Make the night hideous
Subtitle: four English Canadian charivaris, 1881-1940
By: Pauline Greenhill
Series: Canadian social history series; Canadian social history series
Publisher: University of Toronto Press; University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Toronto
Language: eng
Number of pages: 238
ISBN-13: 9781442640771; 9781442610156
Subjects: Social life and customs; Charivari (Coutumes); Histoire; Marriage customs and rites; Shivaree; Rites et cérémonies; Mariage; History
Description: The charivari is a loud, late-night surprise house-visiting custom from members of a community, usually to a newlywed couple, accompanied by a qut̊e (a request for a treat or money in exchange for the noisy performance) and/or pranks. Up to the first decades of the twentieth century, charivaris were for the most part enacted to express disapproval of the relationship that was their focus, such as those between individuals of different ages, races, or religions. While later charivaris maintained the same rituals, their meaning changed to a welcoming of the marriage. Make the Night Hideous explores this mysterious transformation using four detailed case studies from different time periods and locations across English Canada, as well as first-person accounts of more recent charivari participants. Pauline Greenhill's unique and fascinating work explores the malleability of a tradition, its continuing value, and its contestation in a variety of discourses.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: "Murder most foul" : the Wetherill charivari, near Ottawa, 1881; title: "A man's home is his castle" : death at a Manitoba charivari, 1909; title: "What you do in daylight in eyes of public is no harm" : person, place, and defamation in Nova Scotia, 1917; title: Picturing community : Les and Edna Babcock's shivaree, Avonlea, Saskatchewan, 1940; title: "Great fun"/"a nuisance" : seeking recent shivaree discourses.