As a small child my alcoholic father would demand that someone wash his feet. There was usually a target, my sibling, who would be demanded to get a pan of water and wash his feet. At the time I had no understanding and stayed in a state of fear around him. You never knew what was coming next. The foot washing was nothing compared to his violence and abuse.
After escaping my childhood home I did not think much about my past and did not speak of it. For decades. Having had no relationship with my paternal side, I searched my family tree. He was the first son of a very large family including two minister siblings and my grandfather and great grandfather both ministers. Primitive baptists, which is connected to this ritual. I thought, wow, they never reached out to us. All seemingly successful, I'm sure they had no idea they were related to evil. My foo has been keeping in touch with them lately and THEY asked my FOO what was wrong with him. My enabling M says "I told them he could not be trusted..with anything". Yep....no validation...ever. I guess any more then that would make her look bad. I would have had lots to say. Anyway, I just know something happened to him in his family and I will never know what.