THE DUNMOW FLITCH

Shannon News, 19 July 1929, Page 1

THE DUNMOW FLITCH

STORY OF ITS O&TGIN. THE BAD OLD DAYS. Father Bonald Knox wrote an amusing preface to the programme of the Dun mow Flitch trial, which took place :it the Whot Monday fete at Ilford. "I have never been married," Father Knox says, "so I cannot tell what are the probabilities of your having dei&iveil the flitch. I can only say thaiit' you have deserved it, yours must be i tamo sort of life, for which a whole sausage factory would not sufficiently .'omp'2'nsate." Father Knox traces back the origin :>f the flitch to the ancient days oi carriage by capture. "On.the oceauon of the wedding," he writes, "we .uust suppose, a marriage treaty would ' e struck by the sacrifice of a pig. "The 'ceremony was -performed h} ■hr bridegroom; hence the custo a t'ha'r .he bridegroom should -cut the firs; ;;lice of the wediinig cake; originally, 10 doubt, the wedding cake was an offering of meal shaped to represent a, >ig. The carcase of the pig became the property of the bride's father. If :he ( wifc did not prove satisfactory to her husband, he' would go to her father .'.nd demand to have back his pig. Originally, then the Dunmow Flitch must have been awarded in view of unllijKPy> not of happy, marriages."