Take a heavy wooden barrel, soak it in tar, set it on fire… then sling it up on your shoulders and run down a village street! This is what the Townspeople of Ottery St.Mary do each year to perpetuate a tradition hundreds of years old.
The Towns people are the ones that run with the barrels and between 15 and 20 thousand people turn up in the village to watch the spectacle. Youngsters have a go with small barrels in the early afternoon and the event continues untill night has fallen and the big beasty barrels are flaming away. The last of the barrels arrives in the square at midnight.
It is a spectacular thing to see. It is also a respectfull thing to note [from the website]: ”The Tar Barrels is run for the towns people of Ottery and commercial considerations take second place. Although we welcome visitors, the object of the evening is to perpetuate a tradition, so if you attend it, don’t try and change it, just stand back and enjoy one of the spectacles in our country’s history.”
November 5th is the traditional day for the Tar Barrels and only changes when the 5th falls on a Sunday.
More info found here: Ottery Tar Barrels website