A Scottish penny wedding.
Belfast : Published by Simms and M'Intyre, Donegall-Street,
[1840?]
The broadside features a large chapbook-style wood engraving printed from nine individual blocks. It shows a spirited Scottish "Penny Wedding" scene in a barn, with the bride and groom and other dancers, fiddlers, guests eating and drinking, dogs fighting over a bone, and young spectators in the rafters above. Penny weddings were a custom among the peasantry and lower classes in the Scotland whereby guests contributed to the food and drink to help defray the cost of the festivities. Lasting as long as three or four days, beginning with gifts made to the newly weds on the eve of the wedding they were renowned for feasting, drinking, dancing and fighting. The custom was officially abolished in 1645, but lived on for a long time.
Caption title.
The broadside features a large chapbook-style wood engraving printed from nine individual blocks. It shows a spirited Scottish "Penny Wedding" scene in a barn, with the bride and groom and other dancers, fiddlers, guests eating and drinking, dogs fighting over a bone, and young spectators in the rafters above. Penny weddings were a custom among the peasantry and lower classes in the Scotland whereby guests contributed to the food and drink to help defray the cost of the festivities. Lasting as long as three or four days, beginning with gifts made to the newly weds on the eve of the wedding they were renowned for feasting, drinking, dancing and fighting. The custom was officially abolished in 1645, but lived on for a long time.
Northern Ireland Belfast.