This is part one of a fiction story which is based on REAL events that take place in NE Scotland.
This is a tradition called BLACKENING THE BRIDE. YES, it is exactly what it sounds.
In the weeks before her wedding, the Bride-to-be is covered in lots of mess by her friends.
I have not invented what happens and I have only mentioned substances that are used.


Blackening the Bride - Part 1 Disbelief.

"That's disgusting!' said James.
"What is?" asked Andy. He didn't turn to look, as he was busy driving his friend James back home.
"Over there. Look, there's a young woman tied up to the fence. Several people seem to be throwing buckets of muck over her. Look now someone's just poured a bag of flour over her head."
James turned around to look over his shoulder to continue to see the sight, as the car was driving past the young woman.
Andy just laughed.
James turned to look at Andy incredulously, "What the hell has she done wrong? Why is she being punished like that?"
"She's not being punished. That a celebration."
"A celebration? It looks more like a flaming medieval torture to me. You know, like being placed in the pillory, for people to throw rotten fruit at you."
"If you decide to come up here to work with me in Scotland, you're likely to see a lot more of that."
"What! People being covered in muck? That's crazy. Why would anyone do anything that?"
"It's a tradition called 'Blackening the Bride'. The girl you saw being covered in mess will be getting married in the next few weeks. The group of people around her will be her friends, relatives and neighbours celebrating this event and giving her a good sending off."
"That's weird. I've never heard of anything like that anywhere else. She must have very strange friends."
"I'm not surprised you've never heard of anything like that. It's a tradition that's restricted to parts of Scotland and some places in Northern Ireland. In the far North of Scotland, above Inverness, both the Bride and Groom get blackened. But here, in Aberdeenshire and in Moray and Angus, it's only the bride-to-be that ends up mucky. And I really do mean VERY mucky. Don't imagine that the Blackening that you saw is the worst that can happen to a girl. It can sometimes be much, much more messy and even more disgusting than that."
James shook his head slowly, as if to show that he could not take this idea in.
"We won't be much longer getting home," said Andy.

Andy had picked James up from Aberdeen train station and was driving him back to his house. He hoped that James would agree to move up to Scotland to join his business. They'd met a few years earlier, when they were both at Edinburgh university studying computer programming.
James had returned to his hometown of Cambridge, where there was as thriving high-tech sector. Meanwhile Andy returned to his home in Scotland and had set up his own business writing computer code which was used to produce searches and for image creation using AI (Artificial Intelligence). The business had taken off in a big way and he needed more people working on this, so that he could expand. He'd approached James, as they were both working in the same field and because at Uni they had become great friends.

James still could not get over what he had seen. He could not let the subject drop.
"You say that I might see other women ending up messy. You said that it happens quite often. Is that correct?"
"I know that it's not something that most people from other parts of the country have heard of, or even know about, but it's considered quite normal around here. If you join my business, I'm sure that there will be several times each year that you'll see something similar. Not every Blackening takes place in the same way of course, it depends on the local customs of the village where it happens, but the principle is the same. It's a tradition."
"That's a very weird custom. You said that it happens just before a woman gets married."
"Yes. A few weeks before her wedding. It happens to most women who are getting married around here."
"Unbelievable!" said James.
"We're not too far from home now, James. Ask my wife about it, if you don't believe me. She was Blackened before we got married last year. That's why I know that what you just saw was quite mild. My wife's friends really gave her a real good trashing. I was quite an experience to be there and see her losing all her dignity and end up totally humiliated. I'm glad that I don't live north of Inverness, where both the bride and groom get blackened, otherwise I'd have been 'done' as well."
"I'll certainly need someone else to confirm what you've told me. However, I don't know if I'll feel comfortable discussing it with your wife the first time I meet her. It would feel very strange saying to a woman I never met previously 'Did you get covered in muck before your marriage'? It sounds like some kind of sick joke you're playing on me. It's not April the first, is it? "
Andy laughed. He understood that James would find it difficult for some time to accept that people in the nearby area found this practice to be quite normal. Perhaps his wife would be able to explain it better than he had done.

Andy said, "You don't just have to take my word for it. Professor Sheila Young at Aberdeen University wrote a paper about the differences between blackenings and hen parties. I'll let you have a link to the website, so you can have a look online for yourself."


They soon arrived back at Andy's house on the edge of the village, which was about an hour inland from the coast. James was introduced to Andy's wife, Heather. It was a strange meeting, since all that James could think about was Andy's suggestion that, after their dinner, he should discuss this Blackening thing with a woman he'd only just met. He also remembered Andy's comment that Heather had herself been blackened before their wedding. This made he look at her in a different way to that which he normally would. He started to get this mental image of the women standing in front of him covered in filth, as he'd seen happening to the girl he'd seen earlier in the day. Andy took his bag upstairs and showed him to the spare bedroom where he could stay for this visit. After he'd settled in, James went back downstairs to join Heather and Andy.
Heather was pretty, with a great figure, in her late 20's and had a friendly personality. She quickly made James feel welcome. The guys both went into the sitting room to have a pre-dinner glass of whiskey. Heather said that she would call them when the meal was ready. For the evening meal she produced some lovely hearty food. Fortunately, they owned a dishwasher, so pots and plates were soon cleared away and they could all sit down for a chat.
James had no intention of bringing up the subject of the Blackening that he'd seen, although by now his initial disgust at what he'd seen, had been replaced with a strange curiosity about the subject.

