What is this thing called Hashing anyway?

If you wonder what Hashing is all about here's a short description shamelessly stolen from Rome HHH:

The Hash House Harriers is a worldwide organisation which has over 1000 chapters. 'Hash' could be described as a sort of Hare and Hounds (AKA paperchasing) or treasure hunt with beer as the treasure. The description we like best is Drinkers with a Running Problem. Founded in the 30's by a group of British expatriates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Hashes follow the same loose (very loose) format all over the world: the organisers for the day's Run (the Hares) lay a trail of flour or paper. The pack of Hounds (the rest of the layabouts) follow it, looking for trail marks. As we have runners and walkers, men, women and kids, not everyone runs or walks the same speed - but the idea is to follow the trail more or less together. The way the Hares achieve this is to lay false parts of the trail, tricking the front runners (FRB's). Shortcutting is positively encouraged. Competition and racing are severely punished!

For further reading there's a Wikipedia article on Hashing, the Harrier.net, the Half-Mind Catalog, and Shakesprick's On On: The Historic Magazine of the Hash House Harriers at GoToTheHash.net.

The late ZiPpY put together a collection of newspaper and magazine articles about Hashing. After his last circle the job was kept on by Hops at the Half Mind catalog.

One important feature about Hashing is singing, and ZiPpY put his song books on the net. If you don't want to read the songs one at a time, you can download Flying Booger's Songbook. We've also got our own most popular selection of songs on this very web site.

If you ever find yourself in Den Haag in the Netherlands, check out the (real, no kidding) Hash House Harrier Museum too.