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| Schweninger, Happy Family |
One of my favorite tomes on my shelves is The Every-Day Book; or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements etc., which the prolific William Hone published in 1826, and which was reprinted for many years thereafter.
In the entry for 20 June, he brings to our attention the custom of awarding a flitch (side) of bacon to a couple able to prove marital harmony a year and a day after the wedding.
The rather saccharine Victorian era image above left, a romantic imagining of a scene from the early 1800s, certainly is a strong contrast to Gillray's before and after matrimony images.
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| Dunmow Custom |
Image: Carl Schweninger, Happy Family, via Wikipedia.
Clicking on the image will enlarge it. Clicking on the caption will take you to the source, where you can learn more and enlarge images as needed.
One of us -- 
3 comments:
Who knew?! Not everyone would have managed it, and some might have though bacon just wasn't enough.
I recently came across a 1952 British film called Made In Heaven (starring Petula Clark as the young wife!) about this weird custom, which seemed to be still going strong in 1952! The film is on Amazon Prime and is soooo very British.
According to the book, the bacon had only been requested 6 or 7 times since the tradition's inception! I guess those financial and convenience weddings were more popular. On that note, I need to get to England and claim my bacon!
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