Journal Entry #8

In Greer’s article about charivaris he focuses on three main stages that he identifies. The first stage were essentially marital disagreements between society and the newlyweds. For example a man marrying a much younger woman or if “one of the partners had been previously married”[1]. After this the charivaris shifted into the next stage which involved a much more political angle. During the rebellion of 1837 Greer argues that in the summer of 1837 the charivaris were being used to further political ideas. He says “charivaris were used for more clearly strategic purposes”[2] which indicates how these demonstrations were transforming from simple disagreements of matrimony to an all-out political force. Something that Greer does not mention in his article is that often times these charivari events would deal with racial issues as well. In Moodie’s novel “Roughing it in the Bush” she speaks about how a young black man who married a young white woman was dragged out of his house naked and as a result of the weather he “died under their hands”[3]. This is the main difference between the two readings both Greer and Moodie focus on the marital aspects of the charivari it is Moodie who shows the blatant racism that was abundant in the ceremonies of the charivari. However, Greer shows how after the rebellion of 1837 that the charivari revolts moved from political or marital concerns to violent outbursts of social unhappiness. Greer states that after the rebellion the charivari turned into a “weapon for chastising moral transgressions and punishing nonconformist”[4] so in the early days of the charivari they were threatening in some ways but it was not until after the rebellion that they changed into a more malicious event. Greer states that the “charivari form was deployed in radically new and decidedly more cruel ways”[5]. In conclusion, the charivari of Canada had three main stages. The first was a milder ritual meant to intimidate those individuals who went outside the social norms of society set by the Catholic Church. For example, a young man marrying an older woman or vice versa. At this same time Moodie adds that the charivari could be quite violent and racist as well with her story of the young black barber who was killed for marrying a white woman. From her the second stage that Greer illustrates was the political stage that involved the charivaris attacking captains and in some cases demanding they step down or pay a certain fee. In the final stage Greer illustrates how after the rebellion the same rituals turned violent and could many times result in either injuries or death. By the end of the article Greer shows how the charivari started as a simple revolt of assumed discrepancies of the social norm, to violent demonstrations of the power of a masked, anonymous group of people can have.

 

Bibliography

Allan Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837,” Social History 15 (1990) 25-43.

Susanna Moodie, Roughing it in the Bush (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014) 21-25.

 

[1] Allan Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution: Charivaris and the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837,” Social History 15 (1990) 27.

[2] Greer “From Folklore to Revolution,” 35.

[3] Susanna Moodie, Roughing it in the Bush (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014) 25.

[4] Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution,” 42.

[5] Greer, “From Folklore to Revolution,” 42.