JUMPING THE CHANTY...

Bursting out of the factory gates, shouting and singing, the unruly crowd of
women formed a procession in the Gallowgate and moved on towards Parkhead,
Cross, in the east-end of Glasgow. At the head of the procession was a young
woman,covered with paper flowers, a white lace curtain on her head, and she
was clutching a chanty [chamber pot].

Several times have I seen similar enactments of these processions in the
Glasgow of my earlier lifetime, between 1930-1951, but it was not until some
60 odd years later that I heard about the apparently West of Scotland custom of
"Jumping the Chanty", which I understand varied in procedure from county to
county; so I invite more knowledgeable Listers than I, to comment upon its
various forms.

It was obvious to me that the woman carrying the chamber-pot was soon to be
married. The ceremony, if I can call it that, took place on her last Friday
at work before her wedding, when she received her last week's pay, but the
preparations for it were made by her workmates some week's beforehand.

An old coat of the bride-to-be was obtained from one of her relatives, and in
the Factory toilet, or someplace convenient, her workmates gathered to make
coloured paper flowers from tissue paper -sometimes using toilet paper - to
decorate it. A hat, shoes and chanty covered with paper roses to be used on her
"Hens night out" are also prepared. Also tied to the chanty were little verses
composed by her workmates,and accompanied by a great deal of hilarity upon
their reading - here are two examples:-

"When you get up in the morning,
Don't blush with shame,
Remember your mother before you, Did the very same."

"Two white pillows edged with lace,
Bride and groom face to face,
Everything in its proper place, TALLY HO!!!"

In earlier years a real china chamber-pot was used, but now some use large
bowls, still referred to as chanties. With the chanties filled with salt, the
bride-to-be is then taken into a private room, and dressed in her "finery", then
she is taken around the factory- sometimes on a wheel-barrow- so that all the
male employees can wish her luck, give her a kiss, and push some "silver"
money deep into her pot.

Chanty salt was considered to be very lucky in earlier days with some people
putting the "lucky salt" on a poultice to cure their ailments, and even today,
some women keep their chanty, complete with the salt I remember, as a child
with toothache, my mother applying heated salt wrapped in a cloth, to my cheek,
in an attempt to ease the pain. All form of weird and wonderful objects can also
be added, such as: Syrup of figs [why?], a baby doll, a dummy teat, safety pins
and a lot more which I shall leave to the reader's imagination.

Prior to leaving her work-place, the bride-to-be is taken by her workmates to an
earlier decided location where she jumps the chanty three times, supported on
either arm by two of her friends, whilst all her workmates shout "Hurray" each
time. The pay-off then begins, and to rousing cheers the procession moves out
of the work-place, and so commences the grand tour. A route home is planned to
ensure that the bride-to-be will have maximum exposure to the public. Main
streets are chosen as the places to jump the chanty, and she must again jump it
three times,but if the jumps are interrupted by road traffic, they must be
commenced again.

In earlier days the procession would stop outside public houses, and with much
cheering and ringing of a borrowed school bell, the men inside came out to put a
silver coin in the chanty. Nowadays a pay-off lasts as long as the girls can
stay standing. After they feel that they have visited enough pubs, they usually
move on to a discotheque and end the night dancing -even taking the chanty on
to the dance floor, with the bride-to-be still in her decorated costume.

Today, it is not unknown for the pay-off group to have a weekend overseas
touring all the watering-holes, e.g. Dublin. In the book "The Holy City", the
author describes how a Joiner in the Clydebank shipyard of John Brown's;
having made himself a very nice table in a Yard workshop, works out a plan
to take it home. He puts wheels on it, and at the next pay-off for a bride-to-be,
she is wheeled through the gate clutching her chanty, so bedecked and
beribboned to disguise the table, and like the security men on the gate,
blissfully unaware that she is an accomplice to stealing the table.