[Bonfires on Christmas Eve in Normandy.]

In the Bocage of Normandy the peasants used to repair, often from a distance of miles, to the churches to hear the midnight mass on Christmas Eve.  They marched in procession by torchlight, chanting Christmas carols, and the fitful illumination of the woods, the hedges, and the fields as they moved through the darkness, presented a succession of picturesque scenes.  Mention is also made of bonfires kindled on the heights; the custom is said to have been observed at Athis near Conde down to recent years.[681]

[Bonfires on St. Thomas’s Day in the Isle of Man; the “Burning of the Clavie” at Burghead on the last day of December; the old rampart at Burghead]

In the Isle of Man, “on the twenty-first of December, a day dedicated to Saint Thomas, the people went to the mountains to catch deer and sheep for Christmas, and in the evenings always kindled a large fire on the top of every fingan or cliff.  Hence, at the time of casting peats, every one laid aside a large one, saying, ’Faaid mooar moayney son oie’l fingan’; that is, ‘a large turf for Fingan Eve.’"[682] At Burghead, an ancient village on the southern shore of the Moray Firth, about nine miles from the town of Elgin, a festival of fire called “the Burning of the Clavie” has been celebrated from time immemorial on Hogmanay, the last day of December.  A tar-barrel is sawn in two, one half of it is set on the top of a stout pole, and filled with tar and other combustibles.  The half-barrel is fastened to the pole by means of a long nail, which is made for the purpose and furnished gratuitously by the village blacksmith.  The nail must be knocked in with a stone; the use of a hammer is forbidden.  When the shades of evening have begun to fall, the Clavie, as it is called, is set on fire by means of a burning peat, which is always fetched from the same house; it may not be kindled with a match.  As soon as it is in a blaze, it is shouldered by a man, who proceeds to carry it at a run, flaring and dripping melted tar, round the old boundaries of the village; the modern part of the town is not included in the circuit.  Close at his heels follows a motley crowd, cheering and shouting.  One bearer relieves another as each wearies of his burden.  The first to shoulder the Clavie, which is esteemed an honour, is usually a man who has been lately married.  Should the bearer stumble or fall, it is deemed a very ill omen for him and for the village.  In bygone times it was thought necessary that one man should carry it all round the village; hence the strongest man was chosen for the purpose.  Moreover it was customary to carry the burning Clavie round every fishing-boat and vessel in the harbour; but this part of the ceremony was afterwards discontinued.  Finally, the blazing tar-barrel is borne to a small hill called the Doorie, which rises near the northern end of the promontory.  Here the pole is fixed into a socket in a pillar of freestone, and fresh