Charivari
Encyclopedia
Charivari is the term for a French folk custom in which the community gave a noisy, discordant mock serenade
, also pounding on pots and pans, at the home of newlyweds. The loud, public ritual evolved to a form of social coercion, for instance, to force an as-yet-unmarried couple to wed
. This type of social custom arose independently in many rural village societies, for instance also in England, Italy, Wales
or Germany, where it was part of the web of social practices by which the small communities enforced their standards.
The community used noisemaking and parades to demonstrate disapproval, most commonly of "unnatural" marriages and remarriages, such as a union between an older widower man and much younger woman, or the too early re-marriage by a widow or widower. Villages also used charivari in cases of adulterous relationships, wife beaters, and unwed mothers. In some cases, the community disapproved of any remarriage by older widows or widowers. Charivari is the original French word, and in Canada it is used by both English and French speakers. Chivaree became the common spelling in Ontario, Canada. In the United States, the term shivaree is more common.
Members of a village would decide on a meeting place where everyone could plan what was to be done. Those who were to initiate the charivari used word-of-mouth to summon the largest possible crowd to participate, with women helping to organize and lead. After forming their plan, the charivari group would usually proceed by foot to the home of those they were acting against, making as much noise as possible with makeshift instruments and loud songs, and begin their assigned actions.
but likely was traditional before that. It was first recorded in France, as a regular wedding activity to celebrate the nuptials at some point after the vows had been taken. But, charivari achieved its greatest importance as it became transformed into a form of community censure against socially unacceptable marriages, for example, the marriage of widow
s before the end of the customary social period of formal mourning
. In the early 17th century at the Council of Tours
, the Catholic Church
forbade the ritual of charivari and threatened its practitioners with excommunication
. It did not want the community taking on the judgment and punishment of parishioners. But, the custom continued in rural areas.
The charivari as celebration was a custom initially practiced by the upper classes, but as time went on, the lower classes also participated and often looked forward to the next opportunity to join in. The main purposes of the charivari in Europe were to facilitate change in the current social structure and to act as a form of censorship
within the community. The goal was to enforce social standards and rid the community of socially unacceptable relationships that threatened the stability of the whole.
In Europe various types of charivari took place that differed from similar practices in other parts of the world. For example, the community might conduct a stag hunt against adulterers. They created a mock chase of human "stags" by human "hounds". The hounds would pursue the stags (those who were committing the adulterous relationship) and dispense animal blood on their doorsteps. European charivaris were highly provocative, leading to overt public humiliation. The people used them to acknowledge and correct misbehavior. In other parts of the world, similar public rituals around nuptials were practiced mostly for celebration.
Humiliation
was the most common consequence of the European charivari. The acts which victims endured were forms of social ostracism often so embarrassing that they would leave the community for places where they were not known. Sometimes the charivari resulted in murder
or suicide
. Examples from the south of France
include five cases of a charivari victim's firing on his accusers: these incidents resulted in two people blinded and three killed. Some victims committed suicide, unable to recover from the public humiliation and social exclusion.
It is possible that the blowing of car horns after weddings in France today is a hangover from the charivari of the past.
, charivaris have occurred in Ontario
, Quebec
, and the Atlantic provinces, but not always as an expression of disapproval.
The early French colonists took the custom of charivari (or shivaree in the United States) to their settlements in Quebec. Some historians believe the custom spread to English-speaking areas of Lower Canada and eventually into the American South, but it was independently common in English society, so was likely part of Anglo-American customs. The earliest documented examples of Canadian charivari were in Quebec in the mid-17th century. One of the most notable was on June 28, 1683. After the widow of Francois Vezier dit Laverdure remarried only three weeks after her husband’s death, people of Quebec conducted a loud and strident charivari against the newlyweds at their home.
As practiced in North America, the charivari tended to be less extreme and punitive than the traditional European custom. Each was unique and heavily influenced by the standing of the family involved, as well as who was participating. While embellished with some European traditions, in a North American charivari, participants might throw the culprits into horse tanks or force them to buy candy bars for the crowd.
