Charivari

This article is about the mock-serenading custom. For other uses, see Charivari (disambiguation).
William Hogarth's engraving "Hudibras Encounters the Skimmington" (illustration to Samuel Butler's Hudibras)[1]

Charivari (/ˌʃɪvəˈriː, ˈʃɪvəriː/, UK also /ˌʃɑːrɪˈvɑːri/, US also /ʃəˌrɪvəˈriː/,[2][3] alternatively spelled shivaree or chivaree and also called a skimmington) was a European and North American folk custom designed to shame a member of the community, in which a mock parade was staged through the settlement accompanied by a discordant mock serenade. Since the crowd aimed to make as much noise as possible by beating on pots and pans or anything that came to hand, these parades were often referred to as rough music.

Parades were of three types. In the first and generally most violent form, an alleged wrongdoer (or wrongdoers) might be dragged from his or her home or place of work and paraded by force through a community. In the process, the victim was subject to the derision of the crowd and might be pelted and was frequently dunked at the end of the proceedings. A safer form involved a neighbour of the wrongdoer impersonating the victim while being carried through the streets. The impersonator was obviously not him or herself punished and often cried out or sang ribald verses mocking the wrongdoer. In the common form, an effigy was employed instead, abused and often burnt at the end of the proceedings.[4]

Communities used "rough music" to express their disapproval of different types of violation of community norms. For example, they might target marriages of which they disapproved such as a union between an older widower and much younger woman, or the premature remarriage of a widow or widower. Villages also used charivari in cases of adulterous relationships, against wife-beaters or unmarried mothers. It was also used as a form of shaming upon husbands who were beaten by their wives and had not stood up for themselves.[5] In some cases, the community disapproved of any remarriage by older widows or widowers. Charivari is the original French word, and in Canada it is used by both Anglophones and Francophones. Chivaree became the common variant in Ontario, Canada. In the United States, the term shivaree is more common.[6]

As species of popular justice rites, Charivaric events were carefully planned and they were often staged at times of traditional festivity thereby blending delivering justice and celebration.[7]

  1. ^ Kremer, William (23 March 2014). "What medieval Europe did with its teenagers". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  2. ^ "charivari". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
  4. ^ Banks, Stephen (2014) Informal Justice in England and Wales, 1760–1914 pp. 71–72 Boydell Press, ISBN 978-1-84383940-8
  5. ^ ""Stang riding" as punishment for male victims of intimate partner violence". gynocentrism.files.wordpress.com. December 2, 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  6. ^ Palmer, Bryan D. (2005). "Discordant Music: Charivaris and Whitecapping in Nineteenth-Century North America". Crime and Deviance in Canada. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-1-55130-274-4.
  7. ^ Banks, Stephen (2014) Informal Justice in England and Wales, 1760–1914, Chapter Three Boydell Press ISBN 978-1-84383-940-8.