Linlithgow and the Burry man

One of my favorite places in scotland I ended up at by accident by missing my bus to where I was going, so I decided to make the best of it and just photograph the city I was in, Linlithgow. I ended up lucking out because the day I came they were having the Linlithgow scotch hop, which is a huge dance in the palace Mary Queen of Scots was born in and then having retreat that night with their pipe band. The palace there is beautiful because it sits right on the loch.



The Burry Man

The burry man is a tradition which goes back hundreds of years in Queensferry where during the summer one day a man dresses up in all burs and walks through town all day and is offered whiskey and money. The money is given to charities although it used to be to pay the two people who help him by holding poles covered in flowers which the burry man holds onto because he has to keep his arms outstretched the entired day. He drinks the whiskey, which you can imagine gets interesting after several drams and no way of going to the bathroom the entire day. The burry man and his whole family are all really nice people and the whole community knows them so they make stops throughout the day to just talk with people.