After dinner they started by discussing Andy's offer of a job for James. They worked in the same type of IT jobs and as soon as Andy had realised that his business was growing too fast for him to continue on his own, he had thought of contacting James. The discussion got very technical at one point and Heather went to make a cup of coffee for them all.
Andy said, "I've a business unit not far away. I started working from home but I needed more space than I have here. I'll take you there tomorrow morning to have a look around and then we could all go out for Sunday lunch."
James replied, "I certainly like the job you're proposing, but one thing we haven't discussed is how much salary I would be paid."
Andy mentioned a figure but could see that James was not impressed.
"That's less than I'm earning now down in Cambridge. It wouldn't be much of an incentive if my salary was to drop."
"I thought you might say that. However, you'd find that the cost of living around here is likely to be much less than down in Cambridge. The working environment would be better, you wouldn't have to spend any money on your daily commuting and there is lots of lovely scenery. All-in-all you'd save more money if you moved here and you could walk to work. The village only has a population of about five thousand. You can walk everywhere in the town in a few minutes."
"I suppose so. The countryside certainly is a draw for me. I enjoy doing wildlife photography and I expect there would be lots of that to see nearby. Let me have a think about it." said James, considering how much his life would change.

Andy decided to change the subject to let James spend some time thinking about his offer.
"Heather, James saw a Blackening while we were coming back from Aberdeen. He found it quite strange. I've tried to explain it to him, but I thought you might do a better job since you were blackened before our wedding."
Heather laughed. "I bet he thought that it was really weird. But we all just think of it as normal around here and a good 'send-off' for a girl before she has to become more sensible when she's married."
"I certainly couldn't believe my eyes.," said James. He was starting to relax, as Heather didn't seem to be embarrassed about the subject and the second glass of whiskey probably helped. He'd thought it might seem quite kinky. He still couldn't decide if he was fascinated or disgusted by the Blackening.
"What did Andy tell you?" asked Heather.
"Just that it was some type of tradition that the bride was covered with messy substances before her wedding. I still don't quite understand what happens and why."
"Some people say it is to wish the bride good luck. As a rite of passage before she is married. It's a bit of fun, like a Hen party, although she gets one of those as well."
Andy chuckled and said, "More fun for her friends, than for the bride!"
Heather said, "Everyone has a good laugh. But you wanted to know what happens. A few weeks before the wedding date, the bride's friends arrange when they will be blackening her. But they don't tell her when. On the day, they 'capture her' from wherever she is. That might be at home or in a local pub, or out for a walk with her boyfriend."
Andy said, "Heather was on the way to the pub for lunch when she was captured."
"Once her friends have got her, they sometimes let her get changed into dirty clothes or dress her up like a parody bride. They may make her wear a white nightie and a 'fairy princess tiara' for example. At other times she's blackened in the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. Those can be smart clothes but, even if they were more casual, they sometimes try to choose a time to ensure she is wearing a skirt rather than jeans. Depending on her friends, she may even be partly undressed, before being tied up."
Andy said, "James saw a girl tied to a fence as we came home."
"Yes, sometimes she is tied to a fence or farm gate. At other times she can be tied up in a patio chair. But there's no set pattern. She may still be fully dressed but not tied up and left to run around a field, being chased by her friends who throw muck at her."
"Tell James what substances are used. That should really freak him out," said Andy grinning.
"That's difficult to say. It varies so much from village to village. I suppose that the minimum is things like custard, treacle and flour. But absolutely anything the Blackeners can think of can be used, the messier the better. Anything goes. Foods, mud, soot, grease, paint, absolutely anything. In some cases, the substances can be quite disgusting. Far worse than I imaging you can conceive of."
Andy said, "Then, when she's been messed up for perhaps half an hour, she's loaded onto a cart or the back of a lorry, to parade her around the town and let everyone see her and mock her."
James said, "That sounds very humiliating."
Andy laughed," Yes, it's designed to be. When she has been around the town, she's left tied up, perhaps on the village green or somewhere where lots of people will pass. She can be left there for a couple of hours. The rest of the people often go to the pub."
"That's what they did with me, "said Heather. "They stripped me to my bra and pants."
Andy said, "Have a look online. Just type in 'Blackening the Bride Scotland'. You'll find several articles and YouTube videos. But remember the videos are not as extreme as it can be in some cases. You could not get the real thing past the censors on YouTube. They would say it was too kinky. There's a fetish called WAM, 'Wet and Messy'. Anyone who likes that stuff, would love to see a blackening. I must admit it's great to see young women getting so filthy, particularly if she's someone you know. Even I could get into that fetish."
Heather said, "I knew he was a 'pervert' before I married him, but I still went ahead."
James was amazed. He'd ever heard anything like it. How could people humiliate and destroy a woman's dignity and do that to her just before her wedding.
Heather said, "All my friends were blackened when they got married. I would have felt left out or ostracised if they hadn't done it to me. I'd have been quite miffed if I missed out on joining the sisterhood. It happened to my mum and, if I have a daughter, I know that it will happen to her. It's the women that are most keen to see the tradition continue. That might be to ensure that they see their friends blackened, if it has already happened to them."
Andy said, "Your mother said it was a lot less filthy when she was Blackened years ago."
"Yes, over the last twenty years the blackenings have been getting, not just messier but smelly as well now. It certainly ensures that the bride will remember the day. It took me ages to get clean."
James asked, "Considering that the husband is expected to take care of his wife and protect her, how does this impact, when he knows that there is nothing that he can do to stop her being blackened and humiliated."
Andy replied, "Her blackening is her tacit agreement to take whatever is coming to her? All the local women know about the blackening. When she agrees to her boyfriend's marriage proposal, she knows she is also agreeing to be made filthy, degraded and humiliated before they get married. She agrees to marry her boyfriend because that is more important to her than staying clean."