Happy Flitch Day!
Flitch Day derives from an old English custom that is thought to date back to the year 1104 in Little Dunmow, England.
A flitch of bacon (flitch = side) is awarded as prize for any married couple who could prove to a jury of bachelors and maidens that they had lived together in harmony and fidelity for the past year and had not wished themselves “unmarried”. Very few have brought home the bacon.
The ancient oath of the flitch is expressed in rhyme:
That we ne’re made nuptial transgression
Nor since we were married man and wife
By household brawl or contentious strife,
Or otherwise at bed or board,
Offended each other in deed or word;
Or since the parish clerk said amen,
Wished ourselves unmarried again;
Or in a twelvemonth and a day
Repented in thought in any way,
But continue true and in desire
As when we joined in holy quire.”
When this oath was taken by each couple, it was the duty of the officer who administered it to reply:
Of your own accord you do freely swear,
A whole flitch of bacon you shall receive,
And bear it hence with love and good leave;
For this is our custom at Dunmow well known
Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon's your own.”
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