A small unique celebration takes place in Lanark, Scotland every March 1st. It is called Whuppity Scoorie Day and, according to the Hamilton Advertiser newspaper from Lanark, its celebration reportedly goes back to the mid-nineteenth century.
On March 1, just before 6 pm, the town school children gather at St. Nicholas Church in Lanark. After a small bell is rung at 6 pm, the children run around the church in an anti-clockwise direction three times, waving a ball of paper on a string over their heads. It used to be a race but in these hyper cautious days the race element has now been eliminated for the sake of safety. At the end of the run, the members of the Royal Burgh of Lanark Community Council throw coins on the ground and the children scramble to get as many as they can.
There are various theories as to the origins of Whuppity Scoorie Day. Most sources seem to believe that, like many Scottish celebrations, it is a celebration that has its basis on a pagan celebration, that the run around the church is a way to celebrate the coming of spring and to "tap the earth", waking Mother Nature from her long winter sleep. Other sources believe it started as a celebration of the days getting longer and the children's curfews being later. And still others believe that the celebration began as a religious penance and that participants were whipped around the church three times and then washed (or scoured) in the nearby River Clyde.
Whatever the origins of Whuppity Scoorie Day, it remains an annual and a decidedly original Scottish celebration. Surprisingly, it has not spread to any other districts or towns of Scotland and remains unique to Lanark.
