| Imagine a crisp November night. It's cold and dark, | | | | families, and the Guy for the bonfire has been made |
| but you're out in the town square and it's so full of | | | | by the same family since 1958. But why do the |
| people it's almost warm: people drinking beer and | | | | people of Ottery do this? |
| talking, craning their necks and waiting for something | | | | Ottery St Mary has kept its tradition of flaming tar |
| to happen. | | | | barrels for hundreds of years now. It's probably |
| Around the corner is a bonfire, probably the biggest | | | | connected with Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder |
| you've ever seen, because this is Bonfire Night, the | | | | Plot, but the origin of the tar barrel tradition is |
| 5th of November, when in 1605 Guy Fawkes | | | | unknown now. |
| attempted to blow up Parliament. And this is Ottery | | | | In fact, here are some of the wildly differing reasons |
| St Mary, in East Devon, where Bonfire Night is the | | | | that have been suggested for it: |
| biggest event of the year. So the bonfire, the fair | | | | * Warning of the approach of the Spanish Armada |
| and the fireworks are all here, but there's something | | | | * Fumigating the local cottages |
| unique to Ottery as well, and people come from miles | | | | * Scaring away the Black Death plague rats |
| around every year to see it. | | | | * Pagan rituals to ward off evil spirits |
| Suddenly, a shout goes out, and the crowd starts to | | | | * Ridding the streets of the devil |
| push forward and cheer, as some of the local people | | | | Historically, the Westcountry has long traditions of |
| haul flaming tar-soaked barrels onto their backs and | | | | torchlight processions and rolling barrels, which the |
| run around the square and through the streets. Each | | | | residents of Ottery may have taken one or two |
| barrel is sponsored by a local pub or hotel, and is set | | | | steps further. |
| alight there and carried through the streets. Boys | | | | And it's good that they did: winter is cold, and the |
| have the smallest barrels and start in the late | | | | nights are dark. Every child in Britain learns to |
| afternoon, followed by women and youths. Men have | | | | 'remember, remember, the fifth of November.' Why |
| bigger barrels, with the biggest one, weighing 30kg, | | | | not remember with a fiery celebration, and flaming |
| being carried around the square at midnight. | | | | tar barrels carried through the night in the heart of |
| It's a great honour to carry the tar barrels. Some | | | | Devon? |
| have been carried by generations of the same | | | | |