Burning the Clavie is an ancient Scottish fire custom which is held every 11th January ('Old' New Years Eve if you use the calendar as it was before adjustment to the Gregorian calendar in the Eighteenth Century). It used to be widespread but now only survives at Burghead, on the Moray Peninsula.
The Clavie is a peat and wood-filled herring barrel on a pole. It's set ablaze and carried through the village. The procession is led by the Clavie King and stops every so often to offer smouldering pieces from the barrel to local inhabitants for luck in the forthcoming year.
The ceremony culminates with a bonfire on the summit of Doorie Hill where the Clavie burns in a specially constructed stand. After the Clavie falls in a blaze of glory, pieces are collected by the Clavie team who distribute them among the crowd.
Yet another old tradition that I'm delighted to see survives into the present.
Winter may not quite be over but the light is returning.
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