Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Mmm... Flitch...

Today is Flitch Day! Today is a day that was and quite possibly still is celebrated predominantly by the citizens of Dunmow. Today, married couples would go to a faux court to have a mock hearing about their marital status. If they could truthfully say that they had not harmed the other in any way for a year and one day, then they would be given a flitch. They had to do it in front of ALL the townsfolk, too, so you know that someone would have spoken up if it weren't true. Flitches aren't to be taken lightly, after all.

Hmm? What's that? Oh. What's a flitch? Oh, my poor, naive friend. A flitch is a side of bacon. Or to be more literal, it it a side of a pig that has been turned into bacon. Now before all my american pals get all "aaaaaaaw yeeeeeeeeah, booyyyyyy" about all this, keep in mind that most european countries called slices of ham 'bacon' back in the day. Some still do. Okay, a lot still do. But that doesn't mean it isn't still delicious. Here, take a look.



Plus, what an incentive to not beat each other up right? It makes me wonder if marriages don't work out as well as they do today because we don't have bacon as incentive to not be idiots to our significant others. Not that I would know. Having never been married and all that. ... I honestly hope that bacon doesn't play that great of a part in your relationships, though. Unless... you're a pig farmer or something... I dunno.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle