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A skimmington, or skimmington ride, was a rowdy parade with effigies of victims or people dressed up to represent them, to make a public demonstration of moral disapproval of the individual or individuals. The form of the demonstration, and the reasons for it, varied between different places, but the general intent was public humiliation of the victim(s). In some cases the individual(s) themselves were forced to participate. Skimmingtons were typically noisy affairs, with rough music made by the clattering of pots and pans. It compares with charivari, chivari, chivaree, shivaree, which occur at the homes or businesses of the people being corrected/humiliated. ==Origins, history and form== Skimmingtons are recorded in England as far back as the 17th century,〔 and the practice is also recorded in colonial America from around the 1730s on. The term is particularly associated with the West Country region of England, and although the etymology is not certain, it has been suggested that it derived from the ladle used in that region for cheesemaking, which was perceived as a weapon used by a woman to beat a weak or henpecked husband. The rationale for a skimmington varied, but one major theme was disapproval of a man for weakness in his relationship with his wife. A description of the custom in 1856 cites three main targets: a man who is worsted by his wife in a quarrel; a cuckolded man who accepts his wife's adultery; and any married person who engages in licentious conduct. To "ride such a person skimmington" involved exposing them or their effigy to ridicule on a cart, or on the back of a horse or donkey. Some accounts describe the participants as carrying ladles and spoons with which to beat each other, at least in the case of skimmingtons prompted by marital discord. The noisy parade passed through the neighbourhood, and served as a punishment to the offender and a warning to others to abide by community norms; Roberts suggests that the homes of other potential victims were visited in a pointed manner during a skimmington.〔 According to one citation, a skimmington was broken up by the police in a village in Dorset as late as 1917. The antiquary and lexicographer Francis Grose described a skimmington as: "Saucepans, frying-pans, poker and tongs, marrow-bones and cleavers, bulls horns, etc. beaten upon and sounded in ludicrous processions" ''(A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'', 1796). In Warwickshire, the custom was known as "loo-belling", and in northern England as "riding the stang".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Skimmington」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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