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I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. One mountain custom was serenading a newly married couple. This loud and upsetting event occurred during the night of their wedding.
Shivaree dated back to sixteenth-century France. A couple was teased on the wedding night. Appalachian folks called this raucous, spontaneous celebration serenading.
The community serenaded the couple about a half hour after they turned out the lights. Neighbors circled the house, and made a loud noise. Folks banged on pots and pans, rang cowbells, and even shot guns. They shouted for the couple to come outside.
Sometimes the serenaders carried the bride in a tub, and the groom rode a rail. One custom including parading the couple to the country store where they were treated to snacks.
The community serenaded Mama and Daddy (Blanche and Rondy Ledford), when they married on June 26, 1938. Neighbors circled the red-plank house. They banged on dishpans, sang, and rode my parents across Swaims Road in wheelbarrows.
After the serenading, they held a shindig. The mountain women prepared tons of food for the celebration. Mrs. Lacey Groves, a neighbor lady, brought her delicious, made-from-scratch marble pound cake. The men picked guitars and sawed fiddles while folks danced the night away.
This old-time mountain tradition has passed away, but remains as a favorite memory how the community serendaded newly married couples.
by: Brenda Kay Ledford
This story appeared in: Our Southern Memories Journal; Volume 18, January/February 2024
12 comments:
I did not know any of this, and we LIVE in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I think I would have enjoyed the shindig much better than all the nighttime banging!
This custom seemed to be an amazing way to scare the newly married couple. BVLW
I love this! It made me think of that classic John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara movie The Quiet Man, which is a favorite of ours! Thank you for sharing this delightful custom. Too bad so many of the old ways have passed away.
That's a great photo of your parents. I loved reading about the serenading too.
My parents married in 1960 and it was still happening in West Michigan at that time. They still called it being Shivareed. My Dad loved to tease and laugh so he enjoyed that tradition!
Thanks for sharing this shivaree. I had heard about this before, but never really knew a shindig would happen afterwards. So sad the practice has stopped as so many other traditions families once held are. Janice
What an interesting tradition. The neighbours had a grand time and hopefully the young couple put up with the shenanigans with good humour. I wish I'd have asked my Mom more questions about her wedding in 1935. Sadly, it's too late now.
I hope you don't continue to have trouble commenting on my blog. I'm not sure if there's anything I can do about it.
Take care, GM
That sounds so fun, if not a little annoying for the newlyweds! You grew up in a beautiful area! I have family in S Carolina and we always make a point to go somewhere in NC whenever we are down there.
That sounds so fun, if not a little annoying for the newlyweds! You grew up in a beautiful area! I have family in S Carolina and we always make a point to go somewhere in NC whenever we are down there.
How interesting, Brenda. Sounds like fun, but the newly married couple would have preferred a different wedding night. Love the photo of your parents.
I have heard of this custom before and reading your description makes me wish the custom would continue. What a wonderful way for a young couple to start out their life together! Love the photo of your mom and dad! Such sweet memories!
Such a heart warming story! I wish that there was still some kind of celebration like this for newlyweds starting out! Love the photo of your mom and dad!
wishing you sunny and warm days ahead!
the first time I ever heard of this was on the TV show, The Waltons. Then a couple I went to church with, who were married in the late 1950s, told me they were shivareed when they were married. I'm glad we weren't. Thanks for your interesting post.
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