II. (a). The head lady and foot gentleman skip forward and make one
revolution, holding right hands.
(b). The head gentleman and foot lady repeat (a).
(c). The head lady and foot gentleman skip forward and make one
revolution, holding left hands.
(d). Head gentleman and foot lady repeat (c).
III. (a). Head lady and foot gentleman skip forward and around each other
back to back.
(b). Head lady and foot gentleman repeat (a).
IV. The head couple meet in center, lock right arms, and make one and
one-half revolutions. They go down the set swinging each one once
around with left arms locked, the gentleman swinging the ladies, the
lady swinging the gentlemen. They meet each other swinging
a round with right arms locked, between each turn down the line. They
swing thus down the set.
V. Couples join hands, forming a bridge under which the head couple
skips to head of set. They separate, skipping down the outside of the
lines and take their new places at the foot of the set. The original
second couple is now the head couple. The dance is repeated from the
beginning until each couple has been the head couple.]
THE INFARE WEDDING
Even when the dulcimer, that primitive three-stringed instrument, could
not be had, mountain folk in the raggeds of Old Virginia were not at a
loss for music with which to make merry at the infare wedding. They
stepped the tune to the singing of a ballad, nor did they tire though
the infare wedding lasted all of three days and nights. It began right
after the wedding ceremony itself had been spoken--at the bride's home,
you may be sure.
How happy the young couple were as they stood before the elder, the
groom with his waiter at his side, and the bride with her waiter beside
her. Careful they were too that they stood the way the floor logs were
running. Thoughtless couples who had stood contrary to the cracks in the
floor had been known to be followed by ill luck.
When the elder had spoken the word which made them one, the bride with
her waiter hurried out to another room, if there was such, if not she
climbed the wall ladder to the loft and there in the low-roofed bedroom
she changed her wedding frock for her infare dress--the second day
dress. In early times it was of linsey-woolsey, woven by her own hands,
and dyed with homemade dyes, while her wedding frock had been of snowy
white linsey-woolsey.
And what a feast _her_ folks had prepared for the occasion. Cakes and
pies, stewed pumpkin that had been dried in rings before the fireplace,
venison, and wild honey.
While the bride was changing to her infare dress, older hands quickly
took down the bedsteads, tied up the flock ticks and shuck ticks in
coverlids and quilts, shoved them back into the corners so as to make
room for the frolic and dancing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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