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Festival customs of Britain and Ireland

Ten customs that are often described as pagan survivals, from a goat crowned in Kerry to a man covered in burrs near Edinburgh. The map sorts them by the one thing we can check: how far back a written record goes.

15 min read · Updated 11 November 2026 · Last checked 11 November 2026

What these maps are, and are not #

These are living customs, kept up by the people of one town or village. Newspapers and tourist boards often call them pagan, and some of the people who take part find that meaning in them. The question here is narrower: for each one, what is the earliest written record, and what does that record actually say?

The answer is often less than the legend. A record shows that a custom existed on a certain date. It does not show what the people who kept it believed, and it cannot show what came before it. Where a custom has been revived or begun in modern times, the entry says so plainly. That does not make a custom less worth seeing. Customs matter to the people who keep them whatever their age.

Each map has numbered markers, in the order of the year. Select a marker, or an item in the list beneath it, and the details appear. The tick boxes show or hide a group. A marker shows the town or the place where the custom happens, and each entry says how sure its position is. The coastlines are public-domain Natural Earth data. The full list under each map is there whatever your browser does with the script.

For the festivals these customs are linked with, see the Wheel of the Year and where it came from. For old places rather than customs, see the sacred places of Britain and Ireland.

Britain #

Six customs, from the Fens to Shetland. Three are fire festivals of one kind or another and three centre on a costumed figure, and one of those, the Straw Bear, is a revival of a custom that had died out. They are listed in the order of the year, from January to August.

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Map of Britain showing six festival customs, from the Whittlesey Straw Bear to Up Helly Aa in Shetland Numbered markers: Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival, Burning of the Clavie, Up Helly Aa, Lerwick, Beltane Fire Festival, Edinburgh, Padstow 'Obby 'Oss, The Burryman, South Queensferry. 8°W 6°W 4°W 2°W 0° 2°E 50°N 52°N 54°N 56°N 58°N 60°N ENGLAND SCOTLAND WALES NORTH SEA ATLANTIC OCEAN IRISH SEA 1 2 3 4 5 6
Britain, from Cornwall to Shetland. Markers are numbered as in the list below, with a different shape for each group of customs. Every position is approximate. Where two sites are close together the markers are moved apart and a short line leads to the true position. The scale bar is true only at the middle of the map.

Select a marker to see its details here.

  1. Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival

    Revived or begun in the 1980s · second weekend of January; revived in 1980

    A man covered from head to foot in straw is led through the streets of Whittlesey by a keeper and musicians, followed by morris, molly and other dance sides. In the 1800s a straw-covered man went from house to house in the Fens on Plough Monday or Tuesday, dancing for money, food or beer. That custom died out about 1909, and the Whittlesea Society revived it in 1980, helped by an album that quoted an early description of it. What the straw bear meant before the 1800s is not known.123

    Approximate: the point stands for a town or an area, not a single spot. 52.5566°N, 0.1290°W.

  2. Burning of the Clavie

    Written record before 1700 · 11 January; recorded in 1689

    At Burghead on the Moray coast a half tar barrel on a pole is lit and carried round the old town by a crew of local men, who hand out burning pieces for luck. It ends on the hill above the harbour, where the embers are scattered. In January 1689 a church court rebuked young men of the village for making a burning clavie and blessing the boats in what it called the old heathen custom. That is the earliest record in the sources used here. It has often been called a surviving pagan fire festival, but nothing shows what it was before 1689. The date is the eve of Old New Year, because Britain dropped eleven days from its calendar in 1752.456

    A known site, but the point is still approximate. 57.7031°N, 3.4955°W.

  3. Up Helly Aa, Lerwick

    Earliest firm record in the 1800s · last Tuesday in January; torchlight procession from the 1880s

    Squads of costumed men called guizers march with torches through Lerwick, and the procession ends with the burning of a replica Viking galley. It grew out of an older Yule custom of dragging burning tar barrels through the streets. After tar barrelling was stopped, around the 1870s, torch processions were permitted instead. The first on Up Helly Aa day was in 1881, the first galley was burned in 1889, and the Viking theme dates from the mid-1880s onward. So the festival in its present form is Victorian, not Norse. Lerwick is the largest of about eleven Up Helly Aa festivals held in Shetland between January and March.789

    Approximate: the point stands for a town or an area, not a single spot. 60.1544°N, 1.1461°W.

  4. Beltane Fire Festival, Edinburgh

    Revived or begun in the 1980s · 30 April; since 1988

    A night-time performance on Calton Hill with costumed processions and fire, led by a May Queen and the Green Man and ending with a bonfire. It is a modern festival. A small group of enthusiasts began it in 1988, with academic support from the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. It is inspired by the old Gaelic festival of Beltane and does not continue any unbroken custom. Thousands of people now take part or watch, and it is a ticketed event.1011

    A known site, but the point is still approximate. 55.9553°N, 3.1822°W.

