This is an article about the folk custom. For the band Shivaree, see Shivaree (band). For the historical magazine, see Le Charivari

Charivari or shivaree was originally a French folk custom, a noisy mock serenade for newlyweds. It was also sometimes used as a form of social coercion, to force an as-yet-unmarried couple to wed. "Charivari" is the original French word, while "shivaree" is used in North America.

In charivari, people of the local community gather around to "celebrate" a marriage, usually one they regard as questionable, gathering outside the window of the couple. They bang metal implements or use other items to create noise in order to keep the couple awake all night. Sometimes they wear disguises or masks

The custom dates from the Middle Ages and originates from France where it was a regular custom after weddings. Later it became a form of protest against socially disapproved marriages like widows who remarried before finishing a socially acceptable period of mourning. In the early 1600s, the Council of Tours forbade charivari and threatened its practitioners with excommunication, but the custom continued in rural areas.

Shivaree has been practiced at least in Ontario and Quebec in Canada, and in the American Midwest, New England, and Louisiana. It is also called "belling" or "horning".

Folk customs | Traditions | French culture | Marriage

Charivari (rituel) | Charivari

For many years the famous British satirical magazine Punch was known as "Punch, or the London charivari".