The Best of Britain's Weird and Wacky Folk Traditions

Unique and Wild Festivals and Events

Spain may have the running of the bulls in Pamplona, but in England the daredevil event of the year is the annual wacky race, the Cheese-Rolling on Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire. Once a year, as they have done for hundreds of years, young men and women hurl themselves down a hill so steep that it is impossible to remain standing, in pursuit of a seven or eight pound wheel of locally made Double Gloucester cheese. In this wacky race, there is no way participants can come down Cooper's Hill on their feet. Spectators who get too close to the edge have been known to tumble over and join the race involuntarily.

May is probably the sexiest month of the year in Britain. Before May Day became entangled with international Left Wing politics, it was associated, throughout England, with all things fertile, green and juicy. In the smaller villages of England, especially those of the south and southwest, it's still a time for letting one's hair down and celebrating the most primal forces of life. The month kicks off at dawn on May 1 in Cerne Abbas, a small village north of Dorchester in Dorset, when the Wessex Morris Men, along with various new agers, neopagans and other mystical types dance on the Cerne Abbas Giant, the UK's most suggestive landmark.

Combine the primitive impulse to light up the long nights, the ancient idea that fire purifies and chases away evil spirits and the natural Scottish impulse to party to the wee small hours and you end up with some of the best mid-winter celebrations in Europe. At one time, most Scottish towns celebrated the New Year with huge bonfires and torchlight processions. Most have now disappeared, but those that are left are real humdingers.

After the Winter Solstice - the longest night of the year - the days begin to get longer at last. Brighton celebrates the lengthening days with its own local twist on a typical Northern fire festival - The Burning of the Clocks. The event includes a themed parade with as many as 1,000 participants (The 2007 theme - The Tower of Babel), followed by the burning of paper and willow lanterns on the beach and a fireworks parade.

Guy Fawkes, called Bonfire Night, is a uniquely British festival that combines commemoration of a historic (some would say controversially so) event with bonfire celebrations that reach back to the Celtic harvest festival of Samhain. Though not a UK National Holiday Bonfire Night is a deep seated tradition and is marked by public and private fireworks displays and huge public bonfires all over the UK. In fact, many people say that November 5th, Bonfire Night, is the smokiest night in the realm.

The Summer Solstice at Stonehenge is a truly magical time to be there. It's an ad hoc celebration that brings together England's New Age Tribes (neo-druids, neo-pagans, Wiccans) with ordinary families, travelers and party people. For many the impulse to arrive at Stonehenge in time for the Solstice is a little like all those people drawn to the strange rock in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's akin to a spiritual experience. Anyone who has witnessed the crowd become silent as the sky begins to brighten can attest to that.

This is a modern revival of an old tradition. Up until the mid 19th century, children worked as chimney sweeps. When summer came they had a lot to celebrate as they could resume their trade. Today in Rochester, a Kentish town associated with Charles Dickens, The Sweeps Festival commemorates those celebrations with three days of Morris Dancing in the streets.

Nobody is quite sure how the tradition of the Haxey Hood began but it has been going on between the villagers of Haxey and Westwoodside, in North Lincolnshire, for at least 700 years. The most common story is that one Lady de Mowbray lost her silken hood to a gust of wind and various brave locals took off after it. In gratitude for the adventure, she created the celebration, named all the participants - The Fool, The Boggins and the Lord of the Hood, and gave all the participants a strip of land. Sounds like a lot of fuss over a hat to me. Today crowds of gigantic men tussle for possession of the hood in what looks like a precurser to Rubgy on mega steroids.

Shetland, part of Norway for at least 500 years, has a rich Viking heritage and one thing the Vikings seemed to do well was throw a wild party. Viking sagas are full of stories of raids and marauding, followed by lots of drinking and celebrating. Up Helly Aa is a 24 hour party that includes costumed Viking events throughout the day and culminates in a torchlight parade and the burning of a Viking long boat. The galley, that is sent to a flaming inferno at sea, may have taken local Up Helly Aa associations four months or more to build. At least 5,000 spectators come to watch more than 1,000 torch carrying "Vikings", in silver plates and helmets, with heavy axes and shields, march the galley around the town.