A Blackening

A wedding ritual in parts of Scotland and Ireland.  The bride or groom is surprise 'captured' by her/his friends some days prior to the wedding and thoroughly messed up with foodstuffs such as treacle, flour and instant coffee powder (tarred and feathered).  Then they are paraded around the streets in the back of a pick-up.  Drink is taken and a great deal of noise is made, banging spoons on upturned saucepans for instance.
The proceedings can also involve tying the victim to a post or tree in a public place (pilloried) and leaving them on their own for a while.
Apparently this has all evolved from a more subtle ritual of washing the bride or bridegroom's feet before a wedding.  Over time that ritual started to include also blackening the feet before washing them clean.

It is hard to determine which of the boys in my blip is the 'victim' because everyone seems very messy.
We haven't witnessed a blackening here for many months.  :o))