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Burning the clavie

 

 
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Burning the clavie
 
 
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Burning the clavie is an ancient Scottish
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 custom still observed at Burghead
Burghead

Burghead is a small town in Moray, Scotland, United Kingdom about 8 miles.North-West of Elgin, Moray. The town is mainly built on a Peninsula which projects north-westward into the Moray Firth, meaning that most of the town has sea on 3 sides....
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, a fishing village on the Moray Firth
Moray Firth

The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland Council areas of Scotland of Scotland....
. The clavie is a bonfire
Bonfire

A bonfire is a large controlled outdoor fire. The word is a contraction of "bone fire" . The practice is believed to derive from the Celtic festival of Samhain when animal bones were burnt to ward off evil spiritual being....
 of cask
CASK

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase , also known as CASK, is a human gene.According to one study, CASK forms protein complexes with CINAP and TBR1....
s split in two, lighted on 11 January, i.e. the first day of the year by the Julian Calendar. One of these casks is joined together again by a huge nail (Latin clavis; hence the term, it may also be from Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
 cliabh, a basket used for holding combustibles).






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Burning the clavie is an ancient Scottish
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 custom still observed at Burghead
Burghead

Burghead is a small town in Moray, Scotland, United Kingdom about 8 miles.North-West of Elgin, Moray. The town is mainly built on a Peninsula which projects north-westward into the Moray Firth, meaning that most of the town has sea on 3 sides....
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, a fishing village on the Moray Firth
Moray Firth

The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland Council areas of Scotland of Scotland....
. The clavie is a bonfire
Bonfire

A bonfire is a large controlled outdoor fire. The word is a contraction of "bone fire" . The practice is believed to derive from the Celtic festival of Samhain when animal bones were burnt to ward off evil spiritual being....
 of cask
CASK

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase , also known as CASK, is a human gene.According to one study, CASK forms protein complexes with CINAP and TBR1....
s split in two, lighted on 11 January, i.e. the first day of the year by the Julian Calendar. One of these casks is joined together again by a huge nail (Latin clavis; hence the term, it may also be from Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
 cliabh, a basket used for holding combustibles). It is then filled with tar
Tar

Tar is modified resin produced from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. It is a viscosity black liquid. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America....
, lighted and carried flaming round the village and finally up to a headland upon which stands the ruins of a Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 altar
Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religion, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place....
, locally called the Douro. It here forms the nucleus of the bonfire, which is built up of split casks. When the burning tar-barrel falls in pieces, the people scramble to get a lighted piece with which to kindle the New Year's fire on their cottage hearth. The charcoal
Charcoal

Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances....
 of the clavie is collected and put in pieces up the cottage chimneys, to keep spirits and witches from coming down.