[Loch-Ruadh] Word of the Day, March 28

[Cait O'Hara]

battering-stone

A mass of whinstone fixed by the roadside near the east end of Whitby Abbey, which the boys annually pelted with stones after perambulating the Whitby township boundaries on Holy Thursday; those, it was believed, who broke the [stone] being entitled to a reward from the parish.
-- Francis Robinson’s Whitby Glossary, 1876

Beating the Bounds on Holy Thursday
This day was once observed with a ritual walk that enabled youngsters to develop a sense of the local real estate at a time when few maps were available.  Boundaries were impressed in children’s minds with physical reminders at crucial landmarks, such as light floggings, dunkings in cold rivers and ponds, forced scaling of wayside walls, fences, and trees, and dangerous scrambles across found en route, all to help prevent future land disputes.  Adults enhanced their enjoyment of this custom with a specially brewed "perambulation ale."

Second night of Passover






---
Never meddle in the affairs of dragons;
For you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
-- Acacia



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