On-On: March 2008

Music in the Hash House Harriers
December 2, 2003
Jerry "Folker" Agin

The Hash House Harriers is a loosely-organized world-wide fraternity of runners and beer drinkers. Members refer to the group briefly as "the hash." "A hash" may refer either to a local chapter of the hash, such as the Pittsburgh Hash House Harriers, or a run conducted by a hash. The verb "to hash" means to participate in a hash event. "A hasher" is a member of a hash.

I have been a hasher since 1983. For about a year I ran about once a month or every month with the Laurel Highlands Hash House Harriers, a group consisting mostly of employees of the Westinghouse laboratory in Waltz Mill, PA. In 1984 I joined the Pittsburgh Hash House Harriers. Soon thereafter, Westinghouse closed the Waltz Mill facility, and the Laurel Highlands Hash died. I have been hashing with the Pittsburgh Hash ever since, and I attend an average of 40 hashes per year here. At different times I held the offices of Grand Master (president) and On-Sec (secretary), and I currently hold the position of Hare Raiser (run scheduler).

I have attended hashes in other American cities, sometimes when some other occasion takes me there, and sometimes for weekend events that are the main reason for my travel. I have been to numerous hashing conventions (called "Interhashes") both in the US and abroad, including Malaysia, Trinidad, Tasmania (Australia), and Costa Rica.

So I am my own principal informant. In researching this paper I recorded and partially transcribed "down-down circles" on five separate occasions, and one of these circles is described in detail below. I also conducted interviews with four people other than myself to augment my own opinions with some other perspectives.

The Hashing Tradition

Hashing got its start in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1938, when a group of mostly British expatriates got together weekly for exercise and conviviality [1]. One of the members would mark a running trail, and the others would try to follow the trail. Afterwards they would gather at the Royal Selangor Club for dinner and after-dinner drinks. The local name for the club was "the Hash House" due to its indifferent food, and the group became known as "The Hash House Harriers." ("Harrier" is a term for a cross-country runner.)

The club broke up during the Second World War, but was reconstituted following the War. Starting in the early 1960s, the Hash began spreading to other places as people left Kuala Lumpur, and founded new chapters where their new assignments took them. Today there are 1467 chapters in 159 countries of the world [2]. The Pittsburgh Hash was founded in 1980.

The harriers play a running game based on the old English schoolboys' game of Hare and Hounds. Originally trails were marked with shredded paper; today they're usually marked with more ecologically-friendly baking flour. Trails are generally marked in a deliberately confusing way, with checkpoints from which the trail might continue in any direction, and false trails. Originally trails were set by a "live hare," a runner given a 15-minute head start, and the checkpoints and false trails were intended to slow down the pack of hounds to keep the hare from getting caught. In Pittsburgh and many other chapters today, most trails are "pre-laid." The hare may have marked the trail the previous hour or the previous day, and he runs with the rest of the pack, helping stragglers find their way, and even giving hints when the front-runners are unable to solve the puzzle he's set up for them. For pre-laid trails, value is placed on markings that are just tricky enough to keep the pack together -- with the front-runners discovering "true trail" just about the time the slowest runners (and walkers) are catching up to the checkpoint.

Trails may traverse any kind of terrain. Although it's impossible to avoid some road running at times, it is mostly frowned on. The best trails are in wooded territory, either in the rural or suburban surroundings of the city, or in city parks. In an urban environment, much use can be made of railroad tracks, stairways, underground culverts, stairs, (including the stairs of the Cathedral of Learning) parking lots, shopping centers, etc. "Shiggy" refers to the obstacles that would deter ordinary runners: mud, steep hills, briars, uneven terrain, stream crossings, and the like. The most highly valued runs contain a good dose of shiggy.

Runs are non-competitive -- there is no "winner" as in a race. Solving the trail is a cooperative activity, and runners are expected to shout, "On, on," when they encounter trail markings to alert other runners where the true trail lies. The shout, "Are you?" is a request for any runners within earshot who are on trail to respond with "on, on." Other shouts keep the pack in constant communication while checkpoints, false trails, and other confusion points are negotiated.

But the actual run is only half the fun. Afterward the group gathers to eat, drink, and celebrate, to recount the trials and tribulations of the trail, and to reward or punish the participants.

The central ritual in the post-run activities is called the "down-down". In many chapters, runners gather in a circle immediately following the conclusion of the run. In other chapters (including Pittsburgh) runners retire to a home or restaurant, the down-downs are conducted after everyone has had a chance to eat. In the latter case, the gathering for down-downs is still called a circle, even though no physical circle is involved.

