Every Hash event I have been anywhere in the world has ice that must be sat on during the "Down Down" ceremony at the end. The way that it is presented changes depending on where you are but here in Chiang Mai and other places in Thailand the ice is giant blocks of ice. Other places in the world such as the events I have been to in the United States involved a bunch of ice cubes and I can only presume that is because it isn't so easy to find giant blocks of ice that can be procured for such a thing.
Another event I attended in Malaysia involved a wheelbarrow that was filled with large ice cubes and yet another in Vietnam had a home made block that was a home-made block that had been frozen in a plastic mutli-purpose bowl.
The mechanism differs, but the ice is always there.
It is a strange thing to do though and it begs the question of where did this all come from?
Like a lot of things in the Hash House Harriers, the answer to "where did it come from?" is that nobody really knows. Despite being a global organization, there isn't a great deal of organization or centralized record-keeping in the Hash. We are only loosely affiliated with one another and anytime events are organized it's not like there is central leadership that things have to be run by first.
Nobody officially knows where this came from but it is silly, and most of what HHH does is intentionally silly, but we do have some theories as to where this came from.
The Hash House Harriers was started in Malaysia in 1938 by a bunch of British soldiers stationed there as a method of staying in shape and helping officers get over the "weekend's excess" by sweating it out and having a few when the week began. This is the same reason why events still happen on Monday's and in some parts of the world it is a men only event.
In case you aren't aware, Malaysia, and SE Asia just generally speaking, is very hot. The beer that was provided back in the early days had to be kept cold somehow and this was likely done with ice. Since the participants were probably very hot from the exercise and humid/hot conditions that have always existed there, the ice likely was a method of cooldown for everyone.
However, as someone that has lived over here for a long time I can attest to the fact that regardless of how hot it is, sitting on ice for an extended period of time is not very refreshing after you have been doing it for a few seconds. This is why being forced to do this is seen as punishment rather than something enjoyable.
In certain parts of the world such as Taiwan and Japan, it is traditional at these events that the men only events would incorporate not just sitting on the ice, but sitting on the ice bare-assed. I have never actually done this, but when we had some Taiwanese people visiting they immediately dropped their pants and sat on the ice while still covering themselves. We aren't trying to be intentionally lewd after all. This surprised me because I had never seen that before.
I suppose it is largely because there seems to be a competition of sorts that goes on around the world about how far the Hash can push things.
One rather large difference that is documented over time can be observed now though as well. In the past the person who was put on the ice would be required to drink an entire pint of beer before they were let off the ice but things have scaled back a bit since those days. While this cannot be confirmed, each person in the Hash took their turn on the ice in the "olden days" but they were never put there more than once. I suppose the idea was that each person needed to drink at least 1 pint of beer while there but these days we often put people on the ice that don't drink alcohol at all, and we do not try to change that.
While the rules differ anywhere in the world the real "rule" of the Hash is that "there are no rules, only suggestions." One of my favorites is a pic that unfortunately I cannot find at the moment involves the very small but very real Hash House Harriers chapter that exists at a scientific research facility in Antarctica. Despite the fact that their territory is very unforgiving and deadly, they still stick with the tradition of sitting on ice, which for them, isn't terribly difficult to find.
I hope one day to be able to attend one of their events but as far as I know you can't just run over to that block of ice in the south just because you feel like it. It's not like there are hotels there.
The club of "drinkers with a running problem" that exists all around the globe is about one thing in particular and that is having fun and maybe getting a bit of exercise. At least here in Chiang Mai for most of the year, sitting on a block of ice in the jungle heat, isn't really that bad of a thing and it will cool you down real quick. In fact, while you might complain as your butt cheeks start to go numb, once you are allowed to stand up again and the heat and humidity starts to kick back in, you find yourself kind of missing it.
If you would like to experience this you can, all you have to do is be in Chiang Mai on a Monday (men only), Thursday, or Saturday (both are co-ed). No membership is required and I guarantee you will have a good time!
