The Mother of all Hashes was started by a bunch of drunk expats

While there are a lot of organizations out there that have some pretty awesome origin stories, few can compare with how the global phenomenon that operates in nearly every large city an every single continent (even Antarctica) began.

Some organizations have some sort of benevolent beginning such as helping the poor or assisting war-torn countries but not the Hash: Their beginnings have everything to do with a bunch of guys that were trying to get over their hangovers from the weekend's "excesses."

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It all began in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and A. S. Gispert, pictured above, is largely considered to be the founding father of the entire organization, but of course there were others involved in the formation. The way it worked was a group of British officials and officers would meet after work on Mondays in order to run away their day-long hangovers that they knew the deserved from going bananas with the booze over the weekend. Following the runs they would have a some, but still a reasonable amount of drinks in order to quell what little hangover remained from after the run.

The method of how they did the runs came from a popular childhood game that is called "the paper chase" where one child would get a head start and leave a trail of "breadcrumbs" that were actually bits of paper while a group of other children would try to catch the person leading the pack, often referred to as the "Hare."

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They didn't have a name for their club back in 1938 because it was just a bunch of single expats that were getting together to blow off some steam but as their numbers grew they decided to formalize the process a bit. People frequently associate Hash with the drug, but that actually has nothing to do with it unless you consider alcohol to be a drug, which I suppose it is.

In the early days the trails were all what we now refer to as "live hare trails" in that just like the childhood game, someone would be given a head start and would leave a trail for a group of shouting cohorts to pursue them. Only the "hare" had any idea where the trail was going and this would normally be achieved by them either being very familiar with the territory, or by "scouting" at some point in the previous week or whatever.

Later, and the way it works in most clubs (called kennels) is that the scout actually goes out and marks the trails days before and then leaves clues that are meant to thwart the would-be followers. In our events, the hares are not even allowed on trail lest they accidentally give away the trail to those that are attempting to find it.

These days the idea of anyone getting hopelessly lost is slim to none because everyone has some sort of phone with them as well as gps mapping systems. In the years I have been doing the Hash up here in Chiang Mai, someone getting lost has only happened once and it was kind of the fault of the visitors for lagging behind and doing sightseeing rather than attempting to keep up with the group.

I remember that day because they became unreasonably upset with us for "abandoning them" when honestly, it is your own responsibility as an adult to manage to keep up with the pack especially since at that one particular event there is a near 80 year old man that is always in the back, has a walking stick, and there is no reason why he would ever pass anyone.

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A. S. Gispert was killed in action on February 11th when he was recalled form leave to participate in the Battle of Singapore after the Japanese invaded.

Special commemorative runs are performed all around the world on this very important day.

As usual I encourage you to look up and see if their is a Hash House Harriers in your area. With nearly 2000 chapters / kennels worldwide, there is a very good chance there is one near you. Especially if you like booze and humor, it could very well change your life.