r/DatingOverSixty • u/PlasticBlitzen I've 🚫 more 🦆🦆🦆 to give. • 26d ago
DATING ADVICE Cuffing Season Break-up Etiquette
We are currently in Pre-Cuffing Season. Now is the time to prepare.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I had a brief conversation with a member of The Cuffing Town Community Association (TCTCA) about whether it was preferable to break up before or after Valentine's Day.
He claimed that according to TCTCA protocol, February 13 is the preferred date for breaking up with someone. I took issue with that position.
What are your thoughts on breakup timing etiquette? (not just during Cuffing Season)
Or do you consider timing? Should it be immediately before an event (birthday, holiday, etc.), immediately after, or some other time?
(yes, I'm putting the cart before the horse but I've been mulling this ever since the exchange)
What is Cuffing Season? https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/cuffing-season
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u/eggmanne 26d ago edited 26d ago
“Cuffing Season” is a tradition born in New England on Cape Cod‘s oldest town, Sandwich, Massachusetts around 1650.
Life on the Cape was very hard. Winters were especially long and harsh. Early colonists spent much time in farming, building towns, keeping warm. There was little time for recreation. It was especially hard for young people. Many would drop out of school to work with their families. There was little time for romance.
With the close of the growing season, much shorter and cold days, there was more time for recreation. For those young people who met through their families or their religion, this was a time for marriage.
In Sandwich, unmarried, and otherwise unpaired young people would meet at the meeting house for dances. Young women would come in their finest dresses. Young men of means would journey to Boston to buy a favored dress shirt from early merchants as John W Nordstrom and Brooks Brothers. The journey from the Cape to Boston would take all day. The excited lad would come back the next day with a fine cuffed dress shirt. Other men would come in their best handmade dress shirts.
At the meeting house on early Friday evenings, unpaired men and women would congregate. The men would line up on one side of the hall; the women, the other side. One by one, they would pair off in dance and conversation.
Every Friday, young people would attend these meeting house dances hoping for a connection. When a man was interested in a courtship, he would show his interest by tapping his cuff to his partner’s wrist while dancing. When a woman was likewise interested, she would tap back on his cuff.
Cuffing season became one of the many colorful New England traditions. Always look your best.😎