Burning the Bogey Man

This weekend marked the 4th Partick Folk Festival (Partick is our neighborhood). They had concerts all weekend of Scottish bands and such. Today they held a session of songs and stories "for wee folk". We didn't last long at that due to poor behavior...but that's another story.

This evening, Caleb and I went to the Torchlight Procession and 'Burning the Bogey Man'. The Glasgow Schools Pipe Band (4 girls about 12 years old) and Partick Beat (drummers) led a processional through a few streets that ended in a small park. Everyone had glow sticks (or something like that)--Caleb really enjoyed shaking his around while he was dancing to the drummers. It was a neighborhood celebration and lots of people were looking out from their windows or coming out to wave or join in.

I had to ask one of the participants why they were doing this procession. The purpose (besides something for the kids) was an ancient tradition where people marched through town with torches and music frightening away evil and inviting luck. This was typically done as winter arrived in the hopes that the winter would be kind. For us, it was an excuse to get out of the flat and go walk in a small parade. About 150 people walked and we had a great time. We're constantly learning about the Scottish culture, and tonight was another good experience.