Happy Hogmanay!

For those who don't know, Hogmanay is the Scottish term for the New Year's Eve. It's origins are probably back in the pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. Here in Scotland, a lot of tourists go to the famous Edinburgh Hogmanay, but for the second time during my time here, I went to the (almost) as famous Stonehaven Fireballs Festival. Also pagan in origin, there has been a recent revival in the ceremony, which involves residents of the town of Stonehaven swinging flaming poi. These poi are not the same as you would see in performances by the Maori. These things are massive, hung by chains and swung in a wide arc around the body. The crowd can get very close to the swinging fireballs, such that you can feel the singeing of your eyebrows. We saw one of the police officers in front of us get a small hole burnt in his uniform trousers from the flaming bits of debris!