The tradition is thought to have originated either in the Netherlands or in the British Isles and later became common in colonial United States,[1][2] especially in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
[4] Bundling, or "bed courting" is believed to have originated in the pre-Celtic populations of the British Isles and was introduced to the American colonies by European immigrants (primarily Dutch and Welsh) where it attained unprecedented popularity.
[5][6] Traditionally, the practice of courtship involved two young adults or adolescents, often betrothed, who spent the night in bed together under the parental roof to ensure compatibility and accountability.
Periods of popularity for the practice of bundling often align with eras of enhanced social position for women, as this custom afforded a high level of protection against premarital sex.
The measure of familial and community protection which bundling provided against the scandal of abandonment was not offered in urban settings where populations had a much higher degree of mobility and anonymity.
[8][7] The heyday of bundling in the late 18th century corresponds to a period of low engagement with puritanical ideals, when religious participation for adolescents was not strictly enforced by societal standards.
267 (N.Y. 1846), for example, initially argued before Judge Edmunds in the Orange Circuit Court of New York, concerned the seduction of a 19-year-old woman; testimony in the case established that bundling was a common practice in certain rural social circles at the time.
[14] In the seventeenth century, Jewish society encouraged affection before marriage similar to the practice of allowing engaged couples to spend time in bed together before their wedding.
Seventeenth century moralist Isaiah Horowitz denounced this practice, as he was concerned with the sexual transgressions that may occur from romantic affection before the wedding.
The writer Washington Irving, in book 3, chapter 7 of A History of New York (1809) as well as other of his works, refers to bundling as a Yankee practice.This amazing increase may, indeed, be partly ascribed to a singular custom prevalent among them, commonly known by the name of bundling—a superstitious rite observed by the young people of both sexes, with which they usually terminated their festivities, and which was kept up with religious strictness by the more bigoted part of the community.Historian Edward Shorter wrote in his novel, The Making of the Modern Family, that the widespread increase of illegitimate births through courtship practices comprised a "sexual revolution" that was issued by the rise of industrial capitalism within the eighteenth century.
[16] Jakob Huizinga, a Mennonite reverend who remained on the island of Texel (northwestern part of The Netherlands) from 1844 to 1881 wrote about unlawful premarital sexuality in his diary.