This account from an American charivari in Kansas exemplifies the North American attitude. In contrast to punitive charivari in small villages in Europe, meant to ostracize and isolate the evildoers, North American charivaris were used as "unifying rituals" in which those in the wrong were brought back into the community after what might amount to a minor hazing
.
Charivari is believed to have inspired the development of the Acadia
n tradition of Tintamarre
.
, in his five collections of pieces for the basse de viole and continuo. Some are quite advanced and difficult and subsequently evoke the title's origins.
In Europe the noise, songs, and chants had special meanings for the crowd. For adulterers, the songs represented the community’s disgust. For a too-early remarriage of a widow or widower, the noises symbolized the scream of the late husband or wife, and his or her disapproval of the new marriage.
The charivari was used to belittle those who could not or would not consummate their marriage. In the mid-16th century, historic records attest to a charivari against Martin Guerre
for that reason, in the small village of Artigat in the French Pyrenees
. After he married at age 14, his wife did not get pregnant for eight years, so villagers ridiculed him. Later in his life, another man took over Guerre's identity and life. The trial against the impostor was what captured the events for history. In the 20th century, the events were the basis of a French film, Le Retour de Martin Guerre (1982) and the history, The Return of Martin Guerre, by the American history professor Natalie Zemon Davis
.
With the charivari widely practiced among rural villagers across England and Europe, the term and practice were part of common culture. Over time, the word was applied to other items. In Bavaria
, charivari was adopted as the name for the silver ornaments worn with lederhosen
. It was derived from the metal pans and implements celebrants used for noisemaking in a charivari.
Charivari is also used in Philippine Criminal Law as defined in Article 155 of the Philippine Revised Penal Code, it is defined as a medley of discordant voices and is penalized under the article as an alarm and scandal.
Serenade
In music, a serenade is a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. Serenades are typically calm, light music.The word Serenade is derived from the Italian word sereno, which means calm....
, also pounding on pots and pans, at the home of newlyweds. The loud, public ritual evolved to a form of social coercion, for instance, to force an as-yet-unmarried couple to wed
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
. This type of social custom arose independently in many rural village societies, for instance also in England, Italy, Wales
Mari Lwyd
The Mari Lwyd , also Y Fari Lwyd, is a Welsh midwinter tradition, possibly to celebrate New Year , although it formerly took place over a period stretching from Christmas to late January...
or Germany, where it was part of the web of social practices by which the small communities enforced their standards.
The community used noisemaking and parades to demonstrate disapproval, most commonly of "unnatural" marriages and remarriages, such as a union between an older widower man and much younger woman, or the too early re-marriage by a widow or widower. Villages also used charivari in cases of adulterous relationships, wife beaters, and unwed mothers. In some cases, the community disapproved of any remarriage by older widows or widowers. Charivari is the original French word, and in Canada it is used by both English and French speakers. Chivaree became the common spelling in Ontario, Canada. In the United States, the term shivaree is more common.
Members of a village would decide on a meeting place where everyone could plan what was to be done. Those who were to initiate the charivari used word-of-mouth to summon the largest possible crowd to participate, with women helping to organize and lead. After forming their plan, the charivari group would usually proceed by foot to the home of those they were acting against, making as much noise as possible with makeshift instruments and loud songs, and begin their assigned actions.
In Europe
The custom has been documented to the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
but likely was traditional before that. It was first recorded in France, as a regular wedding activity to celebrate the nuptials at some point after the vows had been taken. But, charivari achieved its greatest importance as it became transformed into a form of community censure against socially unacceptable marriages, for example, the marriage of widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
s before the end of the customary social period of formal mourning
Mourning
Mourning is, in the simplest sense, synonymous with grief over the death of someone. The word is also used to describe a cultural complex of behaviours in which the bereaved participate or are expected to participate...
. In the early 17th century at the Council of Tours
Council of Tours
In the medieval Roman Catholic church there were several Councils of Tours, that city being an old seat of Christianity, and considered fairly centrally located in France. Athenius, Bishop of Rennes, took part in the First Council of Tours in AD 461...
