Bundling, or tarrying, is the traditional practice of wrapping one person in a bed accompanied by another, usually as a part of courting behavior. The tradition is thought to have originated either in the Netherlands or in the British Isles and later became common in colonial United States, especially in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Some Nebraska Amish may still practice it. When used for courtship, the aim is to allow intimacy without sexual intercourse.
Video Bundling (tradition)
Origin
It is possible the precedent for bundling came from the biblical story of Ruth and Boaz, in which Ruth, a young widow, and Boaz, an older wealthy landowner, spend a night together in a grain storage room while not touching; the pair later get married.
Maps Bundling (tradition)
Courtship practice
Traditionally, participants were adolescents, with a boy staying at the residence of the girl. They were given separate blankets by the girl's parents and expected to talk to one another through the night. Occasionally a bundling board or bundling sack was placed between the boy and girl to discourage sexual conduct.
In United States
In Colonial United States, Jonathan Edwards and other preachers condemned bundling; yet the practice continued into the period of the early Republic, when if beds were scarce, travelers occasionally were permitted to bundle with locals. This seemingly strange practice allowed extra money to be made by renting out half a bed. Some hotels rented rooms for the night, shared by many occupants, and sharing a bed entailed an additional fee.
It is possible that, as late as the mid-19th century, bundling was still practiced in New York state and perhaps in New England, though its popularity was waning. The court case of Graham v. Smith, 1 Edm.Sel.Cas. 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. By the 20th century, bundling seems to have disappeared almost everywhere, with only isolated mentions of the practice amongst the Amish in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Literature
The writer Washington Irving, in chapter 7 of Knickerbocker's History of New York 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.
In the media
Gabriel Edward Martin, Heath Ledger's character in The Patriot (2000 film) is bundled when he spends an overnight visit at the home of Anne Patricia Howard (Lisa Brenner), the girl that he is courting.
Anna Gunn's character in the HBO series Deadwood mentions removing a bundling board from their bed in Season 2, Episode 2.
In the series, Salem during Season 1, Episode 7, "Our Own Private America", adolescent teens are seen bundling. The girl breaks the sack.
See also
- Non-penetrative sex
References
Sources
- Shachtman, Tom. Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish. New York: North Point Press (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2006.
- Ekrich, Roger A. At Day's Close: Night in Times Past. Chapter 7, 2005.
- Walsh, William S.: Handy Book of Curious Information. J. B. Lippincott Company, 1913
- Little Known Facts about Bundling in the New World by Ammon Monroe Aurand Jr (1895-1956)
External links
- Excerpts from Night Life of the Pennsylvania Dutch
- Folk Lore of the Pennsylvania Germans
- The Art of Bundling: Being an Inquiry into the Nature and Origins of that Curious but Universal Folk-Custom, with an Exposition of the Rise & Fall of Bundling in the Eastern Part of North America. By Dana Doten, 1938
- "Bundling" in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
- The original bundlers: Boaz and Ruth, and seventeenth-century English courtship practices - Critical Essay - Journal of Social History, Spring, 2002, by Yochi Fischer-Yinon
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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