Blue ribbons on your head as a sign that you're married in medieval Britain?

mushroomartista
Blue ribbons on your head as a sign that you're married in medieval Britain?
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Joined: oct. 15, 2007
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 68
Posted on:
avr. 8, 2008 - 11 21

HUH?

...Lol

Ok. I recently ran across a folk song called variously "The Trees They Grow So High" or "Daily Growing," from the point of view of a 24-year-old woman married against her will to a boy a decade her junior. It appears to stem from the 17th century but may date back much earlier, to the medieval period. At one point, this woman is trying to think of anything she can do in order to get some distance from her husband until he matures a little, and she says to her father,

"Father, dear father, if you see fit,
We'll send him to college for one year yet.
I'll tie blue ribbons all around his head
To let the maidens know that he's married."

...???

...Blue ribbons?

Anyone know anything about this? I'd be much obliged. I may end up working this into a story.
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