One item on the bucket list was to visit Stonehaven for the Fireballs festival. Stonehaven has a sheltered harbour and was a very important port for the herring trade. The town has a number of claims to fame… The inventor of the pneumatic tyre, R.W. Thomson lived in the town. The earliest known fossil of a land-dwelling animal – 420 million years old – was discovered here. There is an outdoor, heated olympic-size swimming pool. A less impressive claim to fame perhaps is that one of the fish and chip shops was first to batter and deep fry a Mars bar (a chocolate-covered snack bar).
The Fireballs festival is a crazy tradition where local people walk up and down the street on New Years Eve (called Hogmanay in Scotland) swinging balls of fire. It’s completely crazy, but great fun to watch.
It’s not clear when or why this originated. The oldest written record is in 1908.
Wrapped up warm
The Pipe band and Highland dancers cross
The kids got to join in too -with LED “fireballs”
Highland dancers
Pipe Major
Great Balls of Fire
Relight my Fire
After about 20 minutes, the fireballs are tossed into the harbour and then there is a firework display. Mad, but fun.
