Flaming Barrels of Tar

So November 5th is a very big thing here in the land of England. They usually celebrate with a bonfire and fireworks. But there is a town, a very special town where there is another tradition, a very special tradition.

The town: Ottery St. Mary's.
The tradition: flaming barrels of tar.

No one knows how this tradition got started, but it is started at the beginning of the 17th century and hasn't stopped. I have to admit that I had a blast while I was there. Ok, so on to the specifics. Men, women, and children participate in the barrels o' flames. But you can only run with the barrels if you have been born in Ottery. They start training their children to do this at a young age. I'm very sure that I saw a boy of the age of 6(ish) running with a small barrel.

Over the course of the year someone is in charge of a barrel, making sure that it cures in the right way to make great flame on November 5th. There are certain times on certain streets where a barrel is going on. There are only two barrels going on at a time in the whole town, they go about every 15 minutes.

So there is a team of people that are competing against other teams in the town. I have no idea how they keep track of who won or points, but I do know that it is bad if the barrel is dropped on the ground or goes out. Each barrel gets lit by the paraffin man, yes that is what is written on his yellow fluorescent vest, or the barrel marshal, yes that is written on an arm band (they also carry around cans of paraffin). They roll the barrel around for a bit to make sure that all of the inside is alight with flame. Then one person picks up the barrel and puts it on the nape of their neck and starts running through the streets. But these streets are English streets and therefore tiny. These streets also happen to be stuffed to the brim with people like me and my friends who go to have their lives put in danger. When one person gets too hot or tired (which happens quite often) they switch, without putting the barrel on the ground, and the next person runs. Now I know this sounds weird, cause Americans would never do anything like that (listen to the sarcasm), and it is very dangerous. But these people have been trained all their lives to do it and there are always paramedics nearby.

So boy's barrels was pretty unexciting cause they have small barrels and there are grownups there all the time with them making sure they are okay. (Although Katie and Lauren saw a little boy get burnt earlier in the day.) My favorite part was a kid whose mitt caught alight while he was carrying the barrel (the mitts are like big oven mitts covered in burlap and I'm sure treated in such a way so as not to cause harm to the hands that are clutching the flaming barrels of tar), calmly put his glove on the street and tapped at it with his foot. He didn't stomp it to get it out quickly, he tapped it.

Okay, I realize that this is getting very long, so I'll do a to be continued. Tomorrow the men's barrel that almost killed my friends and I, dodging the lady's barrel while trying to look at Katie's pictures on her camera, grabbing a hold of a strange man for protection, and men running down the hill, oh and the bonfire (so much happened tonight geeze). I'll hopefully have some pictures from Katie to put up for you too. More to come.