Unruly women represented a threat to patriarchal authority and were dealt with by the entire community in public shaming rituals. Domineering wives who beat their husbands were serenaded by a procession of neighbors playing discordant "rough music." A neighbor acted the part of the humiliated husband, riding backwards on horse or donkey while holding a distaff, the symbol of female subordination, while another neighbor, dressed in women's clothes, beat him with a skimming ladle, the implement women used to make butter and cheese.