I jumped at the prospect when N suggested that we go to another Pagan New Year festival. 2 NY celebrations in one year? 'Hell, ya'.. I said. 'Nope! Not that one, a smaller version of it' he calmly responded. Unbeknownst that any such thing existed, I waited, a little confused. Soon found out that the said celebration was to be at a little known village called Burghead, about 3 hours drive from Aberdeen, on the Northern tip of Aberdeenshire.
Celebrated on the 11th of Jan, this is Burghead's version of Hogmanay. Adopting the Georgian calendar back in 1660, meant that their Hogmanay fell 11 days after the new New Year. So while the rest of the UK celebrates 1 New Year, Burghead gets to do it twice!
I decided early on, that I had to compensate for the Stonehaven debacle. So at the risk of losing my friends,I tried to get as close to the Star performers as much as possible. In brief, this is what the festival all about:
On the night of the 11th, the Clavie, a wooden barrel filled with wood shavings and tar is nailed to a post. Didn't see this part of the custom as we didn't get into town till about 6pm. Rumour has it that the same nail is used, year after year. The Clavie is then carried to the home of one of the town's oldest residents, the Burghead Provost, who lights the clavie with peat from his own hearth. We got in town just in time to see the elected Clavie King , along with several other men - usually fishermen - come out of a garden and then carrying the burning clavie clockwise around the town, stopping now and then to present smoldering embers to various householders.
Dying for a proper photo, me starts chasing the Clavie King, only to have a burly bellow into my face to get out of the day. Soon am swept by the crowd, losing friends but am too focused to be worried about being lost. Following the Clavie from a distance now, I made my way to the ancient alter in a stone fort on Doorie Hill. The rest is explained in the photo and the video below.
Just watch as the Clavie is wedged between wooden stoves and burned till nothing is left off it! The entire hillock is on fire. Apparently the fire show on the hill, in ancient times, was for all the neighbouring villages to see and herald the New Year. Burn away the old and ring in the new!
There's more. Once the barrel falls to the ground in pieces, the Clavie Crew started throwing pieces of ember down the hill towards the public! 'Oh, that's very nice'! I thought totally indignant. 'Set the onlookers on fire! Or maybe its a sport. To see if people can avoid being burnt!' But while I was thinking all this, guess what the onlookers did? Clamber towards the burning embers, up the hill, grabbing them!! Apparently, wood from the burnt Clavie is supposed to bring good luck and families took home the best and biggest of the embers they can find to keep in their homes! As bewildered tourists we just stood and gawked as children and adults screamed 'Here, throw it this way' at some of the crew members. Once we watched the last of the locals skipping along with their treasures for the day, we clambered up the hill to see if there was anything leftover that would bring us any luck. Sure enough we found bits of wood which was good enough. That would just have to do for the time being!!
Btw folks, while researching the Clavie festival discovered that Scotland has a lot of Pagan festivals going on and aboot! Some of the ones that I aspire to get to eventually following are:
Celebrated on the 11th of Jan, this is Burghead's version of Hogmanay. Adopting the Georgian calendar back in 1660, meant that their Hogmanay fell 11 days after the new New Year. So while the rest of the UK celebrates 1 New Year, Burghead gets to do it twice!
I decided early on, that I had to compensate for the Stonehaven debacle. So at the risk of losing my friends,I tried to get as close to the Star performers as much as possible. In brief, this is what the festival all about:
On the night of the 11th, the Clavie, a wooden barrel filled with wood shavings and tar is nailed to a post. Didn't see this part of the custom as we didn't get into town till about 6pm. Rumour has it that the same nail is used, year after year. The Clavie is then carried to the home of one of the town's oldest residents, the Burghead Provost, who lights the clavie with peat from his own hearth. We got in town just in time to see the elected Clavie King , along with several other men - usually fishermen - come out of a garden and then carrying the burning clavie clockwise around the town, stopping now and then to present smoldering embers to various householders.
Dying for a proper photo, me starts chasing the Clavie King, only to have a burly bellow into my face to get out of the day. Soon am swept by the crowd, losing friends but am too focused to be worried about being lost. Following the Clavie from a distance now, I made my way to the ancient alter in a stone fort on Doorie Hill. The rest is explained in the photo and the video below.
Just watch as the Clavie is wedged between wooden stoves and burned till nothing is left off it! The entire hillock is on fire. Apparently the fire show on the hill, in ancient times, was for all the neighbouring villages to see and herald the New Year. Burn away the old and ring in the new!
There's more. Once the barrel falls to the ground in pieces, the Clavie Crew started throwing pieces of ember down the hill towards the public! 'Oh, that's very nice'! I thought totally indignant. 'Set the onlookers on fire! Or maybe its a sport. To see if people can avoid being burnt!' But while I was thinking all this, guess what the onlookers did? Clamber towards the burning embers, up the hill, grabbing them!! Apparently, wood from the burnt Clavie is supposed to bring good luck and families took home the best and biggest of the embers they can find to keep in their homes! As bewildered tourists we just stood and gawked as children and adults screamed 'Here, throw it this way' at some of the crew members. Once we watched the last of the locals skipping along with their treasures for the day, we clambered up the hill to see if there was anything leftover that would bring us any luck. Sure enough we found bits of wood which was good enough. That would just have to do for the time being!!
Btw folks, while researching the Clavie festival discovered that Scotland has a lot of Pagan festivals going on and aboot! Some of the ones that I aspire to get to eventually following are:
- Beltane, Edinburgh, April 30th
- Burning of the Clocks, Brighton December 21.
- Guy Fawkes Bonfire, Lewes, East Sussex, November 5,
- Up-Helly-Aa, Shetland, 28th Jan 2014
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