In the town of Landsberg, Germany, there is a festival every four years known as the Ruethenfest, or "rod festival" - as in "spare the rod, spoil the child." It is in fact one of the largest childrens' festivals in Bavaria and lasts nine days, and I'm sure the kids love it nowadays because they aren't actually being beaten, but the origins hardly seem like grounds for celebrating. Here's a translation of mine from the German Wikipedia article on the subject:
The festival allegedly originated from the custom that took place every year in May. Teachers and students went into the forest on a nice day and cut willow and hazelnut switches that they brought into the city in the evening with songs. The switches would be used to discipline the students and represented a sign of the teachers' authority. ... In Landsberg this custom is verifiable at the earliest in the year 1751.
On this image of a 1921 German Notgeld note from the city of Landsberg, you can see the children marching in procession carrying their willow and hazelnut switches, accompanied by a band - and of course their sadistic schoolmasters who get to ride horses and wagons!
I don't know, but this seems to me like it was designed to instill fear into the kids, and I'm picturing them marching with tears running down their faces. If I was one of those kids I would have started my own Pillow-Inside-The-Pants Festival!
Thanks for reading and by the way, I'm giving away a very nice 1920 German Notgeld banknote on Steemit in this thread right here, so please check that out as well!