Burning the Clavie
Burghead, Morayshire
11 January

The custom of Burning the Clavie takes place at Burghead on the evening of Auld New Year at 6 o'clock. The clavie is the base of a wooden barrel, mounted on a pole and filled with tar-soaked wood. It has to be lit with a piece of burning peat from a local household fire. One of the clavie-crew takes the clavie on his shoulders and begins a hazardous tour of the town, stopping by tradition at certain houses and donating a piece of smouldering wood from the clavie. Others take the burden in turn and the crew must ensure that the clavie isn't dropped (or ill fortune will come to Burghead in the coming year) until it reaches its destination at an ancient mound called Doorie. Here it is planted on a base that has been specially prepared for it and is allowed to burn for a while, before being ritualistically broken up with a hatchet, scattering flaming embers which are snatched up by the onlookers. These were traditionally used to kindle a special New Year Fire at home, but are now kept for luck and even sent to relations or friends who have moved away from Burghead.

It is certainly an ancient custom, and various theories have been put forward regarding its origins. One links it with the suggestion that there was a Roman altar at Doorie, and sees a link between clavie and clavus, the Latin for nail. More likely, clava, a knotty branch, though there is little evidence of Roman, occupation this far north. Certainly there was a Pictish fort here, from which a number of carved stones have been unearthed. Others have it that clavie derives from the Gaelic word for basket, cliabh. And naturally, any fire ceremony in this part of the country must have Viking associations.

Burning the clavie took place in a number of neighbouring fishing ports and was described as an old custom in the 1700s, when it was condemned as 'superstitious, idolatrous and sinfule, an abominable heathenish practice'. In Bannfshire there was 'ane act against clavies' in 1704 claiming that these were 'carried about idolatrouslie sanctifying the cornes and cattle', so it wasn't necessarily a custom associated with fishing and the sea.

The ritual surrounding the construction and handling of the clavie is closely guarded and strictly observed. The barrel, which has variously been described as an Archangel used for maturing whisky, or a tar or herring-barrel, along with all the other accessories, must not be purchased but freely donated for the purpose. The barrel is sawn into unequal halves, the smaller providing the base of the clavie. This is hammered onto a pole by a stone, not a hammer, with a nail that has been specially forged for the job by a local smith. Staves are then added to the base and, once secured, the interior is filled with pieces of wood which are then soaked with tar.

The clavie-crew of nine or ten are all local men and have an association with the custom that goes back for several generations. Their leader, the Clavie King, has the honour of lighting the clavie, which begins the ceremony.

Haxey Hood Game
Haxey, Lincolnshire
6 January

The church at Haxey on 6 January (Christmas Day, old-style) is the meeting place for the recommencement of one of England's most vigorous and exhausting customs, the Haxey Hood Game. ' Sometime after midday, the parties involved march up the village street to the church, singing one of their traditional songs. Foremost among them is the 'Fool', bearing the 'Hood', a leather-clad roll about three feet long. He is recognisable by his face, which is well-bedaubed with soot and red ochre. Next is the 'Lord of the Hood', with a garlanded top hat and carrying a wand of office, a willow-wand bound according to custom. Then there is the ‘Chief Boggin' (Boggan or Boggon), in a red huntsman's coat and also with a garlanded topper. He is escorted by the twelve boggins wearing red football jerseys, or something similar, but always red.

The Fool makes a feeble attempt to get away but the boggins make sure that he takes his stand on the mounting block, or Mowbray Stone, where he makes a speech. This is partly traditional, passed down by word of mouth, and partly extemporary; he also has certain difficulties to surmount, one of which is when damp straw is lit beneath or behind him, enveloping him in clouds of smoke. At the conclusion of his speech, he delivers the exhortation: 'Hoose agin hoose; toon agin toon; if that meet a man, knock a man down - but don t 'urt him!'

Everyone then moves off to a neighbouring field, where the boggins form a circle in the middle. Into this are separately thrown twelve canvas, or lesser hoods. Younger players struggle for these and their task is to get hold of one and escape with it through the cordon of boggins.

Once all these twelve hoods have been competed for and carried off, the real business of the days starts. The hood itself, which has been carried by the Fool, is thrown into the ring, and what they call the 'sway' begins. The idea is to work the hood to either one of two pubs at Haxey or the neighbouring village of Westwoodside. Since the hood cannot be kicked, run off with or thrown, it naturally takes a considerable amount of time and effort before it reaches one of its goals, usually well after dark. The game is over when the landlord of the pub where it finally arrives actually touches the hood.

It is thought the Haxey Hood Game originated as long ago as the l3th century and was all due to a Lady Mowbray, or de Mowbray, whose family were the local landowners. On Christmas Day, or Epiphany, she was riding from Haxey to Westwoodside, when a sudden gust of wind plucked her red hood from her head and carried it off. Thirteen men, who were employed about the fields, witnessed the mishap and gave chase to the hood, which had to be pursued all over the field before it was seized and presented to her ladyship. Her gratitude was such that she is said to have given the thirteen men, variously: a piece of land; thirteen half-acres of land; or thirteen selions (narrow strips of land). There was a stipulation that, as a commemoration of the event, they must re-enact the chase every year on the same day.

It is for this reason that the boggins wear red, and likewise the Lord of the Hood's wand of office is made up of thirteen willowwands, bound with thirteen willow-switches. As to the titles, the Fool was the man who caught the hood but was too shy to present it, and the Lord the one who actually made the presentation. At an earlier stage of the proceedings, the Fool was actually suspended on a rope from a tree and literally 'smoked' over a fire. The hood itself is an object of reverence, and the predecessor of the current one can be seen in Lincoln Museum.

 The present one remains in the possession of the landlord of the pub where the last game imished until the following New Year's Eve, when it is collected by the Lord and taken round the neighbouring pubs. It is shown off by the boggins, who sing their handful of songs collecting money for, and interest in, the forthcoming game.