Customs, Myths & Legends

Wall Comment: #574

Fastern Eve HandBa

In the Celtic religion the head was considered to hold an individual's essence or soul. Head hunting was an essential by-product of Celtic warfare. Normally, an enemies head was treasured, except in those instances when the enemy was regarded as half human or bestial. Then, the enemies head was given to the children to use as they thought fit, normally resulting in what we would today call a ball game from which football and rugby derive.

This Celtic tradition of head veneration is still to be found in the small Scottish Borders town of Jedburgh, where an image of an Englishman's head is kicked about and fought over in the yearly "Fastern Eve HandBa'" festival.

Jedburgh has maintained its strong sense of identity and with it many traditions which have long since vanished elsewhere.

The "Fastern Eve HandBa'" is played every February in the streets of the town. Popular throughout medieval Scotland, one gruesome explanation of the origin of the game is that, following a particularly bloody battle between the Scots and their Auld Enemy, the victorious Scots used the head of a fallen English general as a ball.

The Jedburgh version acquired its current format in the 1700's. A series of beribboned balls are thrown up at the Mercat Cross and two teams - the "Uppies" and "Doonies" - struggle to "hail" the ball at the Castle and the Jedwater at the Townfoot, respectively.

The boys play for a couple of hours before the men take over and it is usual for hundreds to participate. The traditions involved are complicated and strictly observed and only the players are experts on the rules.

Various kings and Town Councils have tried to stop the HandBa' but the game has only been missed once, when the HandBa' coincided with Queen Victoria's funeral in 1901.

Recently, there has been approaches made both to the Lothian & Borders Police and Scottish Borders Council to outlaw this practice ("Fastern Eve HandBa'") upon the grounds of racial prejudice. It is understood such approaches have not only been ignored but members of the local Jedburgh police have suggested that"more the pity, its not a fresh English head in use".

View Less

Glenna Davidson Brock, Marilyn Sloper and Deb Logan Nixon like this.

Marilyn Sloper

Wish America was as "un-politically correct" as is Scotland. It's refreshing to hear a head called a...head.

September 12, 2015
·
Like Unlike
·
0 people