What the heck is a blackening in Scotland?
The Scottish Blackening is a pre-wedding tradition taken mainly in farming communities. The locals and attendees see it as great fun and can give a right laugh. This is different to stag and hen parties.
Family and friends gather things like treacle, old milk, soot and flour, old eggs and ‘clart’ (Scottish word for cover) over the husband and wife-to-be. The unsuspecting bride and groom are sometimes whisked away to a remote location.
The word black comes from what covers the couple, usually the treacle that does the colouring. Whilst just good fun sometimes the groom and bride don’t like the messiness, but normally it’s just seen as a big part of the Scottish wedding tradition.
As seen on the BBC website the man and wife to be covered in horrible stuff.
Sometimes, the couple are driven through the community on a tractor and trailer with all the other attendees. It can gather quite a bit of attention from the locals and visitors to the area.
Normally, the day ends with a large feast where the groom and bride can relax again and enjoy the days events. What a mess! What a lot of fun!
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