The Little Book of Hogmanay by Bob Pegg

Author:Bob Pegg
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750951531
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

The clavie is now complete. The whole village waits for darkness to fall.

At six o’clock bus loads of people have arrived from all parts of the district, and presently the show begins.

The brawny crew get under the clavie and this is lighted by means of a lump of burning peat; it would be sacrilege to light the clavie with a match, as these are as unlucky as hammers.

When the torch is well ablaze the crew move off, and the burning of the clavie has begun. How those four brawny men are able to carry that blazing, spluttering, roaring mass without being roasted I do not know.

The burning mass is continually dripping boiling tar and crackling cinders over their backs and arms and giving an impressive firework display as it goes along, but the crew seem made of brass.

IN AT THE OPEN DOOR

The bearers have now to carry the clavie all through the town, and they move off, carried by a large and hilarious crowd, and outside every important door they stop and throw a piece of the burning clavie through the open door, as the possession of a clavie faggot brings a year’s luck. As was only fitting, the Provost got the first and largest lump. His clavie was really an incandescent mass of burning wood and peat which when hurled through his door had sufficient power to set the whole house on fire.

The procession keeps on winding in and out the little streets, and all the small boys fight for the pieces as they drop off the clavie.

Nobody cares for burnt fingers now, although when I tried to get an excellent piece I dropped it quicker than I had picked it up. However I bought a piece for two-pence from a small boy who had an armful, so my luck is assured.

Every now and again the crew would stop and fling a bit of the blazing stuff through somebody’s door. They just picked it off the clavie with their bare fingers which undoubtedly were not flesh and blood.

I heard that pieces of the clavie are sent to Burghead folk abroad, which isn’t fair, as they didn’t have to get their fingers burnt.

Gradually, and with many stoppages, the clavie makes a circuit of the town, and is brought finally to its ultimate goal, the Doorie Hill. This is a little knob of land at the east end of the town and is specially dedicated to the use of the clavie.

At the top of the Doorie Hill is a sort of cairn of stones cemented into a little tower. This is called the Clavie Pillar, and was presented to the clavie by a late Provost.

Up here the clavie, still blazing merrily, is carried, and the handle is placed in a socket in the top of the pillar.

The clavie’s journey is now at an end, and the real fire worship begins. More fuel is heaped upon the huge torch, a new bucket of tar poured over its dripping sides, and the flames shoot up into the sky a beacon for miles around.

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