A down-down is a ceremonial chug-a-lug. One or more honorees (or victims) are brought forward, and reasons are given for the (dis)honor. There is no generally accepted term for the person called forward; I will use the term "drinker" here. The drinker is given a cup of beer. The assembled people then sing a song, ending with the repeated phrase, "down, down, down, down." As the singers get to the "down, down" part, the drinker must drink the beer as rapidly as possible, then invert the empty glass over his head to show it is empty. Protocol requires that if the drinker is unable to finish the beer quickly, the unfinished portion be poured over his head, but this is rarely observed in practice.

The songs sung for a down-down are varied. The texts are generally meant to insult or disparage the drinker. Songs are frequently chosen to suit the reason for the down-down.

Down-downs are led by a "Religious Advisor," or RA. The RA determines who will be called to drink, and chooses an appropriate song for each occasion. Much depends on the leading style of the RA, and different individuals bring different character to the role.

The down-down circle is the central, defining ritual of the hash, but singing happens at other places and times. This other singing I choose to label "free singing." Free singing tends to be spontaneous and leaderless. The repertoire has much in common with the bawdy songs sung at fraternity parties and rugby matches. The amount of free singing varies greatly from chapter to chapter, and in Pittsburgh it is not a regular feature of weekly runs. In the several weeks I've been gathering data for this paper, I observed only a single instance of free singing. The emphasis on this paper will be on the down-down songs.

Hashers call each other by nicknames called "hash names." Many names are double-entendres (or single-entendres). Hash names are awarded after a new recruit has attended a few hashes, and usually reflects some personal characteristic, or recalls some significant or trivial event. My own hash name is "Folker," reflecting my interest in folk dance and folk music. In referring to informants and participants for the purposes of this paper, I will use hash names.

There is no governing body for the hash worldwide. Hence, there can be a great variation in hashing traditions. However, hashers frequently travel to hash, and this tends to spread the culture and the songs around.

Most hash chapters have special events to which hashers from other chapters are invited. Pittsburgh's annual weekend is a three-day long campout that takes place in June and attracts several hundred outsiders. Multiple chapters may cooperate to put on a regional event such as the Pennsylvania Interhash or the Colorado Invihashional. Every odd-numbered year a North and South American convention is held. (Pittsburgh hosted the Americas Interhash in 1999, which attracted about 800 people.) And every even-numbered year there is a world convention.

Over the years various groups and individuals have attempted to maintain directories of hash chapters. Today this activity takes place mostly using the World Wide Web. There are several web sites that purport to list all of the known hash chapters in the world (or in a given region) with contact information and run schedules. Other web sites contain hash songs. See the "Web Resources" section of this paper following the Bibliography.

A DOWN-DOWN CIRCLE

In the course of researching this paper, I recorded and partially transcribed five different circles. The one on October 19, 2003 is probably the most representative of what typically goes on.

On an unseasonably warm, partly sunny Sunday about 25 hashers gather in the parking lot of a shopping center in North Versailles, PA. Ages of the participants range from the mid 20s to the early 60s, with the preponderance in their 40s. Males and females are about equally represented.

Toy Box and Thunder Chicken are the hares for this run. The initial part of their trail goes through some residential neighborhoods, but then it passes through a cemetery to a wooded area, and the rest of the run is in the woods. There is one stop for beer, water, and snacks in the woods. Several people manage to get themselves separated from the pack, but everyone is able to regroup at the beer stop. Then the trail returns to the parking lot from which it started. The run has taken a little over an hour and a half.

Toy Box hands out a sheet of driving directions to her house in a suburban neighborhood, and over the next 15 minutes people straggle there. She and her husband, Scott (who didn't attend the run), have prepared a buffet meal of jambalaya and salad, with pecan pie for dessert. A beer keg stands on the back deck, and soft drinks are in the refrigerator.

Spermit is the Religious Advisor, and it is his responsibility to lead the down-down circle. "Down-downs in five minutes," he yells. Ten minutes later, he repeats the same shout. Nobody pays much attention.

Down-downs will be on the back deck. The proceedings frequently involve spillage of beer, so they're conducted outdoors whenever possible. The deck measure perhaps 15 x 13 feet, and it communicates with the kitchen.

