by the Night Writer
If you see any references to a count-down here on this blog or on certain others it is all in relation to this:
Shivaree
Dictionary: shiv·a·ree
n. Midwestern & Western U.S.
A noisy mock serenade for newlyweds. Also called regionally charivari, belling; Also called horning, serenade.
[Alteration of CHARIVARI.]
REGIONAL NOTE Shivaree is the most common American regional form of charivari, a French word meaning “a noisy mock serenade for newlyweds” and probably deriving in turn from a Late Latin word meaning “headache.” The term, most likely borrowed from French traders and settlers along the Mississippi River, was well established in the United States by 1805; an account dating from that year describes a shivaree in New Orleans: “The house is mobbed by thousands of the people of the town, vociferating and shouting with loud acclaim…. [M]any [are] in disguises and masks; and all have some kind of discordant and noisy music, such as old kettles, and shovels, and tongs…. All civil authority and rule seems laid aside” (John F. Watson). The word shivaree is especially common along and west of the Mississippi River. Its use thus forms a dialect boundary running north-south, dividing western usage from eastern. This is unusual in that most dialect boundaries run east-west, dividing the country into northern and southern dialect regions. Some regional equivalents are belling, used in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan; horning, from upstate New York, northern Pennsylvania, and western New England; and serenade, a term used chiefly in the South Atlantic states.
Oh, and the count-down is at 26.
25
24
Now not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away!'”
I love that the WHOLE FAMILY is involved in this! (I hope my children get to experience their wedding this way, instead of the DIY method we were stuck with.)
I hope you know how much you are blessed. Seriously. I feel so much love here. I could burst!
It will be an interesting event. The groomsmen are all bloggers in their 40s and 50s and generously proportioned; the bridesmaids are all young ladies with Tiger Lilly as Maid of Honor (and you should have seen her throwing herself into organizing the bridal shower). The service will be done by the Reverend Mother in our front yard, and I’ll take care of the crying. We’re doing a few other things a little differently as well, but I can’t give too much away.
Generously proportioned, I like that. I don’t think they could necessarily make a circus tent out of the amount of material used in our tux’s; but they might be able to make one that would sleep a cub scout den.
except the groom’s tux.
must be half-price rental on that one.
Nope, the tux be free. Oh, and 23! (almost to the minute)
22!
21! I’m so excited I could pee.
Not to beat a dead horse, but…
20!
Look, I found a dead horse!
19!!
Diva, since you’re already at work it looks like it’s up to me to deposit a big fat 18 right here. This is all very exciting!
I apologize for my earlier incontinence excitement. 17.
Holy cow, we are lazy!
9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Three is the number that thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Do not count to two, excepting that thou proceedest to three. Five is right out!