Slim Jim checking out a stone boundary marker near Kaiserslautern, Germany (Kat Nickola)

The image below is the back of a Notgeld issued by the Kaiserslautern government in the year 1923. Notgeld was emergency money printed to counteract inflation and currency shortages during World War I. On it, they have chosen to highlight one of the city’s unique medieval traditions: the Waldumgang (and it’s interesting spanking ritual).

Notgeld issued by the Kaiserslautern government in the year 1923. ()

During the Middle Ages, every ten years or so, walks around the forest boundary were held in Kaiserslautern and other villages whose citizens had woodland rights. These forest walks are called a Waldumgang and the first one in Kaiserslautern is documented in 1514.

The goal of a Waldumgang was to remind the youth of the village, especially the young men, about their responsibility to maintain the forest borders for use by the citizens. Stone markers in the woods marked out the perimeter of the city forest, and they were checked during the walk.

A stone boundary marker in the forest. (Kat Nickola)

As part of the tradition, one of the young men (we assume they took turns) had to bend over each stone to receive three spanks by the city mayor using a switch made from layered beech wood that was more loud than painful. Why? I suppose it was a multi-sensory way to beat that location, and the importance of the forest, into their memory.

You can still find these boundary stones and other Naturdenkmale (in the forests south of Kaiserslautern, and around other towns, while hiking in the woods today.