, the Catholic Church
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
forbade the ritual of charivari and threatened its practitioners with excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
. It did not want the community taking on the judgment and punishment of parishioners. But, the custom continued in rural areas.
The charivari as celebration was a custom initially practiced by the upper classes, but as time went on, the lower classes also participated and often looked forward to the next opportunity to join in. The main purposes of the charivari in Europe were to facilitate change in the current social structure and to act as a form of censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
within the community. The goal was to enforce social standards and rid the community of socially unacceptable relationships that threatened the stability of the whole.
In Europe various types of charivari took place that differed from similar practices in other parts of the world. For example, the community might conduct a stag hunt against adulterers. They created a mock chase of human "stags" by human "hounds". The hounds would pursue the stags (those who were committing the adulterous relationship) and dispense animal blood on their doorsteps. European charivaris were highly provocative, leading to overt public humiliation. The people used them to acknowledge and correct misbehavior. In other parts of the world, similar public rituals around nuptials were practiced mostly for celebration.
Humiliation
Humiliation
Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It can be brought about through bullying, intimidation, physical or mental mistreatment or trickery, or by embarrassment if a person is revealed to have...
was the most common consequence of the European charivari. The acts which victims endured were forms of social ostracism often so embarrassing that they would leave the community for places where they were not known. Sometimes the charivari resulted in murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
or suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Examples from the south of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
include five cases of a charivari victim's firing on his accusers: these incidents resulted in two people blinded and three killed. Some victims committed suicide, unable to recover from the public humiliation and social exclusion.
It is possible that the blowing of car horns after weddings in France today is a hangover from the charivari of the past.
In North America
Shivaree has been practiced in much of the United States, but it was most frequent on the frontier, where communities were small and more formal enforcement was lacking. It was documented into the early 20th century, but was thought to have mostly died out by mid-century. In CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, charivaris have occurred in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, and the Atlantic provinces, but not always as an expression of disapproval.
The early French colonists took the custom of charivari (or shivaree in the United States) to their settlements in Quebec. Some historians believe the custom spread to English-speaking areas of Lower Canada and eventually into the American South, but it was independently common in English society, so was likely part of Anglo-American customs. The earliest documented examples of Canadian charivari were in Quebec in the mid-17th century. One of the most notable was on June 28, 1683. After the widow of Francois Vezier dit Laverdure remarried only three weeks after her husband’s death, people of Quebec conducted a loud and strident charivari against the newlyweds at their home.
As practiced in North America, the charivari tended to be less extreme and punitive than the traditional European custom. Each was unique and heavily influenced by the standing of the family involved, as well as who was participating. While embellished with some European traditions, in a North American charivari, participants might throw the culprits into horse tanks or force them to buy candy bars for the crowd.
All in fun – it was just a shiveree, you know, and nobody got mad about it. At least not very mad.
This account from an American charivari in Kansas exemplifies the North American attitude. In contrast to punitive charivari in small villages in Europe, meant to ostracize and isolate the evildoers, North American charivaris were used as "unifying rituals" in which those in the wrong were brought back into the community after what might amount to a minor hazing
Hazing
Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
.
Charivari is believed to have inspired the development of the Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
n tradition of Tintamarre
Tintamarre
Tintamarre is an Acadian tradition of marching through one's community making noise with improvised instruments and other noisemakers, usually in celebration of National Acadian Day. The term originates from the Acadian French word meaning "clangour" or "din"...
.
In Music
Charivari would later be taken up by composers of the French Baroque tradition as a 'rustic' or 'pastoral' character-piece. Notable examples are those of the renowned viola da gamba virtuoso Marin MaraisMarin Marais
Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for 6 months. He was hired as a musician in 1676 to the royal court of Versailles...
, in his five collections of pieces for the basse de viole and continuo. Some are quite advanced and difficult and subsequently evoke the title's origins.
The importance of noise
The use of excessive noise was a universal practice in association with variations in the custom. Loud singing and chanting were common in Europe, England, and throughout North America. For an 1860 English charivari against a wife-beater, someone wrote an original chant which the crowd was happy to adopt:
Has beat his wife!
Has beat his wife!
