BARREL BURNERSOne UK Town's Insanely Dangerous Tradition
INTERVIEW BY BOBBY TRACEY, PHOTOS BY JAMES PEARSON-HOWES
NEXT IMAGE >
Vice: Um, what the fuck are these guys doing?
James Pearson-Howes: It’s called Tar Barrels and it happens every year on November fifth. The local townsfolk take turns running through the packed streets with burning barrels of tar on their backs. It’s been happening in this small town for centuries—it’s amazing. There are no real safety measures. If you wanted to get your face burned off then it’s pretty easy to do so, but that just adds to the fun of it all.
Wait, where does this happen?
It’s a small town in Devon called Ottery St Mary. I’ve been researching odd British traditions and this was one I came across. The various explanations for Tar Barrels range from a pagan ritual for exorcising the town’s demons to fumigating the town’s houses. I got the impression from the guys doing it that it was simply a rite of passage for the local young men. You get whole generations of families doing it.
Do people get hurt? It looks like a good way to fuck oneself up.
It’s pretty dangerous. If you stood in the path of one of these guys running full speed with a big barrel of burning tar, you’d have some damage done. But the only person I saw get hurt was a girl who wasn’t looking. She didn’t move out of the way quickly enough, and she got trampled on. They have a marshal who calms things down if the barrel rollers get too rowdy. A 13-year-old kid that I spoke to, who has been doing it since he was 10, got his face burned last year and said that the barrel rollers are the ones who are usually burned or hurt, not the innocent bystanders.
That’s some comfort, I suppose. Are they all wasted or something?
No one I spoke to was really pissed, but I’m sure it helps. I wouldn’t do it without a few beers.
What other messed-up rites are you looking into?
A lot of the events are pagan-related, but I’m trying to concentrate mainly on the weirdest and most extreme ones. I’m off to Cambridge soon to photograph a man who dresses up as a 12-foot straw bear, and a few days after that I’m shooting an event in the Midlands where all the townsmen fight over a bit of wood.
| wtevs, on Oct 26, 2009 wrote:
perhaps the better story here is freakishly strong 10 year old boys who can hoist and run with flaming huge barrels on their backs? | |
| sbay33, on Oct 21, 2009 wrote:
hot | |
| davidpoole, on Apr 7, 2009 wrote:
i live a few miles away from ottery. never really thought about how weird tar barrels is.. fire is fun. | | Anonymous, on Mar 6, 2009 wrote:
That is so weird? I wonder if they grow to be arsonists or fireman’s and what is with the kid with his fly open? | | Anonymous, on Mar 4, 2009 wrote:
England is full of the weirdest laws and traditions - apparently in york it is legal to shoot a scotsman with a bow and arrow everyday apart from sunday. hooold up, we could actually make this a tradtion.... | | Anonymous, on Mar 3, 2009 wrote:
Yeah they look so apathetic!
I wonder how they actually release the barrels when they’re done, do they just let go and keep running because you’d think the momentum of the flaming barrel of oil would roll at them in a donkey kong type knockout? | | Anonymous, on Mar 2, 2009 wrote:
everyone in the background looks so bored with it. As if there is not a teenage boy running around with a molten hot fire ball on his shoulders. | | Anonymous, on Mar 2, 2009 wrote:
"all the townsmen fight over a bit of wood."
that’d be fucking hilarious. I’d like to see pictures of that. | |
| komodo, on Mar 2, 2009 wrote:
where does all the tar end up? some giant heap of black smoke and broken barrel wood? like a mini oil spill at the back of the alley? if it smells anything like when they tar the highway, i wouldn’t want it anywhere near my residence. i think they should feather the boys that let it get on their back as punishment. | | Anonymous, on Mar 2, 2009 wrote:
i’d have to eat it up and be content with being the town pussy cause i’d never carry a flaming oil container on my back. you guys have the fun, i’ll have the unscarred back, thank you very much. | | Anonymous, on Feb 27, 2009 wrote:
they probably show replays of this on espn in england. the commentary must be amazing. i wonder if the winner says the first thing he’s going to do is go to eurodisney. | | Anonymous, on Feb 27, 2009 wrote:
the dads are just watching! its the kids that are doing all the death trap work. why dont they just go watch ESPN to entrain themselves like normal old men | |
| The Max, on Feb 27, 2009 wrote:
i wouldn’t want to play their rugby team. them kids would be tough as nails and all their pain sensors would already be dead from oil burns. | | Anonymous, on Feb 27, 2009 wrote:
haha, maybe you should have done a little more research yourself other than watching v for vendetta two and a half times while high. | | Anonymous, on Feb 27, 2009 wrote:
"Obviously no one did any research into this at all. Pagan ritual? Fuck you. It’s done on the 5th of November- Guy Fawkes day. People have been lighting shit on fire on in England since November 5th , 1605."
it’s not for guy fawkes. in fact, if the 5th november falls on a sunday, they hold the tar barrels on the 4th november as it’s a parish town, hence no pagan rituals on a sunday. | | Anonymous, on Feb 27, 2009 wrote:
that picture rules. really though, kudos. | | Anonymous, on Feb 27, 2009 wrote:
beyond dull, well done vice | | Anonymous, on Feb 26, 2009 wrote:
the last sentence sounds a bit randy | | Anonymous, on Feb 26, 2009 wrote:
look at dude straight chillin with a burning barrel on his head. that’s who i’m hanging with after the flames go out. | | Anonymous, on Feb 26, 2009 wrote:
god... the english. give them a few beers and they’ll guaran-damn-tee you someone is going to leave with a scar. | | Anonymous, on Feb 25, 2009 wrote:
so this is their twist on bonfire night? | | Anonymous, on Feb 25, 2009 wrote:
Obviously no one did any research into this at all. Pagan ritual? Fuck you. It’s done on the 5th of November- Guy Fawkes day. People have been lighting shit on fire on in England since November 5th , 1605. | |
| crimewave, on Feb 24, 2009 wrote:
isn’t this article wicked fucking old? | | Anonymous, on Feb 24, 2009 wrote:
"theres a fine line between retardant and rtarded"
oh, i think that was breached a looooong time ago | | Anonymous, on Feb 24, 2009 wrote:
theres a fine line between retardant and rtarded | | Anonymous, on Feb 24, 2009 wrote:
when saddam burnt barrels and entire refineries he was vilified, but when these bucktoothed brits do it, no big deal? i smell an invasion | | Anonymous, on Feb 24, 2009 wrote:
as much as I’d hate to see someone go up in flames, i’d love to. | | Anonymous, on Feb 24, 2009 wrote:
does anybody know WHY they do this? like is it a game or is there an objective to it? am i asking a stupid question? | | Anonymous, on Feb 24, 2009 wrote:
one word: badfuckinass | |
| | | | Next 30 comments > |
| |
