In frontier days on the Northern Plains, a wedding was almost always followed by a shivaree, and the custom was still followed in the middle 1900s.  It usually took place at dusk or later, on the day of the wedding, or sometime in the evening of the next day, at the new home of the couple.

Friends of all ages from the neighborhood would gather to serenade the bride and groom with the beating of tin pans, five-gallon buckets, the ringing of cowbells or sleigh bells, the blowing of whistles and horns, explosion of firecrackers, and the shooting of firearms.  This chaotic organized commotion would last until the young couple appeared before the serenaders and invited them in for refreshments.

If they were not asked into the new home and served refreshments, it became a contest to determine who could tolerate the mischief the most.  The newlyweds always lost!  The groom always had an ample supply of cigars which were handed out to the men.  “Belling” and “warmer” were other words used to describe this practice.

The original French word for shivaree was charivari which was pronounced: sha-ree-va-REE, and meaning, “a tumultuous pounding of pans and kettles, accompanied by cries and hooting, before the house of those what have aroused displeasure to the public.  Uproar in general.”

A daily newspaper in the State of Washington in 1900 had this headline on the front page: “A DWINDLING CUSTOM.”  The subheads were:  “The Barbarous Charavari a Thing of the Past” and

“Order-Loving Communities Are Doing Away with This Idiotic Survival of Semicivilized Times.”

The story began by indicating that the ancient custom of charivari or shivaree still survived in rural sections of America.  Even though it was not only brutal but had led to countless tragedies and death in the past.

This popular custom originated in France and was performed under the windows of newly married couples, or inflicted upon persons who had made themselves socially or politically unpopular.  The charivari in France was originally extended to all bridal couples.

Later, it was limited to widows or widowers who remarried too hastily, to couples among whom an unusual disparity of age existed, or to such other unions as were either ridiculous or unpopular.  Cases of notorious domestic incorrectness or infidelity called forth similar expressions of neighborly disapproval.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century charivaris were forbidden by the Council of Tours under the possibility of ex-communication from the church.  The French parliament was against the custom, but neither the church nor state was able to put an end to the custom.

The French inhabitants of Louisiana and Canada, and also the Dutch settlers in New York and Pennsylvania brought the custom to America.  Through them it was pretty generally distributed over the United States where it was widely practiced.

If those being serenaded delayed too long in their appearance, or attempted to wear out the crowd by a refusal to appear, the serenaders outside the house were apt to become riotous and unruly.  Often stones were hurled through the windows, and sometimes dead cats and rotten eggs followed.

The firing of blank cartridges was also considered a fitting accompaniment to the music of tin pans, bells, and whistles.  Unfortunately, the firing of these “blank cartridges” would result in the death of an individual, often a member of the couple who was being serenaded.

A State of Washington newspaper in 1900 pointed out that the fool with a gun which is thought not to be loaded is a very common and dangerous kind of fool.  It recommended that asylums should be set apart for such fools.  “It is high time,” the paper recommended, “that the communities in which the charivari still exists should take stringent measures to stamp out this idiotic survival of semi-barbarous times.  That it still does survive in certain communities only points to a lack of civilization and progress in such sections, though, indeed the custom breaks out in unexpected spots at times.”

Indeed, many communities throughout history practiced traditions similar to the shivaree.  In France the tradition seems to have initially been celebratory, but eventually transformed into a brutal way for communities to enforce strict social norms.  This also happened in America with countless examples of brute force, cruelty, and even death

As late at 1955, a farmer up in Montana commented:  “Maybe the ottomattick washin’ machine will wash clothes, but it’ll never take the place of the old tub.  It’s plumb useless at a shivaree.”

The Kansas Supreme Court in 1909 decided that a “shivaree” is a disorderly and unlawful pastime and that the victims of such an event has a valid claim for damages against the town or city in which it is permitted to take place.

Law and common sense do frequently go hand in hand!

 

Author Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on May 14, 2025