Finally we're ready to begin. For about the third time, Spermit yells, "Down-downs in five minutes," then he immediately segues into, "Who thinks the hares deserve a down-down?" The assembled crowd responds enthusiastically. Spermit follows with, "What did you think about that trail today?" People shout their responses: "The falses were too long." "The falses were too short." "Something smelled like vomit near the parking lot." "There were too many short-cutting opportunities." Other responses are inaudible. But no one has anything positive to say about the trail. Toy Box and Thunder Chicken are brought forward and each is handed a cup of beer. Spermit sings, "Aaaa," as if he were giving a starting pitch, and the crowd respond with, "Aaaa," but each singer finds his own pitch. Then disregarding his own starting pitch, he begins to sing, and the rest join in.

Here's to Hares[3]

When the singers get to the last line, Toy Box and Thunder Chicken drink their beers, and invert the empty cup over their head to show it is empty.

The singing style is hearty and not concerned with niceties. If the song is started in a key that people generally find easy to sing in, people will sing together. If not, then people may be singing in several different keys simultaneously. Deliberate harmonies are extremely rare.

The next people to be roasted are the "hare helpers." Toy Box's husband, Scott, is called forward, as well as Pine Nuts, who also apparently had some unexplained role in the food preparation. Although it is traditional to criticize the actual run, it is considered bad manners to find fault with the food.

They're the meanest, [4]
They suck the horse's penis,
They're the meanest, they're the horse's ass.
Ever since they found it,
All they do is pound it.
They're the meanest, they're the horse's ass.
Drink it down, down, down, down,... [5]

Scott is unfamiliar with hash tradition, and he drinks his beer before the song gets to the last line, but no one bothers to correct him. Pine Nuts has been casually holding his beer in one hand and a plate of pecan pie in the other hand, and nonchalantly goes back to eating his pie at the conclusion of the down-down.

Spermit announces that there was an article in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that lists the top 25 TV theme songs.[6] "So I figure we can hum or whistle all 25 of them." Number one on the list was "The Andy Griffith Show." So he calls up Anal Geezus, who hails from West Virginia. And since it's traditional for visitors to do down-downs, he calls the other two other visitors up.

Now someone from the crowd (Swamp Bitch) starts a chant, which others join in. (This is an instance where Spermit is yielding some amount of control of the situation to the crowd.)

(Chanted, not sung)
We call on the visitors to sing us a song [7]
We call on the visitors to sing us a song
So sing, you bastards, sing,
Or show us your ring,
But we don't want to see your ring,
So sing, you bastards, sing!

The three visitors begin singing "Country Roads," but are soon drowned out by catcalls. The catcalls soon change to, "Down, down, down down," and the visitors drink.

Usually down-down beer is served in paper cups, but Spermit has handed Anal Geezus "the pisspot," an antique enameled bed pan. Over the years the pisspot has acquired various decals and stickers, including a WYEP logo on the bottom. This particular bedpan has a curving vertical section of tubing, probably originally designed for emptying the bedpan. To drink from the pisspot is awkward, and if one is not careful, beer will slosh unexpectedly. Since there is only one pisspot and three drinkers, they must take turns. Anal Geezus manages to spill much of the beer down his chin and the front of his shirt, then passes the pisspot to the next visitor, who drinks and passes it to the last one. The proceeding takes longer than the crowd's patience, so the refrain, "Down, down, down down," changes to,

(To the tune of "Adeste Fideles")
Why are we waiting? [8]
We could be masturbating.
Oh why are we waiting so fucking long?

This continues until all three visitors have drunk and the pisspot is inverted empty over one person's head.

Spermit has committed a procedural error. Usually visitors are introduced prior to their down-downs, and someone points out that Spermit has neglected the introduction. So introductions begin. Anal Geezus, from Morgantown, WV, is a frequent enough visitor that introductions are hardly necessary. It turns out that the other visitors are Salsa, also from Morgantown, and Hill Frigger from Sir Walter's (Raleigh, NC).

The next person up for the circle is a "new boot," a person hashing for the first time. Spermit explains the procedure: wait until we sing, "Down, down," then drink the beer and hold the empty cup upside down over your head. Spermit asks, "What's your name?" even though he already knows her name. The new boot responds, "Renee," and the crowd shouts back, in unison, "Hi, Renee!" Spermit neglects to ask the usual follow-up question, which is "Who made you come?" Instead he goes directly into the song.

(To the tune of "Ach, Du Lieber Augustin")
Here's to new boots, to new boots, to new boots, [9]
Here's to new boots, they're with us tonight.
They eat it, they beat it, they really mistreat it.
Here's to new boots, they're with us tonight.
So down chug-a-lug, down chug-a-lug, down chug-a-lug, down chug-a-lug, etc. [10]

The next suggestion for a down-down comes from the crowd. "New shoes," they cry. Raspberry Bare-Ass purposely wore new shoes to the hash, knowing she would be required to drink beer from them. But Manstruation is called up, too. He protests, "These aren't new shoes. I've worn these for the past year." "Yes, but not to a hash, so they're new shoes." Manstruation knows he's been caught in an unfair Catch-22, but he acquiesces, removes his shoe, and goes forward.

