hookswinging

[ hook-swing-ing ]

noun

a ritualistic torture, practiced among the Mandan Indians, in which a voluntary victim was suspended from hooks attached to the flesh of the back.

Origin of hookswinging

First recorded in 1890–95; hook¹ + swing¹ + -ing¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

They are however no credit to their religion, for one of their principal ceremonies is hook-swinging.
Hinduism And Buddhism, Volume II. (of 3) | Charles Eliot
Or was she thinking mostly of that hook swinging into my throat under the chin and dragging me down?
The Night of the Long Knives | Fritz Reuter Leiber
The hook-swinging ceremony is said69 to be sometimes performed after the consent of the goddess has been obtained.
Omens and Superstitions of Southern India | Edgar Thurston

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