The Burryman

The Burryman or Burry Man is the central figure in an annual ceremony or ritual, the Burryman's Parade, that takes place in the town of South Queensferry, near Edinburgh on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in Scotland, on the second Friday of August.

The custom is associated with, but separate from, the town's Ferry Fair. On the Friday morning of the fair, a local man is covered from head to ankles in burrs from two species of burdock, Arctium lappa and A. minus that grow locally, and walked through the town for over nine hours. The meaning of this ceremony has long been forgotten, but it has been the cause of much speculation.

Origins and history

The right to hold the Ferry Fair was first granted in 1687, but the Burryman custom is widely believed to be much older. Similar ceremonies used to be held in other Scottish fishing communities, notably Buckie on the Moray Firth and Fraserburgh, to 'raise the herring' when there had been a poor fishing season. Now, only the South Queensferry ceremony remains in Scotland, though there are possible parallels with the Whittlesea Straw Bear, Irish Wren Day costumes and the Castleton Garland King (and perhaps even the Jack in the green) in England, as well as other customs elsewhere in Europe.

There are many theories about the origin of the custom, what the ceremony means, and why it continues. One idea is that the parade was intended to ward off evil spirits - it can certainly ward off children, some of whom are terrified at the very sight of the Burryman, and avoid looking him in the eye. It has been suggested that he carries on a pagan tradition thousands of years old; that he is a symbol of rebirth, regeneration and fertility (similar to the Green Man) that pre-dates almost all contemporary religions; that he is a "scapegoat" and may even originally have been a sacrificial victim.