The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 3 (of 3): Everlasting Calerdar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the AlmanacHone, William
History
The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 3 (of 3): Everlasting Calerdar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac
Hone, William
Days; Great Britain -- Social life and customs
The hour of dinner is generally about one o’clock; the guests are
assembling for two hours before, and each as he enters is presented with
a glass of “uisga” by way of welcome. When the company is seated, and
the grace has been said, the bottle makes a regular round, and each
empties a bumper as it passes. During the meal more than one circle is
completed in the same manner; and, at the conclusion, another
revolutionary libation is given as a finale. As soon after dinner as his
march will allow, the bridegroom arrives: his approach is announced at a
distance by a continual and running discharge of firearms from his
party. These signals are answered by the friends of the bride, and when
at length they meet, a general but irregular feu-de-joie announces the
arrival. The bridegroom and his escort are then regaled with whiskey,
and after they have taken some farther refreshment the two parties
combine, and proceed in a loose procession to the “clachan.”
Sometimes, and particularly if there happens to be a few old disbanded
sergeants among them, the whole “gathering” marches very uniformly in
pairs; and there is always a strict regulation in the support of the
bride, and the place of the bridegroom and his party. The escort of the
former takes precedency in the procession, and the head of the column is
generally formed of the most active and best armed of her friends, led
by their pipes. Immediately after this advanced guard, come the bride
and the females of her party, accompanied by their fathers, brothers,
and other friends. The bride is supported on one side by a bridesman,
and on the other by a bridesmaid; her arms are linked in theirs, and
from the right and left hand of the supporters is held a white scarf or
handkerchief, which depends in a festoon across the figure of the bride.
The privilege of supporting the bride is indispensably confined to the
bridesman and bridesmaid, and it would be an unacceptable piece of
politeness for any other persons, however high their rank, to offer to
supply their place. The bridegroom and his party, with their piper, form
the rear of the procession and the whole is closed by two young girls
who walk last at the array, bearing in a festoon between them a white
scarf, similar to that held before the bride. During the march the pipes
generally play the old Scots air, “Fye, lets a’ to the Bridal,” and the
parties of the bride and bridegroom endeavour to emulate each other in
the discharge of their fire-arms. In this order the bridal company
reaches the church, and each pipe as it passes the gate of the
surrounding cemetry becomes silent. In the old time the pipers played
round the outside of the clachan during the performance of the service,
but of later years this custom has been discontinued. The ritual of the
marriage is very simple: a prayer for the happiness and guidance of the
young couple who are about to enter upon the troubled tide of life; a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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