Photo by Noel Donaldson

The Blackening is a custom in Orkney, parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In the weeks prior to a wedding the groom, and today also the bride, are ‘captured’ by their friends. They are then paraded around the town – in Kirkwall this tends to be atop an open lorry.

There’s a lot of noise and treacle etc. Usually the prospective bride or groom is then secured to a public place in Kirkwall for instance in the centre of a roundabout or outside the St Magnus Cathedral. And there may be alcohol involved  -😊