  5. Padstow 'Obby 'Oss

    Earliest firm record in the 1800s · 1 May; first written mention in 1803

    On May Day two processions, each led by a hobby horse called an 'Obby 'Oss, wind through Padstow behind accordions and singers, and the town is decked with greenery. Where the custom came from is not known. The earliest mention of the 'Obby 'Oss at Padstow is from 1803, and the sources used here say there is no evidence that it is older than the eighteenth century. In 1913 the folklorist Thurstan Peter, influenced by James Frazer, suggested it was a pre-Christian fertility rite. That idea helped to make the custom a tourist attraction, and the historian Ronald Hutton found local people repeating it in 1985.1213

    Approximate: the point stands for a town or an area, not a single spot. 50.5412°N, 4.9429°W.

  6. The Burryman, South Queensferry

    Earliest firm record in the 1800s · second Friday in August; origin unknown

    A local man is covered from head to ankle in the burrs of burdock, wears a flowered hat and sash, and walks round the town for many hours, stopping at pubs and houses, as part of the Ferry Fair. Nobody knows what it once meant. The date 1687 is often given for it, but sources disagree: that year the right to hold the Ferry Fair was granted, and the folklorist Doc Rowe says the first written mention of the Burryman is in the writing of Sir Walter Scott. Ideas that he was a scapegoat, a fertility figure or a charm against evil are guesses.14151617

    Approximate: the point stands for a town or an area, not a single spot. 55.9902°N, 3.3969°W.

Ireland #

Four customs, each tied by writers to one of the Gaelic festivals: Imbolc at Kildare, Lughnasa on Croagh Patrick and at Killorglin, and Samhain at Derry. The records do not always back the tie, as each entry explains.

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Map of Ireland showing four festival customs: St Brigid's Day at Kildare, Reek Sunday, Puck Fair and Derry Halloween Numbered markers: St Brigid's Day, Kildare, Reek Sunday, Croagh Patrick, Puck Fair, Killorglin, Derry Halloween. 10°W 9°W 8°W 7°W 6°W 52°N 53°N 54°N 55°N IRISH SEA ATLANTIC OCEAN 1 2 3 4
The island of Ireland. Markers are numbered as in the list below, with a different shape for each group of customs. Every position is approximate. Where two sites are close together the markers are moved apart and a short line leads to the true position. The scale bar is true only at the middle of the map.

Select a marker to see its details here.

  1. St Brigid's Day, Kildare Lá Fhéile Bríde

    Written record before 1700 · 1 February; feast recorded in the late 7th century

    The feast of Saint Brigid falls on 1 February, the date of the Gaelic festival of Imbolc. The saint's feast at Kildare is the oldest recorded part: Cogitosus, writing in the late seventh century, is the first to mention it being kept there on that date. Crosses woven from rushes are made on the day and hung over doors, but those customs are recorded in detail only from the early modern period. In the late twelfth century Gerald of Wales described a perpetual fire kept by nuns at Kildare. Some writers think it once belonged to a goddess Brigit, which is a suggestion and not proof. A flame was restored at Kildare in 1993, and since 2023 the day has been a public holiday in Ireland.181920

    Approximate: the point stands for a town or an area, not a single spot. 53.1577°N, 6.9113°W.

  2. Reek Sunday, Croagh Patrick Cruach Phádraig

    Written record before 1700 · last Sunday in July; pilgrimage recorded in 1113

    On the last Sunday in July thousands of pilgrims climb the 764-metre mountain above Clew Bay in honour of Saint Patrick, some of them barefoot, and Mass is said at the chapel on the summit. The earliest surviving mention of a pilgrimage there is in the Annals of Ulster for the year 1113. The folklorist Máire MacNeill thought it began as a pre-Christian rite for the festival of Lughnasa. That is a conjecture, but climbing hills at the start of August is well recorded in Irish folklore, and the pilgrimage is the best known survivor of it.2122

    A known site, but the point is still approximate. 53.7595°N, 9.6584°W.

  3. Puck Fair, Killorglin Aonach an Phoic

    Written record before 1700 · 10 to 12 August; chartered in 1613

    People catch a wild goat in the mountains, crown it King Puck, and keep it on a high stand in the town for three days of fair. The fair can be traced in documents only to a charter of 1613 from James I, which gave legal status to a fair already running. Its older roots are not known. Scholars have guessed that it descends from the harvest festival of Lughnasa and that the goat is a fertility symbol, but that is speculation. A local legend says it honours a goat that warned the town of Cromwell's soldiers, but that campaign came after the charter of 1613, so it cannot explain how the fair began.23

    Approximate: the point stands for a town or an area, not a single spot. 52.1064°N, 9.7869°W.

  4. Derry Halloween Féile na Samhna

    Revived or begun in the 1980s · 31 October; since 1985

    A street carnival with a costume parade and fireworks over the River Foyle, now spread over several days and billed as the largest street party in Ireland. It began in 1985 when a pub fancy-dress party spilled out onto the streets, and the city council became involved in the organising the next year. Its Irish name refers to Samhain and its organisers link it to that festival, but it is a modern event with a local origin and not a surviving Gaelic rite.24252627

    Approximate: the point stands for a town or an area, not a single spot. 54.9980°N, 7.3200°W.

