hash

hash

until a week ago, i've only known about two kinds of hash: the kind that gets you really high and hash browns (with ketchup or a runny egg, of course). there's a third hash. it's a gathering of runners and walkers, of which few are athletically inclined. they gather about every other sunday and go to a remote area and run or walk on separate trails. not so weird, right?

the trails are marked by fellow hashers before the gathering…with flour. there is some odd concoction of what the different markings of flour means, but too lengthy to explain. all that is important, is that you are looking for the flour, and if you see it, you move ahead in that direction, and yell 'on! on!' so everyone knows to follow you because you've found the flour. for runners, there are false trails, so you can head in a direction for awhile, running your happy little ass through the mountain, come to a false trail, and have to turn around.

for my first hash, i walked. the point was for me to meet people anyway, not lose myself in the Tbilisi mountains. so you, walk or run for about an hour, and the trail eventually leads you back to where you started. now, the fun begins.

i can't repeat the songs or the chants or cheers. totally confidential, and actually, i forgot them. here's what i do know. technology is not allowed on a hash. (no cell phones!) you can only point with your elbow. you can't put your hand in your pocket (this is termed 'pocket billiards' ie. playing with your billiards with your hand in your pocket), no hanky panky on a hash, no one is allowed to be overly athletic (no stretching, pushups, etc!), and most importantly, you must respect the circle.

at the end of the hash , everyone circles up and get a cup. the cup is then filled with jug beer. (the beer in Tbilisi comes from a 'beer wall' in town…which opens first thing in the morning…drive through and get your jugs o beer). then, certain people are brought to the middle of the circle to do a 'down down'. a down down, as you can imagine is when you drink all the beer in your cup down down down down. i, being a 'hash virgin,' got pulled into the middle for a down down. no worries. i lost my virginity with five others, and about thirty people watching.

the baptism is the best. this is when someone has been with the hash long enough to be 'baptized' and is given a hash name. we had five persons baptized on sunday. praise god. there is an officiator of ceremonies (he gets a magical cloak and staff). everyone takes a handful of flour. the baptized persons come to the middle of the circle and kneel, facing each other if there is more than one. the name is given, and then everyone comes to the middle of the circle and throws flour on them. they are then given a huge ladle of beer to drink. the names this hash were: general short arms, short arms inspector (husband and wife), stone tablets, and french tickler (i forgot the fifth).

once all the beer is gone, everyone dusts off the flour and heads to town for a meal. sometimes it's at someone's house, and other times, it's at a restaurant. this particular time, it was catered at someone's house. wow. someone in Info Tech. wow. that's all i'm going to say about that.