Unusual Christmas’ in Orkney
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Usually for Christmas I will go home to see my family on a small island called Orkney, in the very north of Scotland.
The weather is usually either, white fluffy snow which turns into a brown sludgy mess or wind and heavy rain battering the little island. One thing is sure, it is always freezing cold!
Christmas in Orkney is distinctly different from the rest of the UK.
Here, families gather in the streets and engross themselves in an old traditional game called The Ba’. Only the boys and men play it, on Christmas Day and New Year, as long as it doesn’t fall on a Sunday. If it does, they play it on the following day, Monday.
A week or two before Christmas all the shops, houses, bus and petrol stations in the centre of Kirkwall get ready for the tradition and board up the doors and windows with thick wooden barricades. It looks like a ghost town if you didn’t know what was going to unfold.
The Teams
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There are two teams in this game, the Uppies (‘Up the Gates’) and the Doonies (‘Doon the Gates’), but you don’t choose the team you are on.
Originally you would be a Donnie if you were born north of the Cathedral and an Uppie if you were born south of the Cathedral.
Alternatively, if you weren’t born in Orkney it would be determined by how you arrived, by boat or by plane. A Doonie would arrive by boat and an Uppie by plane.
But now, since most births are in the hospital it is usually defined by what team your father or grandfather played on.
How is the Game is Played?
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Firstly, the game has no time limit, no route, and no limit on the number of players, just one aim. Get the Ba’ to the goal.
The goal for the Doonies is to immerse the Ba’ in salt water by dropping it into the Kirkwall Harbour, called the basin (marked in red). The Uppies must touch the Ba’ against the wall called Mackinson’s Corner (marked in yellow)
The Ba’ may be smuggled, kicked or carried to the goal, any tactic is allowed.
The Boys’ Ba’ starts at 10:30am and the Men’s Ba’ starts at 13:00, in front of St Magnus Cathedral. Where both teams will meet at the Market Cross (marked in green).
Let the Games Begin
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It always begins with a quiet murmur from the crowd as they wait for the teams to arrive.
Then you hear a rumble of boots from the boys/men as they start to appear from opposite sides of Broad Street. Trouser legs, boots and sleeves bound by gaffer tape. No team colours, just old shirts or old rugby uniforms.
Crowd members start shouting support to their teams, then there is silence when they reach the cross.
A Ba’ stalwart will stand with his back to the cross and he will throw the Ba’ into the crowd of boys/men.
A surge of bodies leap into the air to try and receive the Ba’, then the chaos begins.
A scrum gathers around the Ba’ as they try to wrestle for possession.
The crowd is cheering and shouting their teams on, the energy is electric.
Every now and then the scrum will break and players from the pack run as they try to smuggle it closer to their goal.
Thundering footsteps charge up and down the street chasing after the Ba’.
But again a scrum will re-gather.
All you can see is heads, arms and the occasional body emerging from the hot scrum, it is rare to see the Ba’. Even the players don’t always know where it is.
Steam rises from boys/men and spectators regularly pass water into them when stuck in corners or they come out looking for water.
Occasionally exhausted players exit the scrum for a break, sometimes sitting or lying on the road to get their energy back.
The struggle continues navigating through the streets. Boys/men shouting, fists are flying. Feet are thundering. And the crowd is roaring.
This can go on for hours or can be very short.
When the goal is reached the winning team will form another scrum to decide the winner. It is not decided by who gets it to the goal but by who played well, or who has participated over many years.
The winner then emerges from the scrum presented on the shoulders of fellow players and they receive the Ba’ as the ultimate trophy.
The crowd erupts again, cheering for victory. While the boys/men chant the traditional song for the win.
But the winner always hosts a party, which can sometimes last days.
I’ll be honest we generally celebrate with Christmas dinner on the 26th instead due to the chaos of the Ba’.
But this is what Christmas at home is all about.
Note:
As a spectator you do not want to get in between the players and the Ba’.
They will not stop if you are in their way.
If you are elderly, injured or have a young child with you it is advisable not to get too close to the action.
Find out more about The Ba’ history and how it is made.
A Christmas in Bali
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Okay so I already know a Christmas in Bali is going to be very different from Orkney.
First of all, it is very hot and there is no snow, or wind like in Scotland.
Secondly, the main religion is Balinese Hinduism and they don’t celebrate Christmas like Christianity. Although some people do follow Christianity here it is not a large percentage.
On Christmas, shops and restaurants are open, the streets are bustling with people and you would think it is a normal day.
In some western shops and restaurants there are some decorations, by some I mean little trees here and there with the odd larger ‘Merry Christmas’ sign. Or maybe it’s because I don’t really venture to the more tourist spots so I haven’t witnessed more.
Although I did pass one really cute little Christmas shop but again I didn’t venture inside. Who knows what goodies I could have found there.
I Have a Job or Two
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At the start of December I started to work in a surfboard shop, usually in Scotland if you work in retail you get a couple of days or sometimes two weeks holiday.
Nope, not in Bali.
So 2023, is the first year I have ever worked on Christmas and it feels strange to say the least.
But it’s not all bad, I have a couple of days off around New Year, wooo!!
Along with working in the surfboard shop I volunteer at the hostel I stay at being a social host.
Essentially all I do is interact and entertain the guests, sounds pretty easy, but it has its days. And with Christmas around the corner and the hostel getting busier I think it could be one of those days.
Christmas Day
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So we had planned to have a nice meal or BBQ for the guests at the hostel, but with working at the surfboard shop I was going to have very little time to help get everything organized.
Kraby also works at the hostel, but he also has another job, making it a stressful day for us both.
There is a guest staying at the hostel who I first met in June. Colly left to go back to Germany for a while but has returned! She loves to cook for people and entertain, which is very helpful, especially on a day like today.
Between the two of us we mastered this plan to cook a nice dinner and enjoy it as a family with the rest of the guests.
On my lunch break I helped to buy materials we needed for the day and to say the roads were busy was an understatement.
Balinese have celebrations throughout the year and today they held a larger ceremony on one of the busy roads in Canggu, closing the road. They diverted traffic onto the main road which caused chaos and traffic jams. When traveling on a bike you can squeeze through but add cars to the mix and it’s 100 times harder to navigate the small roads.
After we gathered our supplies, I headed back work.
The Meal
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I’ll be honest, I didn’t help cook the meal but I gathered our hungry guests who were delighted to eat.
Colly made a delicious vegan chilli, and it tasted amazing! The spotless plates said it all.
We sat around ate our food and sharing stories of what we would normally do back home. It was lovely to hear how other people celebrated this day and the different foods we all ate for it.
Was it All that Bad?
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It was different, and I was homesick but our little community was all in the same boat, away from home. We made our own little family and the laughter and Christmas spirit was still there.
What more do you really need?
But will I be going home for Christmas this year?
I kinda hope so but you never know what is going to happen.