Talk:Burning the clavie

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, now in the public domain.

Actually The Clavie is burnt on the 11th January

[edit] Burning the clavie

Never read such a load of old tosh - so much for Encyclopedia Brittanica!

The clavie was traditionally half of an Archangel tar barrel nailed to the top of a salmon fishers' pole with a hand wrought nail. Archangel tar barrels being in short supply, a whisky barrel has been used instead - and nowadays, the barrel is hand made by the Clavie King himself. The clavie is filled with wood (from the other half of the barrel), peats and doused with tar or creosote.

After carrying the Clavie on its route through the streets of Burghead it is placed in a stone pillar or altar on top of the Doorie hill. More fuel is added and the hill itself usually ends up ablaze. The remains of the Clavie is hacked to pieces and the crowd scrambles to secure a charred remnant to ensure good luck for the coming year. Brocher (talk) 14:08, 12 January 2008 (UTC)