Walk of atonement is a kind of punishment that requires that a person walks naked just to disgrace them after confessing to their sins.
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Walk of atonement is a kind of punishment that requires that a person walks naked just to disgrace them after confessing to their sins.
Jane Shore, who had a real life walk of shame in 1483, was hit with humiliation and misfortune after an early life that seems to have been filled with good fortune. Jane Shore was accused of carrying messages between Hastings and Queen Elizabeth to further their plots, while the dowager queen was still in sanctuary. Jane was forced to walk through the city wearing nothing but a kirtle, which is a long petticoat, and a taper in her hands. She was jeered at but no physical harm is known to have come to her during this traumatic procession.
I am not aware of any place where such act is still in practice. But it was a common practice in the Medieval and later Europe in the 1700s. The “Spanish auto da fe” was a grand procession of penitents, garbed in a code to designate their sins, surrounded by guards, to the plaza. Some were let off with the public shaming, some were whipped or branded, some were burnt at the stake. The punishment for prostitution was often being stripped to the waist, hands tied to the tail of a cart, and, while the cart rumbled down the street, being whipped by the apprentice executioner following along.