1.When did the of Burning of the Socks begin? In ...
2.Among whom was the sock-burning ritual popular at first? ..
3.During what time didn't the most hard-core sock haters wear socks? From the spring equinox until ...
In sailing-crazy Annapolis, boaters celebrate the first day of spring with a ceremonial Burning of the Socks, signifying it will soon be warm enough to wear shoes without socks. The tradition began in the mid-1980s, when an employee at Annapolis Yacht Yard tired of his winter days doing engine maintenance on yachts and power boats. He stripped off his stinky socks, put them in a paint can with some lighter fluid and drank a beer while looking forward to warmer days ahead. At first, this was only confined to the people who worked on boats, but the sock-burning ritual now draws more than boatyard workers. Even wealthy sailboat owners delight in throwing tube socks and panty hose on the flames in this town, whose residents have a special disdain for socks. Waterfront restaurants that serve big crab feasts draw men wearing leather loafers sans socks. Annapolis resident Michael Busch joked that socks constitute formal wear around here. The most hard-core sock haters refuse to wear them from the spring equinox until the first day of winter. “The uniform is deck shoes and khaki pants in winter. The uniform is deck shoes and khaki shorts in summer.” Holland said with a laugh. The sock bonfire, he said, is a way of remembering Annapolis’ bygone days of working-class watermen who brought in crabs in the summer and scraped the paint off wooden vessels in the winter. These days, the bonfire revelers retire for crab cakes and oysters after burning their socks.