How old are they? #

The three groups on the maps are the plainest summary. Four of the ten have a written record from before 1700: the feast of Saint Brigid at Kildare, the pilgrimage on Croagh Patrick, Puck Fair, and the Burning of the Clavie. Three have no firm record before the 1800s: the Padstow ‘Obby ‘Oss, the Burryman and Up Helly Aa. Three were revived or begun in the 1980s: the Straw Bear, Derry Halloween and the Beltane Fire Festival.

Even the oldest records say only that the custom existed. The earliest record of the Clavie is a church court rebuking young men for it,28 and the earliest for Croagh Patrick is a pilgrimage in an annal of 1113.29 Neither says what the custom meant before that. The idea that the ‘Obby ‘Oss was a pagan fertility rite was put forward in 1913 by a folklorist who was following James Frazer, and the sources used here say that it then spread among the people of the town.30 Customs can pick up such stories as they go, and a story that is told often enough begins to look like a record.

This is no argument that nothing old lies behind them. The folklorist Máire MacNeill traced Irish custom around 1 August to an older festival, and her view of Reek Sunday is the best known.31 It is only that for most of these customs the evidence is silent, and each entry says where.

Visiting #

These are community events, not shows put on for visitors, and some are open only to people from the place. The crew who carry the Clavie must be natives of Burghead,32 and the Burryman must be a man born in South Queensferry.33 The Beltane Fire Festival is now a ticketed event, so book ahead.34 Dates move, and in some places the day is set by the calendar (the last Tuesday in January for Up Helly Aa in Lerwick, the last Sunday in July for Reek Sunday), so check the date each year with the local organisers.

Reek Sunday is a mountain climb, some people do it barefoot, and Mayo Mountain Rescue answers about fifty calls a year there, so dress and plan for a mountain.35 Wherever you go, keep out of the way of the people who are taking part, and ask before you photograph someone in costume at close range.

The data #

The points are in one standard GeoJSON file that you can open in any mapping program: pagan_festival_customs_britain_ireland.geojson. Each point has a name, a local name where there is one, a group, the date of the custom and of its earliest record, a description, the sources, how sure the position is, and the date it was last checked.

The file is our own compilation, and the descriptions are written in our own words from the sources cited on each entry. Most of the sources are encyclopaedia articles and news features, which are secondary, and the notes under the sources say where only an extract was read. It is offered for reading and for your own use. Coordinates differ between sources, so check any you rely on.

Notes

  1. 'Whittlesey', Wikipedia. ↩
  2. 'Plough Monday', Wikipedia. ↩
  3. 'Whittlesey Museum', Wikipedia. ↩
  4. 'Burghead', Wikipedia. ↩
  5. 'Burghead Fort', Wikipedia. ↩
  6. 'List of listed buildings in Burghead, Moray', Wikipedia. ↩
  7. 'Up Helly Aa', Wikipedia. ↩
  8. 'Callum Brown (author)', Wikipedia. ↩
  9. 'Lerwick Town Hall', Wikipedia. ↩
  10. 'Beltane Fire Festival', Wikipedia. ↩
  11. 'Calton Hill', Wikipedia. ↩
  12. ''Obby 'Oss festival', Wikipedia. ↩
  13. 'Grade I listed buildings in Cornwall', Wikipedia. ↩
  14. 'The Burryman', Wikipedia. ↩
  15. Peter Ross, 'After 20 drams, our seedy hero is cut from his burry prison', The Scotsman. ↩
  16. 'The Burry Man Festival', Journal of the Sydney Society for Scottish History. ↩
  17. 'South Queensferry Tolbooth', Wikipedia. ↩
  18. 'Brigid of Kildare', Wikipedia. ↩
  19. 'Imbolc', Wikipedia. ↩
  20. 'Kildare', Wikipedia. ↩
  21. 'Reek Sunday', Wikipedia. ↩
  22. 'Croagh Patrick', Wikipedia. ↩
  23. 'Puck Fair', Wikipedia. ↩
  24. 'Everybody, no matter who they are, is part of Halloween in Derry', The Irish Times. ↩
  25. RTÉ Lifestyle, 'Why Derry is the true home of Halloween' (28 October 2022). ↩
  26. 'Derry', Wikipedia. ↩
  27. 'Guildhall, Derry', Wikipedia. ↩
  28. Wikipedia, Burghead. ↩
  29. Wikipedia, Reek Sunday. ↩
  30. Wikipedia, 'Obby 'Oss festival. ↩
  31. Wikipedia, Reek Sunday. ↩
  32. Wikipedia, Burghead. ↩
  33. Journal of the Sydney Society for Scottish History, the Burry Man. ↩
  34. Wikipedia, Beltane Fire Festival. ↩
  35. Wikipedia, Reek Sunday. ↩

Modern works cited

Cite this page. The Garden, ‘Maps: festival customs of Britain and Ireland’, https://camelmaps.org/garden/pagan-customs.php, last updated 11 November 2026, last checked 11 November 2026. What has changed.

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