[AT] Belling

[Ron Cook]

That is also what it is called in Iowa.  Sometimes disrupted by 
kidnapping the bride along with a lot of noise.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA

On 9/24/2011 2:27 PM, charlie hill wrote:
> I was thinking that up in S/W Virginia and the NC mountains they called that
> practice of disrupting honeymoons a "chivaree".
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve W.
> Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2011 2:09 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Belling
>
> Ben Wagner wrote:
>> I'm too young to know about belling, but I have heard stories on what
>> happened in my area of VA.  My grandfather and great-uncle were both
>> heavily
>> involved in belling until it stopped in the mid 60's.  The tricks that
>> some
>> of those folks played!  The belling would usually end when the newlyweds
>> came out on the porch and kissed to the cheering of the crowd.
>>
>> Just to get noise, my great-uncle would find those round saw blades, place
>> them on a pole, and whack them with a chunk of wood.  Another tool was a
>> truck which a friend owned.  The truck was an old Ford, and it would
>> backfire if the right combination of fuel and spark was observed.  They
>> would back the truck up to a window, then fire it up.  My grandfather took
>> a
>> shotgun, and fired straight up into the air so that the shot would bounce
>> on
>> the metal roof.
>>
>> There are some stories that I've heard about what happens when a previous
>> belling leader gets married.  The story goes that this character had a
>> house
>> with a small spring house about a hundred yards away.  He tied a cable to
>> a
>> light switch in his bedroom, routed it out the window and through the
>> field
>> to the spring house.  So it happens that when the bellers came, he
>> scrambled
>> with his wife out to the spring house.  The noise making would go on, and
>> he'd pull the cable to switch on the light.  Then, five minutes later,
>> he'd
>> turn it off again.  On and on this charade went, until finally one of the
>> bellers decided to go check to see whether the man was upstairs.  Somebody
>> saw the cable, and followed it to the spring house, where the man and wife
>> was hidden.  The beller's solution was the dunk the former leader in a
>> wheelbarrow full of water.
>>
>> There are a few stories more that I've heard, but I don't need to wear
>> everyone out.  Anyone else have memories of belling?
>>
>> Ben Wagner
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 11:05 PM, Gene Dotson<gdotsly at watchtv.net>  wrote:
>>
>>>    During th 1950's dynamite was sold in hardware stores in
>>> our ares. Just had to be 18 years old or have a signed note from your
>>> father. Most of the dynamite sold locally was only 40 percent nitro
>>> glycerine, so was pretty safe, even if stored for a while. Never heard
>>> very
>>> many instances of shenanigans with the stuff. one that comes to mind is
>>> when
>>> a case was set off in the middle of a bean field to celebrate the belling
>>> of
>>> one of the neighbor's daughters.
>>>
> Never heard of belling but have heard of horning. Modern take on the
> same thing.
> Last one I was on was in 1972 or so.
>