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Across the Fence:  CHIVAREE clacker  |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 11:04:40 AM
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this is my wonderfully fun 'chivaree clacker' that i was drooling over at SUGARBUCKET's antiques .. and asked Santa for .. and the 'fat man' delivered it down the chimney for me! I have it hanging on the wall in our bedroom to celebrate "us".
The Shivaree (chivaree, charivari) also known in some regions as the callithump, or "belling the bride" is a noisy, boisterous mock serenade, of the bridal couple. Usually given by friends and relatives. A charivari was a custom that was practiced up unitl the 1950 in many parts of the US. Descendent from the Scottish/Irish border prank of "bride abduction" on the wedding night, wherein rivaling clans would abduct the bride. The settlers brought it west in the 1800s carrying this tradition with them just as the first European settlers brought the age old tradition from their mother countries of England, Scotland, Germany and Russia. In some of these countries, the tradition involved escorting the couple into their bedchamber and often staying the night with them.
The chivaree is a playful but rowdy gathering in which a newlywed couple's friends make their wedding night a nightmare filled with noise. Banging on pots, pans and washtubs, ringing bells outside the location the couple was staying was the standard. Early charivaris (Shivarees, chivarees) included the shooting of guns and an invitation from the bridal couple to come inside with cigars for the gentlemen and lemonade or tea for the ladies. In some parts of the U.S. the bride was carried around in a tub at times, and the groom was ridden on a rail. In still others, the groom placed the bride in a wheel barrow and pushed her around the town square. The charivari was anciently in France a regular wedding custom, all bridal couples being thus serenaded.
As times changed and more couples traveled to distant locales on a honeymoon trip, upon their return groups of friends met them with an improvised "Bull Band." For the bull band, anything that made noise was a suitable instrument -- cowbells, horns, dishpans or whatever was handy.
Now days, the only shivaree is the traditional decoration of the "get away" vehicle of the couple, with shaving cream and tin cans tied to the bumper, vasoline on the gear shift, bananas in the tail pipe, soaping the windows, then following them down the street in a parade, with everyone honking their horns, and if it can be pulled off, fixing up their marriage bed for their return from the honeymoon. Short-sheeting the bed, removal of slats, crackers in the bed, removing all the labels from canned goods, etc. Because of the automobile, couples can get into their cars and make a quick get away and drive off to a romantic honeymoon destination-often the airport to begin their journey. The decoration of the newlywed couple's car is a tradition, which derives from chivaree. In a way when people decorate the couple's vehicle and send them off with sprays of birdseed and noise, what they are really doing is serenading them or giving them a modernized version of the old chivaree.
True Friends * Frannie
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Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
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downbranchroad
True Blue Farmgirl
374 Posts
Joy
Southern
KY
USA
374 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 11:59:35 AM
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Oh my, I have never seen such a thing. Heard of one but never seen one. Thanks for sharing.
Appalachian Girl
Jem
*If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.
My new blog!
http://downbranchroad.blogspot.com |
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 5:28:59 PM
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I would bet that is where the word chivalrous (I probably spelled it wrong) came from....meaning a brave man who was a gentleman and would always protect the lady and rescue her.
How interesting! Boy howdy, newlyweds did not get a break huh?
Farmgirl Sister # 31
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
Edited by - jpbluesky on Dec 29 2007 5:30:01 PM |
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farmgirl blessings
True Blue Farmgirl
777 Posts
Lea
TN
777 Posts |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
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Across the Fence: CHIVAREE clacker |
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CHIVAREE clacker
