Keeping old wedding traditions alive
The district of Craven, in which Kilnsey is located, is rich in wedding customs. From special wedding cakes to a baked bridal pie and the bizarre game of ‘Thrawin the stockin’, there are many special and quirky ways in which marriage has been celebrated in the Yorkshire Dales. Perhaps you can incorporate some of the old traditions into your special day?
While some of the wedding customs have died out, others are alive and kicking: at St Oswald’s church in the nearby village of Arncliffe the bride and bridegroom are still locked in the churchyard after their wedding and have to pay over money (called ‘hen-silver’) in order to escape.
We would love to see you incorporate some of these distinctive ancient traditions into your wedding celebration, to help keep the local Dales culture alive – let us know if you are inspired and would like our assistance.
Wedding food: The Bride-cake is a thin currant-cake made specially for the wedding reception. The bride wears a clean linen napkin on her head and the cake is broken over it. It’s considered very lucky to eat some so the guests all scramble for a piece. The Pie-bridal (bride’s pie) was so essential a dish on the wedding dining table that it was believed that there was no prospect of happiness without it. The pie is always round, garnished with sweet meats and decorated with the emblem of a laying-hen, sitting on her eggs. It is deemed rude if any of the guests don’t try some, and the bridegroom must also wait on (serve) his bride.
Fun and games: two particular games are recorded from the wedding day. Bride-ale sees a foot or horse race to the newlywed’s home take place immediately after the marriage ceremony. The winner welcomes the bride into her home with a tankard of warm ale, for which she rewards him with a ribbon. Thrawin the stockin’ takes place on the evening of the wedding in the bridal bedroom, where the bride and groom sit fully dressed on the bed whilst the younger guests take it in turn to throw the bridegroom’s stocking (or sock) at his face. As the best marksman or woman is to be married first, this was always a very competitive sport.
Wedding words: Nominy are complimentary verses addressed to the bride, immediately after marriage, by a local schoolboy, who expects a present in return. Be warned – in the event that the accustomed gift is not given, the young poet has the right to take away the left shoe of the bride.
A few of the other lost wedding traditions are unlikely to be revived any time soon. The Bride-wain was a horse-drawn waggon laden with furniture, given to the bride when she left her father’s house (IKEA has probably taken on that role now).
Many of these wedding traditions are taken from The Craven Dialect by William Carr (1824), a wonderful compilation of words and phrases from the Yorkshire Dales.
