In part due to the thread Very started on Local legends folklore etc I have been doing a bit of rooting and came accross a rhyme called Riding the Stang. (it's a dialect rhyme again but easier to understand than the poem I posted)



Apparently an effigy was made from straw and clothes to represent the culprit, this was tied to the Stang and placed upright in a handcar, the Stang Master would be sat in the cart, villagers would follow the cart carrying anything that could be used to make a noise, such as pan lids, tin cans, etc, when they got to the house of the culprit the stang Master would recite the above rhyme and all the villagers would make as much noise as possible. this would be repeated for three nights, and on the third the effigy would be burnt in fron to of the house.

Basically I was wondering what the origins of this form of punishment were, I know it was used mainly on men who beat their wives as can be seen from the rhyme, was this practice specific to the rural areas of Yorkshire or was it more widespread, and does it have its origins somewhere within witchcraft? I can't find any mention of what Wood the stang was made from for this purpose but I wouldn't be suprised if it was blackthorn.

Does anyone else have any other info on this form of punishment?

I have a copy of Chamber's Book of Days, a huge tome, which devotes a whole page to 'Riding the Stand' pretty must as you describe it but with with a different verse although much along the same lines. a method of dealing with wife beaters when all legal means had failed.

It comments that it is know in the southern counties as 'Rough Music' and appears to be a mini-riot held in defience of the magistrates and constables and was witnessed by Chambers or his informant in October 1862


I also found this from 1614


I didn't know before that a stang was a stick used by cowherds. That explains it's use by a group I belonged to ages ago which used a stang and other agricultural implements to mark boundaries, in fact it was more like a going to a version of Gardeners Question Time than a ritual.

dav

Just googled 'Rough Music' ..... some interesting hits.


dav

saw it written somewhere,that a stahng is also a measure of land in wales

Probably just coincidence, that. The custom was called ceffyl pren or cwlstrin in Wales, there are loads of examples from all parts of the country. Largely something that was done where a member of a couple was behaving badly, so scolding women and violent men were the usual targets. Like many customs, it was something that helped cement the community together and ensure that its norms were enforced. Started to die out when the rural police were introduced.

gwyn eich byd

Ffred

Cheers folks, it would seem then that it occured country wide then as I have seen another mention of it in the Edinborough area.

*herne goes off to google Rough Music* thanks for that Dav

I find it a very interesting custom/punishment in a way, public ridicule and humiliation actually one reference I saw that was something to do with Scandinavia mentioned that those who rode the stang as it were rarely regained the acceptance of the comunity or regained their honour, something like that.
Like I say it got me wondering if it had a basis in witchcraft due to the way it was done etc.

You have? You wouldn't be a love and point me in that direction as well then would you? I live near there and would be very interested to read more

http://www.leithhistory.co.uk/2004/07/29/riding-the-stang/

there ya go

Thanks hon!

I know that in at least one tradition the stang is made from whichever wood calls from you, but Ash is recommended, mostly because its shape (long, straight branches with occasional forks) lends itself well to the purpose.

When cutting thumbsticks for walking however the best wood to use is generally hazel - its light, seasons well and again, tends to grow tall and straight with enough forks to make a good walking stick.

There's also a reference (minus the stang) to a similar punishment in 'Lark Rise to Candleford', an autobiography writted by a woman who grew up in late Victorian Oxfordshire. A man and woman in the village were found to be having an affair and their effigies were paraded through the village and burned.

Ever tried making a decent stang from blackthorn? It is... difficult in the extreme... to find a suitable piece of wood

Interesting piece, although connecting it with 'witchcraft', as such, seems a little hasty to me - although I suppose it could be seen as a form of sympathetic magic.

xF,

...Nick

Yeah I am trying to find out the origins of the practice, all I seem to find are descriptions of them but not how it came about and as such I was just wondering if there was a conection rather than saying that there is. personally I havent made a stang out of blackthorn no, and have heard that its more difficult to find a decent piece to use, but that it is worth the extra effort in doing according to what I have read and heard of its use.

on ROUGH MUSICK... see 'masks of misrule' and 'call of the horned piper' -Nigel Jackson, capall bann publishing:)