It is a very great shame and disgrace
To all who live in this place
It is indeed upon my life!
In Europe the noise, songs, and chants had special meanings for the crowd. For adulterers, the songs represented the community’s disgust. For a too-early remarriage of a widow or widower, the noises symbolized the scream of the late husband or wife, and his or her disapproval of the new marriage.
Origin
The origins of the word charivari are likely from the Roman caribaria, meaning "headache", or from the Greek kerebaria—keras (head), barys (heavy)—for the effect of the cacophony on the hapless couple or person. In any case, the tradition has been practised for at least 700 years. An engraving in the early 14th-century French manuscript, Roman de Fauvel, shows a charivari underway.Other usages
Charivari was sometimes called "riding the stang", when the target was a woman who had been accused of scolding, beating, or otherwise abusing her husband. The woman was made to "ride the stang", which meant that she was placed backwards on a horse or mule and paraded through town to be mocked while people banged pots and pans.The charivari was used to belittle those who could not or would not consummate their marriage. In the mid-16th century, historic records attest to a charivari against Martin Guerre
Martin Guerre
Martin Guerre, a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the center of a famous case of imposture. Several years after the man had left his wife, child, and village, a man claiming to be Guerre arrived. He lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years. The false Martin Guerre was tried,...
for that reason, in the small village of Artigat in the French Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
. After he married at age 14, his wife did not get pregnant for eight years, so villagers ridiculed him. Later in his life, another man took over Guerre's identity and life. The trial against the impostor was what captured the events for history. In the 20th century, the events were the basis of a French film, Le Retour de Martin Guerre (1982) and the history, The Return of Martin Guerre, by the American history professor Natalie Zemon Davis
Natalie Zemon Davis
Natalie Zemon Davis is a Canadian and American historian of the early modern period. She is currently a professor of history at the University of Toronto in Canada. Her work originally focused on France, but has since broadened to include other parts of Europe, North America, and the Caribbean...
.
With the charivari widely practiced among rural villagers across England and Europe, the term and practice were part of common culture. Over time, the word was applied to other items. In Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, charivari was adopted as the name for the silver ornaments worn with lederhosen
Lederhosen
Lederhosen are breeches made of leather; they may be either short or knee-length. The longer ones are generally called Bundhosen....
. It was derived from the metal pans and implements celebrants used for noisemaking in a charivari.
Charivari is also used in Philippine Criminal Law as defined in Article 155 of the Philippine Revised Penal Code, it is defined as a medley of discordant voices and is penalized under the article as an alarm and scandal.
In popular culture
- Le CharivariLe CharivariLe Charivari was an illustrated newspaper published in Paris, France from 1832 to 1937. It published caricatures, political cartoons and reviews...
was a French newspaper published from 1832–1937, filled with satire and commentary on daily life. - The opening scene in a circus performance, where all the house troupe performs brief moves in rapid fire succession (often with rapid costume changes in between) is often referred to as "Charivari"
- The British magazine PunchPunch (magazine)Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
was first called the London Charivari. - Radio Charivari is the name of a number of radio stations in the state of BavariaBavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. - In legal parlance, charivari means "discordant voices".
- In the FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
dub of the Disney film The Hunchback Of Notre DameThe Hunchback of Notre DameThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a novel by Victor Hugo published in 1831. The French title refers to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, on which the story is centered.-Background:...
, the song "Topsy-Turvy" (or, "The Feast of FoolsFeast of FoolsThe Feast of Fools, known also as the festum fatuorum, festum stultorum, festum hypodiaconorum, or fête des fous, are the varying names given to popular medieval festivals regularly celebrated by the clergy and laity from the fifth century until the sixteenth century in several countries of Europe,...
") is translated as "Charivari." - A depiction of a shivaree in the American South occurs in the episode "The Shivaree" of The WaltonsThe WaltonsThe Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
(season 3, episode 69). - "Charivari" is the title of a poem by Margaret Atwood detailing the death of an African American bridegroom during a Quebec Charivari.
- It is possible that the blowing of car horns after weddings in France today is a hangover from the charivari of the past.