- What:A pagan New Year's fire celebration and test of courage in the North of England
- When: Midnight New Year's Eve
- Where: Allendale, a Northumbrian Village in the North Pennines, South of the Tyne
- Admission: Free
- Website
The Tar Barl
The origins of The Allendale Tar Barrel festival - or Tar Barl as it is called thereabouts - is lost to antiquity but its roots undoubtedly lie in the same pagan northern European impulse to set huge midwinter fires that is behind similar festivals all over the UK.A test of strength and fearlessness
Close to midnight, 45 hereditary barrel carriers, called Guisers, parade through the town balancing whiskey barrels filled with burning tar on their heads, throwing off sparks and windblown flames. The barrels can weigh as much as 35 pounds.At the culmination, the barrels are used to light a bonfire, known as the Baal fire, in the town center, while the spectators and participants shout, "Be damned to he who throws last!"
The atmosphere, no doubt lubricated with plenty of the amber nectar, is wild, noisy, good humored and a little bit terrifying.
