[press release]
UK’S Curious Customs Celebrated with a Set of Special Stamps Royal Mail has revealed eight colourful and engaging illustrations, depicting and capturing the spirit of well-known, and some not so well-known, annual customs that take place around the UK. The stamps celebrate the eclectic mix of annual customs and festivals that take place across the UK. Royal Mail worked with award-winning folklorist Steve Roud on the stamp issue

Many of these customs involve dancing, singing, dressing up and – literally – playing with fire.

The curious customs depicted on the stamps are:

• Burning the Clocks, Brighton
• ‘Obby ‘Oss, Padstow
• The World Gurning Championships, Egremont
• Up Helly Aa, Lerwick
• Cheese Rolling, Cooper’s Hill, Brockworth
• Halloween, Derry/Londonderry
• Horn Dance, Abbots Bromley
• Bog Snorkelling, Llanwrtyd Wells

Some customs are often geared to natural stages of the year, or seasons, while others are linked to religious festivals and saints’ days, sporting events or specific occupations.

Due to a remarkable renaissance in the second half of the 20th century, communities began taking renewed pride in their colourful folk heritage. Defunct customs were revived, while others adapted or created events to produce new traditions – for fun and for good causes.

Philip Parker, Royal Mail, said: “Communities throughout the UK have been coming together for centuries to share distinctive traditions and mark key dates of the year. These customs continue to evolve, and our new stamps celebrate their diversity and the communities that maintain them.”

To accompany the stamp issue, Royal Mail commissioned a poem by performance poet Matt Harvey. Entitled, ‘Customs and Exercise’, the poem celebrates and commemorates the eight UK customs featured on the stamps.

“Customs and Exercise” by Matt Harvey

No matter what the custom is
We’re accomplices, not customers.
Magnificent participants in quirky endeavour
In curious costumes in inclement weather.

We’re guisers, we’re teasers, we’re chasers of cheeses
Boat-builders, clock burners, we’re vampires, we’re gurners.
We’re match-striking Vikings, we’re antler-lockers
‘Obby ‘Oss swoopers, Elfan safety snook-cockers.
We’re Cheerleaders, chortlers, we’re snorkelers, bog-sodden
We’re Ghouls in cagoules, fools ancient and modern.

It’s a dance with the past, it’s a craic, it’s a laugh.
Connection in every direction, belonging.
We might get a pint and an off-colour song in.

But what can get lost in the mist and missed in the fuss
Is that at the heart of all these customs
Is us.

The stamps and a range of collectible products are available now from www.royalmail.com/curiouscustoms, by phone on 03457 641 641 and in 7,000 Post Offices throughout the UK

Burning The Clocks, Brighton
Created in 1993 by community arts charity Same Sky, Burning the Clocks is a new custom, based on a parade, designed to promote a feeling of community pride. The procession is open to all, and participants carry the lanterns they have made from paper and willow, often decorated with clock motifs, through the streets and down to the beach. There, the lanterns are passed onto a bonfire, allowing time for reflection and thought to mark the year’s end, and celebrations continue with fireworks. The symbolism of ‘time passing’ is appropriate to the date: 21 December, being the shortest day of the year.

’Obby ’Oss, Padstow
Two strange beasts called Osses (but barely resembling horses) swirl and sway through the streets of the Cornish town of Padstow on May Day accompanied by a host of drummers, musicians and dancers. before finally ‘dying’ at midnight. The first documentary record of this custom dates from 1803.

World Gurning Championships, Egremont
Gurning (or ‘girning’) was a widespread dialect word, from the same root as ‘grinning’, originally signifying ‘snarling’ or ‘baring the teeth in rage’. However, when it was adopted as an entertainment or competition at fairs, gurning took on the meaning of ‘pulling funny or ugly faces’. The Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria was established in 1267, making it one of the oldest fairs in the world. Each September it holds the World Gurning Championships where each contestant’s face is framed within a large horse collar.

Up Helly Aa, Lerwick
An impressive and famous fire festival which is more than 100 years old takes place in Lerwick on the last Tuesday of January. People in dress parade through the Shetland town, carrying blazing torches including the Guizer Squad in full Viking attire. A full size wooden Viking longship (built over the preceding year) is pulled through the town and is later ceremonially burned as part of the festivities.

Cheese Rolling, Cooper’s Hill, Brockworth
Chasing a large cheese (or similar round object) down a hill was a widespread game at fairs and wakes in the past. At Cooper’s Hill near Brockworth in Gloucestershire, the fair has long gone, but the rolling game continues every Spring Bank Holiday. None of the contestants has much hope of catching up with the cheese but the first to reach the bottom of the hill wins the prize.

Halloween, Derry/Londonderry
Halloween’s origins are in the Celtic festival of Samhain and a tradition of dressing up and calling at houses for gifts has been common for many centuries. The world’s biggest Halloween Party is in Derry/Londonderry which now welcomes around 80,000 people. It involves parades, fancy dress, ghost walks, fireworks and was named as the world’s best Halloween celebration by a poll for USA Today.

Horn Dance, Abbots Bromley
This famous and ancient custom is unique in Europe. Six men carrying huge reindeer antlers plus characters dressed as Maid Marian, Fool, Hobby Horse and Bowman, celebrate ancient hunting rites. They perambulate the Staffordshire parish and at set places perform a dance. The design of the costumes and the dance have been preserved for hundreds of years, with the earliest reference to the horns dating from the 1630s. The horns have been carbon dated to around 1000 AD.

Bog Snorkelling, Llanwrtyd Wells
First held in 1976 the event involves contestants going across and back through a water-filled trench in a peat bog, with the fastest being the winner. Competitors from all over the world travel to the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells each August to take part. Snorkels are essential as participants must remain submerged and only use flippers to propel themselves. This is an excellent example of a modern calendar custom based on a unique sporting event.