The participants were the young men of the district, who had to run stark naked from the church to the bride's house. Englishmen must have been different then. Recently I was discussing with someone roughly my age the changes we have seen, some good, some bad. Some of the more dramatic changes have taken place in families, and with children and youth. Now, such a thing is rare.
Disagreements lead too often to ugly gang fights.
Again, if children were unfairly treated by another child, by a neighboring adult, or by a teacher, they dared not complain to their parents. I recall, when we lived in a city for a time in the 1920's, a girl in the neighborhood who was avoided by all girls and boys. The father went around embarrassed until, after a shouting match, the three moved away, hopefully with the father in better control. I have a mind that, from childhood on, has enjoyed strange and curious facts as well as things important and relevant. My father encouraged this delight in knowledge.