(To the tune of "These Boots Were Made for Walking" by Nancy Sinatra)
These shoes are made for hashing, [11]
And that's just what they'll do.
I'm gonna drink a down-down out of this mother fucking shoe.
Down, down, down, down, etc.

A cup of beer is poured into one shoe of each, and Raspberry and Manstruation drink from their shoes.

However, Manstruation has committed an error. He has forgotten to remove his hat before drinking. This rates another down-down. The crowd insists that since the offense occurred while drinking out of his shoe, the punishment should be to drink from the other shoe.

(To the tune of "The Banana Boat Song" by Harry Bellefonte)
Drink IC, Gennessee, Molson Ice [12]
RA Come and you gotta drink beer.
Wear your hat and you drink it twice.
RA Come and you gotta drink beer.
Down, etc. [13]
RA Come and you gotta drink beer.

Spermit asks, "Are there any birthdays or anniversaries?" Pine Nuts and Manstruation step forward for their birthdays, and Swamp Bitch for "six years of bondage with her husband."

(To the tune of "Happy Birthday to You")
Happy birthday, fuck you. [14]
Happy birthday, fuck you.
Happy birthday, fuck yoooou.
Happy birthday, fuck you.

Down-downs allow certain "options." Instead of drinking, women may choose to bare their breasts. No comparable option is open to male hashers. Swamp Bitch chooses options, and takes her beer with her to finish at her leisure.

"Did anybody wear race stuff on trail?" Because the hash is supposed to be non-competitive, it is a hash crime to wear a T-shirt from a race, or sometimes even to mention the R-word. Golden Showers, Power Pump, and Anal Geezus are found guilty.

Why were they born so beautiful, [15]
Why were they born at all?
They're no fucking use to anyone
They're no fucking use at all.
They may be a joy to their mothers,
But they're a pain in the asshole to me.
Drink it down, down, down, down, etc.

At the words, "pain in the asshole to me", several people, including one woman, turn their backsides to the center and moon the drinkers.

Down-downs continue in this manner for quite a while. Further reasons for down-downs include the following:
• A group of people who went on a caving expedition together.
• People who were chatting in the kitchen instead of paying attention to the down-downs.
• A woman who writes for a local newspaper, and who needs to avoid a certain jurisdiction near where today's trail went, because of past negative reporting about the police.
• Someone suggests a down-down for another hasher, related to a trespassing violation. But the violation was over a year ago, and the trespasser had already done a down-down for the incident. So the accuser was made to do a down-down for a false accusation.
• "Prodigal boots," more-or-less regular hashers who haven't been to a hash in a while.
• People who took a spill or injured themselves on trail.
• Spermit assigns himself a down-down because he went hunting yesterday and didn't kill a damn thing.
• People who ran the same false trail on today's run twice.
• A hasher who went to Romania on business. He uses his time while he has everyone's attention to tell an amusing story about what happened to him there.

Spermit abruptly ends by declaring, "The hash is over, the circle is closed, may the hash go in peace." The crowd responds, "May the hash get a piece." Down-downs have lasted about 35 minutes.

Free Singing in the Hash

The other type of occasion for singing is what I'll call "free singing." Free singing is usually spontaneous and leaderless. Hash chapters differ in their propensity to do free singing, and Pittsburgh is less likely than many chapters to do it. In the time period of approximately a month that I have been closely observing the Pittsburgh hash for the purposes of writing this paper, I observed only one instance of free singing.

My own exposure to singing outside the down-down circle comes mainly when there are outsiders involved, either because outsiders come to special events in Pittsburgh, or because I've traveled to other cities to hash.

The situation where spontaneous singing is most likely to occur is during bus rides. (Bus rides are more likely to occur as part of a major special event or Interhash than with local weekly hashes, which may partially explain why I've observed it mainly in situations where outsiders are involved.) It can also take place at beer stops during a run, or at a post-run gathering, either before or after the down-downs.

The repertoire for free singing is similar to that for rugby players and fraternity members.[16] A favorite type of song is strophic, with individuals contributing verses and everyone joining in on the choruses. Examples include, "I Used to Work in Chicago," "Ai Yi Yi Yi'' (The Limerick Song), and "The S&M Man." Other songs are ballads that tell a story, such as the "Engineer's Song". In the web resources listed at the end of this paper, down-down songs constitute only a small portion of the repertoire. A down-down song must be short, and most of them are intended to deprecate or insult.

