Two hours away from Lancashire is Allendale, a town that has a unique way of ringing in the New Year, with locals shunning the typical firework displays.
Their way of celebrating harks back to the ancient traditions of fire festivals, featuring men from the town marching through the streets with flaming barrels of tar and lighting a central bonfire at midnight.
The Allendale Tar Bar’l is an annual event on New Year’s Eve that draws both locals and visitors to the town centre from 11pm to witness these unusual festivities.
At approximately 11:30pm, a group of 45 men acting as the ‘guisers’ – a Scottish term meaning ‘a person in disguise’ – assemble, after which the torches are lit and the barrels set ablaze.
Dating back to 1858, 45 barrel carriers, called Guisers, parade through the town balancing whisky barrels filed with burning tar on their heads.
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The guisers embark on the procession carrying whiskey barrels filled with burning hot tar atop their heads – a truly unique spectacle for the onlookers, reports the Express.
However, if you’re hoping to participate as a guiser, you’ll be disappointed. Each man chosen for the procession must have been born in the Allen Valleys, with many inheriting the position from their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers.
And the role of guiser is exclusively granted to men. However, in the 1950s, a woman named Vesta Peart was permitted to carry one of the barrels, as the town expressed gratitude for her contribution in creating several of the costumes for the Tar Bar’l, many of which are still used today.
The Allendale Tar Bar’l has been celebrated for 160 years in its current form, but some suggest that the tradition dates back much further, possibly even to the medieval era.
The Allendale Tar Bar’l on New Year’s Eve 1932
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After making its way through the streets, the procession culminates at midnight upon reaching the central Bar’l fire, which is subsequently lit by the burning barrels. Amplifying the atmosphere further, the onlookers fervently chant: “Be damned to he who throws last.”
The Allendale event isn’t unique in its fiery celebrations of New Year’s Eve. Even closer to home, in Yorkshire’s Flamborough Fire Festival, folk gather to watch a Viking longship set ablaze, accompanied by a torchlit parade.
Similarly, in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, the Hogmanay Fireball Procession draws crowds eager to witness a dazzling display of fireballs whirling through the night sky.