Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-09-20
ADWINDLING CUSTOM
The Barbarous Charivari a Thing of
 the Past
Order-LovinE Co@munities Are DoiAE Away with This IdiOtie Sur
 vtvsI of s~mIciviIiEed TfRea

shivaree. which stlil suENlfrh iA AeA or sections of the United States. IS not only a brutal one. but tt led to right ful tragedy near Watonga, Q. T.. few days ago. \ charivari party was sere- nading 8 bride and groom, Mir. and Mrs. Ray Higgins, and making deafening noises by beating on pans, etc. The couple appeared upon the porch and the groom ordered the serenaders 10 leave. One of the party pointed his gun at the young couple and fired The brides face and breast were filled with buckshot. and she died an hour later. The bridegroom was shot in the face, but not fatally, and a little brother of the bride was also wounded. The chari- vari party fled. and SO far none has been arrested. This outrage should go far to put an end forever tO custom that long ago should have become obso- lete
 The word charivari, which in local American usage is frequently corrupted into chivaree or shivaree, comes from a French word of uncertain origin, signi- lying a mock serenade. In France, par ticularly in the southern districts, sere- nades produced by kettles, frying pans and horns, and accompanied by shouts and cries, given under the windows of newly married couples. or inflicted upon persons who had made themselves so- cially or politically unpopular. were a popular custom, but popular rather among the givers than the receivers of such dubious compliments Such con certs were styled charivari, and by ex- pansion the term is now applied to any tumultuous discord. The custom IS traceable to a very high antiquity, and still survives in spots throughout the French provinces. The same sort of concert in Germany is called katzenmu- six (cat's music), and in England rough music.
 The charivari in France was origin ally extended to all bridal couples, but more recently was limited to widows or widowers who remarried too hastily, 10 couples among whom an unusual dis parity of age existed. or to such other unions as were either ridiculous or un- popular. Cases of notorious domestic infeHcity or infidelity called forth sim liar expressions of neighborly disap- provaL
 In medieval times in many Europe an countries a wife who beat her hus- band was placed upon 6 donkey. with her back to its head; its tail was grasped by the henpecked spouse, and thus they paraded through the streets, greeted with shouts and cries and beating of tin pans. Here possibly was the germ idea of the charivari.
 At the beginning of the seventeenth century charivaris were forbidden by the council of Tours under pain of ex- communication. The French parlia- ment was against the custom, but neither church nor state was able to put an end to the custom.
 The French inhabitants of Louisiana and Canada, and also the Dutch set tiers in New York and Pennsylvania, brought the custom 10 America, and through them it was pretty generally distributed over the United States. where it still retains its hold on vari- ous rural communities under the name of shivaree.
 The hideous aggregation of sounds that go to make up a charivai is kept up until the bridegroom appears and treats his crowd of torturers. Should he delay his appearance too long, or attempt to wear out the crowd by a re- fusal 10 appear, the outside company is apt to become riotous. and often stones are hurled through windows, and after them perhaps dead cats and rotten eggs.
 The firing of blank cartridges is also considered a fitting accompaniment to the music of tin pans, horse fiddles and horns. and the fatal ending of the re- cent case in Oklahoma was probably due to this idea, for murder could hard ly have been intended. But the fool with a gun that he does not believe to be loaded is a very common and dan gerous kind of fool. Asylums should be set apart for such fools.
 It is high time. indeed. that the com munities 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. in deed. the custom breaks out in unex- pected spots at times.-N. '. Herald.