One crossover situation sometimes occurs during down-downs. It occurred in the circle described above, where Swamp Bitch, "... called on the visitors to sing us a song." While this happens only rarely in Pittsburgh, it is more frequent in other chapters. The drinker must choose a song to sing. He may choose his own down-down song, or he may choose any non-down-down song from the free singing repertoire.

The Role of the Religious Advisor

The Pittsburgh hash is led by a "Mismanagement Committee." The offices are:
• Grand Master: President. A female Grand Master is a Grand Mattress.
• Religious Advisor: Song leader
• On-Sec (plural is On-Sex): Secretary or Secretaries, responsible for publishing the weekly newsletter, called the HashTrash.
• Hare Raiser: Schedules runs
• Hash Cash: Treasurer
• Web Meister: Webmaster
• Haberdasher: Produces and sells hash T-shirts and other paraphernalia.
Terms of office are from the Annual Weekend in June until the next Annual Weekend. There are no elections. Each officer chooses his own replacement.

Spermit is presently Pittsburgh's Religious Advisor. He is a 44 year old highway designer. He joined the hash two and a half years ago as he was recovering from an extended period of feeling sorry for himself after a difficult domestic separation. He discovered a welcoming social group in the hash, and embraced it enthusiastically. Many weekends he travels to out-of-town special hash events.

Spermit was chosen RA in June, 2003. He said during an interview that he believes the reasons he was chosen were his enthusiasm and because he sang a lot. In his view, the RA position requires a commanding presence, knowledge of the song repertoire, and a sense of humor. He sees himself as akin to an entertainer, because of the need to keep everyone's attention when the circle may last a half hour or longer. When he first assumed the role he was apprehensive about his ability to carry this out, but he says he's getting more comfortable with it.

His first priority is to bring forward the people who deserve recognition. Certain of the down-downs are prescribed by tradition: hares, hare helpers, visitors, and new boots. "The rest are people who have achieved or underachieved in some way. We like to point out their silliness to the crowd. Some people deserve a good ribbing."

Spermit believes it is important to have a varied and interesting repertoire of songs. Many of the songs he learned simply from hearing them at Pittsburgh circles. But he also uses written sources, such as the internet or songbooks. When he travels, he says he listens for interesting songs to bring back to Pittsburgh with him. And he says he is beginning to introduce songs of his own, either songs he remembers from his days in the Marine Corps, or songs simply made up on the spot.

Another person I interviewed was Whiff, a 49 year old operations manager for a university research laboratory. Whiff has been hashing for 11 years, and he was Pittsburgh's Religious Advisor from 2000 until 2002. He met his wife through hashing.

Whiff is the creative force behind many of the songs being sung in the Pittsburgh hash. Probably his most widely known song is known as "The PittStones" or "The HashStones":

(Sung to the theme song from "The Flintstones")
Hashers, meet the Hashers, [17]
They're the biggest drunks in history.
From the town of Pittsburgh
They're the leaders in debauchery.
Half minds, trailing shiggy through the years,
Watch them as they down a lot of beers.
Down, down, down, down, down, down,
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
Down, down, down, down, down,
Down, down, down, down, down, down!

Diamond Jim thought up the first line of the song in January, 1994. Whiff fleshed it out, and presented the song at the next hash. The song was a success, and has slowly spread from Pittsburgh to other hash chapters. While hashers from Pittsburgh and nearby know Whiff wrote the song, many people from other regions may be unaware of its origin. I asked Whiff how he felt about this. He said that on one hand he got a kick out of it. On the other hand, when he saw the song printed in another chapter's songbook, with another city's name substituted for Pittsburgh, "as if they invented the song," he was annoyed. And he was particularly bothered by the idea that someone would print his song in a songbook and charge money for it, without any royalties or attribution. When I mentioned the idea of copyrighting his songs, he answered, "The hash is such a fluid group, we never think that way."

In 2002, Whiff produced an 18-page booklet, Songs in the Key of Beer, containing the words to 45 songs. Most of the songs are recent compositions (adaptations of new words to existing tunes) by Pittsburgh hashers. Authorship is acknowledged where it is known. 25 of the 45 songs were written or co-written by Whiff. Copies of the booklet were distributed at the Americas Interhash in Austin, TX, in 2002, which probably accounts for some of the spread of songs like the Pittstones to other hash chapters.

