Customs and traditions of bucks parties that stood the test of time
A bucks night Melbourne is an old rite of passage into marriage. In modern times it is understood to be a celebration, by the groom’s friends. Most things think of it as the last night of “freedom”.
It is called by many names. In the U.K. it is referred to as a stag do, in the U.S it is called a bachelor’s party and in Australia, it is called a bucks do. The stag do goes back a couple of centuries. The buck is a common motif that symbolised virility going back to the times when humans documented their lives with drawings on cave walls. In ancient Celtic culture the god of fertility and life Cernunnos, who had a body of a strong warrior as antlers. .
Modern traditions of the bucks party derived from ancient customs. For instance, in ancient Greece, a would-be-bride will get together with female friends and relatives to pay tribute to the goddess of childbirth Artemis – that’s a little bit like the bachelorette parties that are held for the bride-to-be. The Spartans had a raucous send off for their male friends that involved copious drinking, a decadent banquet that included women. This might be how the tradition of bucks night strippers come from. In Victorian time, bucks nights involved the groom or his best man hosting a formal dinner where they get to talk about marriage. The dinner didn’t have to be an elaborate affair but it could be a humble, simple drink with the boys.
The modern version of a stag party can be drawn from the 19th century. The concept of bucks parties might have began evolving in the 60s and 70s. The topic made its way to the London Times magazine in 1976 when a male stripper was found guilty by a Leicester court of law for lewd and obscene behaviour. He got off with a fine. But from then on people became more aware of women and men strippers that get hired for entertainment for bucks nights.
Modern, western cultures don’t really have formal rites of passage from singlehood to marriage life. There are other cultures that have tests of virility or masculinity. In the west, virility tends to be subsumed into endurance tests involving alcohol endurance, pointless activities like shooting clay pigeons, axe throwing, sky diving and bungee jumping.
There are a number of rituals that are tied to tradition. These rituals serve the following functions:
- Mocking the institution of marriage by making it look a little less threatening.
- Punishing the husband-to-be from the bride.
- Saluting and saying good by to friends.
- Creating a socially sanctioned pretext of releasing the groom for one night of debauchery.
- Celebrating the life of a groom as a bachelor.
- Playing up to social expectations.
In the last few decades a typical bucks night Melbourne evolved into affairs with a variety of scandalous activities, drunkenness and more, often for one night or over weekends spent in faraway places.
These gatherings gave rise to an entire industry, with strip clubs offering special bucks night packages that include and event planning companies offering a variety of activities like paintballing, go-kart racing, zorbing, river boat cruises and also strippers. These event planners supply everything from dare lists, stretch limousines and so much more.
Despite pandemics or recessions, strip clubs have always prevailed. This is because people need to escape from their ordinary, dreary lives. However things get bad people still continue to fall in love and get married so, there is virtually a stag party happening somewhere at any given time.
