Tags
brass band, burry man, jump in sea, loony dook, scotland, South Queensferry, virtual journey, West Lothian
(South) Queensferry
Day 24. 157.9 miles
If we were told we’d landed up in a town in Scotland with an excellent brass band and asked Mr. Google where we were he’d look askance and offer us dozens of names. If we narrowed it down by saying the town is also the home of the Loony Dook and Burry Man he’d immediately send us information about The Ferry (as locals call it). The Ferry is short for Queensferry. Properly, Queensferry is called South Queensferry to distinguish it from North Queensferry.
Now let’s dig deeper into Queensferry culture.
The brass band needs no explanation. They hold a spring concert, a Christmas pageant and play at the Ferry Fair.
Hang on, I hear you retort, you never mentioned the Ferry Fair. Oops. It’s an annual gala centering on floats, music, the crowning of the Ferry Fair Queen and, of course, that burry man.
What? Another retort? You want to get to know the burry man better? OK, then. Just don’t get to close to him because the burry man is clothed head to toe in cloth that is covered in burrs. They are those annoying spikey seeds that stick to clothing when you find yourself wandering through the countryside. As we know, once attached they are almost impossible to remove.
The burry man is so covered in the obnoxious things that he cannot really walk around. He must be content with tottering from place to place threatening folks with his annoying costume. He has two eye holes and a mouth hole. His strange gait isn’t helped by the fact that he gets regular doses of whisky through a straw.
The tradition goes so far back-300 years-that nobody can remember why it started but I’m leaning towards a drunken bet.
Talking of which, how else would the idea of dressing up in fancy dress and jumping into unto the North Sea in the middle of winter come about? This is the Loony Dook. It roughly translates as “insane plunge into freezing water” and it’s done en mass on New Year’s Day.
Brrrrrrr!
And the Queen for which the town is named? Not just a queen! Saint Margaret of Scotland established a ferry here for pilgrims to St. Andrews. The exact timing is unknown but it must have been before 1093 when she died.
There was still a ferry running from here to Fife until 1964, and there are still ferries to the islands in the Firth of Forth.
Having learned about the strange wee traditions in The Ferry let’s start on the journey towards Edinburgh.