male weirdness (was m&dp71 - ouch!)

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

Paul writes about shin-kickers he has known

Since I'm up to page 100 and since I like Paul's posts so much, I ventured into this one, 
which is quite entertaining and tempts me into this digression.   I grew up in South 
Philadelphia, more than a thousand miles from Cotswold, and we didn't kick shins, but 
when I was a kid I'd watch the older guys engaging in a cigarette ordeal that required them 
to place themselves forearm to forearm while a *referee* puffed up a Marlboro to about 
1200 degrees F and then stood the thing up on the guy's arms where they touched and 
then dropped it.  So this cigarette would be smoldering there up against each guy's arm. 
The idea was that the first guy who moved his arm lost.  Same proud comparison of scars 
as Paul's shin kickers.  But Paul doesn't point out how the shin-kickers decided on a 
winner.  Did someone have to cry *Nuncle*?

Does anyone else know any local-culture stories of weird male initiation rites?
john m
**********************
Paul M. writes:
<snip>
>
> Two men, with Iron plates attached to the front of 
>their boots grasp each other shoulders and then proceed to kick each 
>other on the shin s(OUCH!). Though regarded as a sport there is no real 
>goal it is more a test of endurance. It apparently was taken very 
>seriously, people would undergo a strict training regime (which 
>consisted of hitting one another on the shins with hobnail boots and 
>planks of wood.) and the scars were displayed with pride. I have hazy 
>memories of seeing this as a kid so it may well still go on  today. 
>Such appartently lunatic pursuits seem something of a local 
>speciality

<snip to end of post>