The Bunny Hash: Ceremonies completely run by women

In the past I have written about how the Hash House Harriers was a traditionally a men-only activity. It was formed during a very different time in history and that's just the way the world was back then. We here in Chiang Mai still have a men only run that takes place on the traditional Hash Day of Monday rule of no women allowed is strictly enforced. There was even the one time that we had to politely insist that our driver no longer bring his wife along on the runs. We left it entirely up to him but traditions are traditions. There is nothing more meant by it. We are not sexist at all, we just appreciate the tradition of the original Kuala Lumpur Hash House Harriers.

In response to this day, the "Bunny Hash" is a women only kennel of our larger club in Chiang Mai and their operations, runs, and ceremonies are completely run by women. They hold their own elections and are not at all restricted by the notions of the larger overall group. This provides balance to anyone out there that wants to complain about misogyny or something western like that.

A recent Bunny Hash got particularly drunk and since we have a sober driver for every event, this sort of behavior is encouraged.

The Bunny Hash has their post-run rituals that are exactly the same as the men's where they force people to sit on ice and be pleasantly berated by other members of the Hash. Unless you don't drink alcohol (which is fine and acceptable) you will be given a cup of beer while you are being harassed by the other members and at the end of it a Hash song is sung and then (and only then) are you allowed and expected to down down that beer. By the way "down down" is intentionally written twice there because it is a silly tradition and I have no idea why.

This could be considered a bit of a con for any foreign female considering coming to a Bunny Hash event but nearly everyone in the Bunny Hash here is Thai, so Thai is the predominant language of the proceedings. They can all speak English but things are just easier in their mother tongue, so if you are there and are a bit confused that is to be expected. They are likely going to put you on the ice anyway for not being able to speak Thai. I know that any time I attend these things they put me on the ice a lot, along with my skirt and bunny ears.

Although the pic is horribly out of focus because it was night and flash photography is generally not allowed, you can see the 3 men in the back who are wearing their skirts because as a man being invited to a woman only event, you have to do whatever they tell you to do. Don't worry, they don't do anything terrible and it is all meant in good fun.

If you do find your male self ever being invited to a Bunny Hash you need to understand that this is not going to be easier just because it is organized by women. They make trails that are just as difficult and sometimes more difficult than the man-only ones. They also tend to have a bunch of food which is something that you rarely see at the men events.

We try to accommodate everyone here in Chiang Mai and the Bunny Hash is proof of that. They really enjoy what they do and honestly, their events seem to be better organized in many ways than the ones that the men get involved in. This is probably because we are overly preoccupied with having enough beer for everyone and a lot of other things end up getting left out.