Some “Festive” Reflections on Fox Tossing
History’s strange pastimes are hard to parody.
A reader of my recent piece describing the thankfully long-forgotten pastime of “fox-tossing” introduced me to a musical parody on a similar subject: Weird Al Yankovic’s Weasel Stomping Day. A sample of the lyrics: “People up and down the street / Crushing weasels beneath their feet / Why we do it, who can say? / But it’s such a festive holiday!”
Although Weasel Stomping Day is a tongue-in-cheek bit of bizarre fiction, history holds no shortage of real pastimes built around animal abuse, many now largely forgotten. These spectacles were often tied to holidays or seasonal rituals. For instance, fox tossing marked the start of hunting season.
Gander pulling tournaments often took place at Easter, as I’ve noted previously. In this sport, men on horseback raced by a live goose hung upside down and coated in grease, striving to pull off its head.
In England, crowds once gathered for “cock-throwing,” a cruel pastime where a rooster was tied to a post while participants hurled rocks and bricks at it until the immobilized bird was bludgeoned to death. It was especially popular on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent. The bloodsport enjoyed popularity from at least the 15th century, with its final recorded occurrence in 1844.
And in at least one European town, there was once an entire holiday devoted to burning cats:
In Ypres, Belgium, for instance, townspeople hurled cats from a belfry onto the cobble streets below and then set them on fire. The event, called Kattenstoet (Festival of Cats), still takes place every year on May 2, though since Ypres’ questionable form of pest control ended in 1817, it now involves stuffed animals as proxies.
And that’s only a glimpse of history’s countless strange and savage pastimes in this vein. In light of such past amusements, the fictitious Weasel Stomping Day doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.
Wow. This is the sort of stuff you can't make up! So bizarre...but the strangeness of it itself is a sign of progress I figure. Glad to be alive today. Big fan of your work-- keep it up!
Sorry Chelsea , but the idea of wiping out foxes is STILL an appealing one to me !
This I find THIS fact astounding ! "Dedicated To The Red Fox"
"Established in 1991 as a specialist Wildlife Information Bureau and Fox Deterrence Consultancy, we have since additionally incorporated a Wildlife Hospital since 1993.
Which today admits and treats over 1400 foxes per year, including over 450 cubs.
The Fox Project appears regularly on TV, radio and other media, in the UK and internationally.
We have received awards from the RSPCA, International Fund for Animal Welfare, media and TV."
..............................Do people NOT KNOW WHERE THEIR FOOD COMES FROM ???
FOXES ARE A DREADFUL PREDATOR ON ALL SORTS OF SMALL ANIMAL including new-born lambs , chickens , turkeys , quail , pheasants etc and rate only just BEHIND FERAL CATS as the worst predator of lizards , birds and small native marsupials !
In Egypt the CAT was revered for it's eradication of rats and mice from the all important granaries , killed snakes in the fields and were seen as symbols of divine protection, associated with the goddess Bastet, who represented fertility and joy. Egyptians believed cats brought good luck and possessed magical powers, leading them to be depicted in art, mummified after death, and considered sacred animals with their own temples.
But then they treated crocodiles and hippopotami and jackals and ibis as deities too !
Egyptians WORSHIPPED their many sacred animals ...................and were almost as obsessed with their animals as the English are with their "pets"......AND.....I too like canaries & budgies , cats , dogs and horses .............BUT..................I draw the line at wild-rabbits and at cruel , mangy foxes !!!