I asked Whiff his views about the function of the RA in the hash. His views are very similar to Spermit's. (Or, rather, it's the other way around. Since Spermit consciously tries to emulate Whiff, we should say Spermit's views are similar to Whiff's.) Whiff views his role when he is acting as RA as part entertainer, part spiritual advisor. It's his job to find people to honor for milestones or transgressions, to keep a mental catalog of a variety of songs, and above all to keep everybody's attention, to keep things moving along. And there's a bit of ham in Whiff; he enjoys performing. Sometimes Whiff's urge to perform and enjoy the limelight overrides his obligation to focus on people's milestones or transgressions.

Uses and Functions

People tend to cite two classes of reasons for participation in the hash. The first class is related to the run itself. People enjoy the exercise, although there are many more conventional running clubs that can provide a similar workout. More importantly, they enjoy the trails. The trail goes through terrain that would not be visited under other circumstances. They enjoy the puzzle-like quality of the checkpoints and false trails of the route. In a sense the runs may be described as a competition between the hare, who seeks to confound the runners, and the hounds, who seek to solve the checkpoints. (In the live-hare version, the competition is more explicit: the hounds try to catch the hare.) But within the pack, the atmosphere is cooperative, not competitive. The pack works together to solve the trail.

The other class of reasons relates to the social aspects. Many people who are not particularly athletic are attracted to the hash because the running is low-key. On the other hand, those who value exercise but are turned off by the irreverence, silliness, and obscenity of the hash usually don't stay with the hash for long.

Within the hash, the normal rules of polite society do not apply. Conventions are flouted and taboos broken. This creates a world apart from careers and families. And the circle is central to this other world.

People are called upon to do down-downs to recognize any situations or behavior that are out of the ordinary. This can be for positive achievements such as completing a race, buying a house, passing a test, or arriving at another birthday. It can also be for negative reasons, too, such as a minor injury, getting lost, or silly mistakes. A large number of down-downs are awarded for invented "hash crimes," such as failing to remove one's hat in the circle, wearing a race T-shirt, or forgetting the words to a song. And yes, once it became known I was writing a paper on the hash, I did a down-down for it.

Swamp Bitch tells the following story:
There was a woman born with only one eye. She showed up at the hash, and we looked at her, and we said, "We never name on the first hash, but we're naming you 'Spud'". And she started laughing and she said, "Finally, somebody just doesn't try and ignore and pretend."

A young woman in the Pittsburgh Hash recently underwent chemotherapy. She continued to attend the hash, although she wasn't always able to run. She did numerous down-downs as her therapy progressed, she lost her hair, the cancer was conquered, and her hair began to grow back. I didn't interview her for this paper, but I would guess that she kept attending the hash even though attention was called to her altered appearance, because it assured her that people were interested in her and her progress.

A down-down can be viewed either as a reward or a punishment. The size of the drink makes a difference. Quickly downing 12 or 16 ounces of beer can be a bit of a physical challenge, especially when the beer is ice-cold. Current practice in Pittsburgh is to keep the drink sizes to about 6 ounces, a much more manageable draft. On rare occasions, for particularly egregious infractions, the drinker will be required to bare his or her buttocks and sit on a block or bag of ice during down-downs. But mainly, when people object to doing a down-down (as Manstruation did when he was accused of wearing new shoes), the reason usually has more to do with fairness than with the difficulty of chugging a beer.

Although there is alcohol involved in the down-downs, the ceremony isn't basically about getting drunk. There are several recovering alcoholics in the hash, as well as a few who for other reasons refuse to drink alcohol. These people are cheerfully handed a cup of water or soft drink with which to do their down-downs. It appears to me that a significant proportion of the hash membership have a problem with alcohol abuse. But the majority are able to keep the drinking within moderation and to drive home afterward without undue fear of being stopped by the police.

Sex pervades the hash. The texts of many of the songs, particularly songs from the free singing repertoire, refer to seduction and fornication. Partial nudity occurs frequently in the form of mooning or breast-flashing. This may be seen more as an example of taboo breaking than of signaling sexual availability. To be sure, there is plenty of coupling going on, particularly among the younger, unmarried members, and particularly at out-of-town special events. But the ones doing the coupling are not necessarily the same ones flashing body parts. The situation at the hash is probably no different than at any other activity that involves out-of-town travel for recreational purposes.

Some of the hash traditions are a form of parody or role reversal. Clearly the very title "Religious Advisor" is a parody. The tradition that the RA is given the power to single people out, to reward and to punish may be a send-up of those in our society who seem to have arbitrary power over people's lives.

