Burning The Clavie

Just finishing O+G before moving back to Grantown for my GPST3 year. O+G has been a really outstanding job, which I will miss. Though I am on the four year programme, the end of hospital jobs seems to have come round incredibly quickly and the question of what to do after completion of training seems a short time away. Before that, there is my ST3 year which is all general practice based in Grantown where I did my first block and, of course, the small issue of the CSA exam, for which I am doing some preparation with a group of other GPST3s. There is some formal preparation for this exam within the GPST3 course and a separate two day preparatory course is offered at Nairn every year. Most people however, also find themselves a group to work with. I am lucky to have found a group who work well together, and have a bit of a laugh and offload a few work gripes as well.

 I have waffled on a fair bit in the past about why it is great to live in the Highlands, but not really specifically mentioned the Morayshire coast. It is an great place but for outdoor activities of all types. It has great road cycling and mountain biking, miles of sandy beaches, forests, castles and coastal walking along sea cliffs linking lovely fishing villages. In recent years, it has also become a renowned place for dolphin watching and at Findhorn there is a resident common seal population which can be seen basking on the sand at low water and feeding on the incoming tide at Findhorn Bay. Both Lossiemouth and Sandend have become established as surfing locations and the whole coast is fantastic for sea kayaking. Culturally there is also a lot of good stuff going on. There's regular live music at the Findhorn Foundation and at various locations in Inverness, a short drive away. There are also quite a few shows and festivals over the summer, The boat festival at Portsoy is particularly jolly, with skiff (rowing boat) racing, fantastic food, drink and live music.

My most memorable cultural experience so far on the Moray Coast though was not in summer, but the depths of winter. The small fishing port of Burghead keeps a tradition dating back to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582. Apparently the year as laid out in the Julian calendar was a little bit too long and Easter was getting later and later every year. The solution was to loose 10 days from January to get things back on track. People expressed their outrage in various ways, amongst them being the insistence on celebrating the 10th January as the true new year. This was done by parading a burning barrel or Clavie of pitch around the streets of various towns. Who knows why; either because they are slow to change or because they like to have two New Year celebrations every year, the people of Burghead have maintained the tradition to this day.

These days, it starts off with delicious food and drink at The Bothy, a lovely cafe-restaurant in the village and finishes with more drink, and a ceilidh at the same location afterwards. As the fiery procession makes its way around the village, the one concession to health and safety is that people are warned to move their cars from the route as flying sparks and hot pitch are all around. When the blazing barrel reaches its final resting place on a prominent hill in the village, large buckets of pitch are thrown on to the Clavie producing spectacular bursts of flame and cheers from the crown. It's all feels a bit like the final scene from the film The Wicker Man, but without the human sacrifice (a great film if you have never seen it). It's a fun evening out. I took a couple of pictures which don't really do justice to it. You need to go. Just don't wear anything especially flammable.

http://www.burghead.com/clavie/