On March 1 every year, Lanark‘s parish church bell rings exactly at 6 p.m., after a four-month silence. As the bell begins to ring, children in this Scottish town parade three times round the church, dangling pieces of string with paper balls attached at the other end. Then they start striking one another with the paper balls in a play fight. Once pennies are tossed to the ground, the children rush to collect them. One explanation for the origin of this festival is that it can be traced back to pagan times, when people believed that making a great deal of noise would scare away evil spirits. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary