QUIRKY COUNTRYSIDE The Fireballs Ceremony

What better way to see in the new year than with a midnight procession of ‘swingers’ brandishing huge fireballs? Each year, volunteers take to the streets of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, to swing flaming wire cages around their heads, at a safe distance from spectators, of course. Dating from the 1900s, the practice is believed to fend off bad spirits.