Figging: KOTW

I have never tried figging, but my guess is that I wouldn't like it, which is sort of the whole point of tortures, isn't it? 

Over the last few years I have wondered why it was called figging when it is a piece of ginger, not a fig, and now I have found out more than I ever wanted to know from the KOTW site and a few others I couldn't help but plunge into.

Figging comes from the word feaguing, which means either "to improve the appearance by decoration" or "faking", possibly.  

How does shoving ginger up your ass improve your appearance by fakery?

Well, it doesn't. 

But back in old days when people would try to sell tired, worn out horses, they could get a better price if they temporarily made that poor thing appear lively, younger and spirited.  And evidently nothing puts a spring in one's step like a painful burning asshole.   It was a cruel practice to a poor animal, but perhaps not as bad as the other thing they used- a live eel.  Poor eel and horse!  

 https://kinkoftheweek.mollysdailykiss.com/2019/03/02/figging/