One clear example of role reversal is the Red Dress Run. Pittsburgh has held Red Dress Runs sporadically, but the Red Dress Runs in San Diego and Washington, DC attract thousands of participants annually (and usually some media coverage as well.) Men and women dress up in women's clothing to run a hash. The dresses and accessories usually are obtained at thrift stores. Whereas hash trails generally favor wooded environments, Red Dress Runs are almost always in an urban setting, the better to flaunt convention and be noticed by the non-hashing public. There is safety in numbers: men who wouldn't dare appear solo in women's clothing take pride and pleasure in running as part of a group that thumbs their noses at convention.

Some of the hash rituals fall under the category of initiation rites. The first such rite occurs when a person goes hashing for the first time. Such people are called "new boots" or "virgins". At the beginning of the run, the new boots are called forward for a "chalk talk", so that the trail markings can be explained. But first they must be introduced. The responsibility for the chalk talk and the introductions is the hare's. Usually the hare will ask the new boot, "What's your name?" When the new boot responds, "Joe," the crowd will call in unison, "Hi, Joe!" Then the hare will usually ask, "Who made you come?" The new boot may name a friend who brought him to the hash, or say he found the hash on the internet, or that he came by himself. Any answer will be met by general guffawing. Following this introduction, the hare will give a description of the trail markings, usually demonstrating by dropping flour on the ground.

During the circle after the run, the introduction ritual is repeated, this time by the Religious Advisor, in preparing for the new boot down-down. Down-downs for a new boot are no different from down-downs for any other occasion, except that the RA and the crowd are usually more tolerant of mistakes. Nonetheless, surviving one's first down-down gives one the feeling of having been initiated into an exclusive society. New boot down-downs are usually followed by handshakes and "Welcome to the hash."

The other initiation rite is the awarding of a hash name. There is no fixed time at which hash names are awarded. Some hashers may run with the hash for months before a name is bestowed, others may get their hash names the first or second time. Name proposals may come from anyone during the circle. Most proposals generate lively discussion and counter-proposals. During the discussion, the person being named may express objections or preferences, but these are generally ignored on the grounds the one is not supposed to like their hash name. Then the crowd will vote on one or more names. Frequently the outcome is to defer the naming, but sometimes a name is suggested that most people agree is appropriate. When the name is awarded the recipient does a down-down to complete the naming.

When the Hash House Harriers was founded in 1938, it was an all-male organization. Today there are still a few men-only hash chapters around the world, and a few women-only hashes as well, but the vast majority are mixed. Ed Cray observes a similar thing about singing bawdy songs, that men and women used to sing these songs in their separate segregated groups. Where men and women sing them together, the women are regarded as broadminded. [18]

Women have held all of the important posts on the Mismanagement Committee in Pittsburgh, except Religious Advisor. And in my travels, I have rarely seen down-downs led by a woman. I don't think there's any conscious discrimination going on. Rather I think there may be a perception that the kind of exaggerated bullying that the role requires calls for some attributes that few women possess.

It's clear that the function of the hash, the result of participation in the hash, whether intended or not, is the creation of a cohesive social group. The members of the Pittsburgh Hash are remarkably close. Individual are likely to get to get together spontaneously for non-hash related activities, such as bike rides, concerts, dinners, or art shows. An email distribution list has been set up on Yahoo Groups, and it is the vehicle for much lively discussion.

The group experience of cooperatively running the trail binds the group together. Knowledge of the many hash traditions translates to insider status. And the most significant of these traditions is the down-down circle, where people share their successes and their embarrassments.

Bibliography

Cray, Ed, editor. The Erotic Muse : American Bawdy Songs (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999). A 30 page introduction discusses the genre, attitudes toward it, and Cray's collection methodology. A compilation of about 160 songs follows. Most are presented in multiple versions, with notes as to where and how they were collected, scholarly analysis, and links to related songs.

Green, Michael. Why Was He Born So Beautiful, and other Rugby Songs (London: Sphere Books, Limited, 1967).

Johnson, Alice A. "Mad Rushin'". Half a Mind: Hashing, the Outrageous Running Sport (Camden, ME: Yankee Books, 1990).

Lloyd, Stu "The Colonel". Hare of the Dog: History, Humour and Hell-Raising from the Hash House Harriers (Sydney, Australia: Captions of Industry Pty Ltd, 2002). In a book of over 450 pages covering hashing history and traditions world-wide, only a scant 3 pages are devoted to the singing.

Merriam, Alan P. The Anthropology of Music (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1964).

