cookies and hang suspended it in the air.

The players line up and take turns hitting the barrel with a wooden stick until all the sweets fall out. During the first round the players only are able to hit the barrel with their no-good hand. So, for example, a right-handed person has to hit with her left hand. 

The person who breaks the barrel is the Queen. But the game continues until all the barrel brakes. The person who knocks down the last remaining part of the barrel is the King.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gGQbqNmFcU

The reason the game has such an odd name is that in the old days there used to be a live cat inside the barrel. Obviously, this was a very cruel game and nobody does that anymore, but part of the tradition has survived.