25 July! THAT’S RIGHT! 336th anniversary of the first Ferry Fair at South Queensferry on the Firth of Forth, an event traditionally preceded by the Burryman’s Parade — in which a man covered with burrs walks through the town. With some difficulty, it must be said.
According to Christina Hole’s 1978 book, A Dictionary of British Folk Customs, this bizarre ritual “is obviously much older than the fair with which it is now associated”, which now takes place in mid August.
The Burryman is a man who needs to be of robust physique because his annual task is an arduous one. He is dressed from head to foot in white flannel so closely covered with the adhesive burrs of the burr thistle (Arctimus bardana) that the total effect is that of a suit of chain armour. Arms, legs, body, and face are all hidden by this prickly material, so that the wearer is altogether unrecognizable, only his eyes being visible through holes cut in the cloth to enable him to see. On his head, he has a cap, or helmet, of roses, and in each hand he carries a staff profusely decked with flowers.
Not only is the costume absurdly heavy, it is also wildly impractical. The Burry Man has to be assisted throughout the day because he can’t put his arms to his sides for a second or they’d get stuck fast, which is why he has the assistants you can see in the photo.
They also have to help him drink through a straw, as shown in this 1977 photo which is now in the V&A:
He walks a seven-mile route, which takes from nine in the morning “until well towards evening”, collecting money from the houses he stops at. No one really knows why the tradition started, or when, but Hole thinks he is
probably a relic of some pre-Christian figure connected with the harvest, or perhaps one transferred from the vegetation-rites of May to a later date in the year. It is clear that his visits are still felt to be in some way luck-bringing, and there is, or was, a tradition that if the custom was ever abandoned, it would bring misfortune to the town. It is possible that he may once have played the part of the Scapegoat. There is no record that he was ever driven out, or sacrificed, but Marian McNeill 23 records that he was formerly believed to carry away the evils afflicting the community as he passed.
I am indebted to Sarah on Mastodon for pointing out that “he also gets a glass of whisky at every house”, which would be another reason for needing a sturdy chap either side of him for support by the end of the day.
You can read more about him and other inexplicable folk traditions in the Spectator:
There’s even an account of being the Burry Man on an archived page from the Ferry Fair’s website:
The burrs will be steadily applied to my outer layer, working up my body. Despite the flurry of activity around me I will be trying to keep calm and gearing my mind and body up for the day ahead. A goodbye kiss from my girlfriend, encouragement from all and then a full-faced balaclava will be stitched on. My body will feel and move differently, my head will be clear, but I will be somewhere else, somewhere out of my hands, I’ll leave normality for the day. I then catch a glimpse of my reflection and no longer recognise myself as the finishing touches are made. Ten to nine now and I’m standing in the middle of the dance floor in the Staghead as the heat and the smell from the burrs raises in my nostrils, should I have gone to the toilet that one last time?
But if you think that sounds outlandish, Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire used to have a similar ritual:
He too wore garments covered with burrs, and a hat with herrings hanging head downwards all round the brim.
Yes, it really is a mystery why The Wicker Man was set in Scotland, isn’t it?
Not that the UK has exclusive rights to cultural weirdness. #OTD in 1995, Chinese dentist Yu Qian unveiled his 8-foot sculpture made of 28,000 rotten teeth to warn his patients of the dangers of poor oral hygiene.
…or at least, this was the day it was reported in UPI, which is good enough for me. One write-up I came across suggests he was helped by six of his students, spent two years building the sculpture “using various unspecified adhesive materials”, and each tooth-shaped stage represents a different type of dental disease.
There’s even a video
But I think we can all agree that the most important commemoration today is that of the 329th anniversary of the death of Hishikawa Moronobu, probable artist of The Fart Scroll:
