On 5 November each year, the men (and some women) of Ottery St Mary perform an act of collective recklessness that has no parallel in the English calendar: they hoist burning barrels of tar onto their shoulders and run through the packed streets of the town. Each barrel weighs between 30 and 60 kilograms and burns at close to 1,000°C. The barrel-carriers wear thick gloves but are otherwise unprotected. The crowds are dense and the streets are narrow. It is as dangerous and spectacular as it sounds.
The custom begins in the afternoon, when smaller barrels are carried by children. Adult barrels — progressively larger — follow through the evening. The final barrel, carried by the most experienced runners, is the largest, and its procession through the town centre at around midnight is the climax of the event. The pubs are open all night; the crowd is enormous by Ottery standards; and the whole thing is conducted with a cheerful recklessness that is quintessentially Devonian. If you can only visit Ottery once, visit on 5 November. Otherwise, the town is pleasant but quiet.