Blackening is a traditional wedding custom performed in the days or weeks prior to marriages in rural areas of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
[1] The bride and/or groom are "captured" by friends and family, covered in food, or a variety of other – preferably adhesive – substances, then paraded publicly for the community to see.
There are no strict rules regarding the act of blackening itself, only that the couple must be rendered messy and uncomfortable, and that as many people as possible should witness the occasion.
The origins of the custom are obscure; however researcher, Dr. Sheila Young of the Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen has shown that it evolved from an earlier Scottish ritual called the feet-washing.
[8] There is uncertainty surrounding just when it began, but it probably started as a solemn washing ritual for both men and women on the eve of their wedding and included a blackening of the feet and legs by the early 19th century.