Morgan, Harry. More Rugby Songs (London: Sphere Books, Limited, 1968).

Randolph, Vance; editor, with an introduction by G. Legman. Roll Me in Your Arms: Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (Fayetteville : University of Arkansas Press, 1992). A rather lengthy introduction excoriates prudes who refuse to collect or publish material that might be deemed offensive, and academics who appear more interested in lengthy citations than in analysis of the meanings of the songs to the people singing them. 180 songs are presented, many in multiple versions, with extensive notes.

Schultz, Emily A. and Lavenda, Robert H. Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company). The text used for Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Songs in the Key of Beer: The Official Song Guide of the Pittsburgh Hash House Harriers. (Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh Hash House Harriers).

Vondas, Jerry, "Hash House Harriers: They Run for Fun, Health," The Pittsburgh Press, January 24, 1986, page C-1. A full-page feature article about the Pittsburgh Hash House Harriers, in the "Style" section.

Web Resources

The Digital Tradition. A huge archive of traditional music. Searching with a keyword of "bawdy" brings up about 300 songs.

Global Trash. Early hash history includes references to the 19th century Hare and Hounds game. Hash hymnal lists about 500 songs

Harrier.net. Includes a songbook of about 500 songs, with some midi files for the tunes. This website was the project of "Zippy", who died in May, 2003, so future maintenance is doubtful.

The Hash Heritage Foundation. The foundation is based in Kuala Lumpur. An excellent resource for the history of the hash.

Half Mind Catalog. Includes 741 songs in a hash hymnal as a downloadable zipped ASCII file.

Pittsburgh Hash House Harriers. Songbook includes 18 songs, mostly attributed to Whiff, and mostly also from Songs in the Key of Beer.

Additional Notes
[1] The most complete early history of the hash may be found in Lloyd.
[2] As of November 8, 2003, according to Global Trash (see Web Resources).
[3] This is the down-down song. In Pittsburgh in the mid-1980s it was the only song used for down-downs, and in many hash chapters today it is still the only down-down song in use. This song is listed in Global Trash as "Traditional Down Down Song," in Harrier.net as "Here's to the Bastard," in the Half-Mind Catalog as "Basic Down-Down Song," and in Songs in the Key of Beer as "Here's to Hares." I recall hearing it at fraternity parties at Lehigh University between 1959 and 1963.
[4] This song may be found in Global Trash, Harrier.net, the Half-Mind Catalog, and Songs in the Key of Beer.
[5] The last line of the text, "Down, down, down, down..." is sung to the last measure of "Here's to Hares." If the "down down" refrain is in a key incompatible with the key of the song to which it is attached, singers will abruptly change keys.
[6] Barbara Vancheri and Rob Owen, " Top 25 TV theme songs", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sunday, October 19, 2003.
[7] This song or chant appears in Global Trash and Harrier.net.
[8] This song may be found in Global Trash, Harrier.net, and the Half-Mind Catalog. I heard it in the film "Educating Rita" with Michael Caine and Julie Walters, as English university students awaited the arrrival of a tardy professor.
[9] Various versions of this song may be found in Global Trash, Harrier.net, the Half-Mind Catalog as "Here's to Brother Hasher". In Songs in the Key of Beer it's listed as "New Boots."
[10] This is one of the few cases where the "down-down" refrain is an integral part of the song rather than a borrowing from "Here's to Hares."
[11] This song appears only in Songs in the Key of Beer. I believe it must be a recent Pittsburgh creation.
[12] A longer version of this song appears in Songs in the Key of Beer, credited to Whiff.
[13] Here is another case where the "down-down" refrain is part of the song. I didn't want to write out 19 consecutive "downs".
[14] This song may be found in Global Trash and the Half-Mind Catalog.
[15] This would appear to be two separate songs grafted together. Why Was He Born So Beautiful is the title of a book by Green, and only the first part of the song appears there. When I have heard it sung in non-hash contexts, only the first half is sung. But it appears in Global Trash, Harrier.net, the Half-Mind Catalog, and Songs in the Key of Beer as I've transcribed it.
[16] Morgan, Green, Cray, Randolph.
[17] This song appears in Harrier.net, where it is credited to Whiff, and in the Half-Mind Catalog, where it is not credited. In Songs in the Key of Beer it is credited to Whiff and Diamond Jim.
[18] Cray, p. xxv.

On-On

Monday, March 31, 2008

FukStik Spring Hash

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Garage Sale

Monday, March 24, 2008

Moon Birthday Hash

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Music in the Hash House Harriers

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