Bonfire

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Bonfires
)

A midsummer bonfire in Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland
On the beaches of Duindorp (pictured) and Scheveningen, both part of The Hague, teams annually compete to build the world's largest bonfire[1]

A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration.

Etymology

The earliest recorded uses of the word date back to the late 15th century, with the Catholicon Anglicum spelling it as banefyre and John Mirk's Book of Festivals[2] speaking of a communal fire in celebrations of Saint John's Eve that "was clene bones & no wode & that is callid a bone fyre".[3] The word is thus a compound of "bone" and "fire."[4]

In 1755 Samuel Johnson misattributed the origin of the word as a compound of the French "bon" ("good") and the English "fire" in A Dictionary of the English Language.[5]

Regional traditions

In many regions of continental Europe, bonfires are made traditionally on 24 June,[

the celebrations on the eve of St. John's Day in Spain. In Sweden bonfires are lit on Walpurgis Night celebrations on the last day of April. In Finland and Norway bonfires are tradition on Midsummer Eve
and to a lesser degree in Easter.

Alpine and Central Europe

Distribution of Funkenfeuer in Alemannic Europe, France and Northern Italy. Red shows traditions of Funkensonntag (the Sunday following Ash Wednesday), blue shows traditions of 1 March.

Bonfire traditions of early spring, lit on the Sunday following

Osterfeuer" or Easter fires is widespread, but also regulated in some cities, districts and countries to hold down the resulting annual peak of PM10-dust emission. There are also "Sonnwendfeuer" (solstice
fires) ignited on the evening of 21 June.

Since 1988 "Feuer in den Alpen" (fires in the Alps) have been lit on a day in August on mountains so they can be seen from afar as an appeal for sustainable development of mountain regions.[6]

In the Czech Republic the festival called "Burning the Witches" (also Philip and Jacob Night, Walpurgis Night, or Beltane) takes place on the night between 30 April and 1 May. This is a very old and still observed folk custom and special holiday. On that night, people gather together, light bonfires, and celebrate the coming of spring. In many places people erect maypoles.

The night between 30 April and 1 May was considered magical. The festival was probably originally celebrated when the moon was full closest to the day exactly between the spring equinox and summer solstice. People believed that on this night witches fly to their Sabbath, and indeed this is one of the biggest pagan holidays. People also believed, for example, in the opening of various caves treasures were hidden. The main purpose of this old folk custom was probably a celebration of fertility.

To protect themselves against witches, people lit bonfires in high places, calling these fires "Burning the Witches". Some people took to jumping over the fire to ensure youth and fertility. The ash from these fires supposedly had a special power to raise crops, and people also walked their cattle through the ashes to ensure fertility.

Australia

In Australia bonfires are rarely allowed in the warmer months due to fire danger. Legislation about bonfires varies between states, metropolitan and rural regions, local government areas, and property types.[7] For example, in urban areas of Canberra bonfires may be lit around the King's Official Birthday if local fire authorities are notified; however, they are banned the rest of the year.[8] Smaller fires such as campfires and outdoor barbecues are usually permitted outside of fire restriction periods. In the state of Queensland, the rural town of Killarney hosts an annual Bonfire night for the greater community; proceeds support the town's aged care facilities.

Canada

Due to their historic connection to Britain and Ireland, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador has many communities that celebrate bonfire nights, particularly Guy Fawkes Night; this is one of the times when small rural communities come together. In the province of Quebec, many communities light bonfires on 24 June to celebrate Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day.

France

In France the bonfire celebrates

Fête de la Saint-Jean ("St John's Day"), first Saturday after the solstice, about 24 June. Like the other countries, it was a pagan celebration of the solstice, or midsummer
, but Christianisation transformed it into a Catholic celebration.

India

In India particularly in

demoness as described above.[9]

Iran

Chaharshanbe Suri is a fire jumping festival celebrated by Persian people, Kurdish people and some other ethnicities. The event takes place on the eve of the last Wednesday before Nowruz. Loosely translated as Wednesday Light, from the word sur, which means light in Persian, or more plausibly, consider sur to be a variant of sorkh (red) and take it to refer either to the fire itself or to the ruddiness (sorkhi), meaning good health or ripeness, supposedly obtained by jumping over it, is an ancient Iranian festival dating back to at least 1700 BCE of the early Zoroastrian era. Also called the Festival of Fire, it is a prelude to Nowruz, which marks the arrival of spring. The words Chahar Shanbeh mean Wednesday and Suri means red. Bonfires are lit to "keep the sun alive" until early morning. The celebration usually starts in the evening, with people making bonfires in the streets and jumping over them singing "zardi-ye man az toh, sorkhi-ye toh az man". The literal translation is, my yellow is yours, your red is mine. This is a purification rite. Loosely translated, this means you want the fire to take your pallor, sickness, and problems and in turn give you redness, warmth, and energy. There are Zoroastrian religious significance attached to Chahārshanbeh Suri and it serves as a cultural festival for Iranian and Iranic people.

Another tradition of this day is to make special Chaharshanbe Suri Ajil, or mixed nuts and berries. People wear disguises and go door to door knocking on doors as similar to Trick-or-treating. Receiving of the Ajeel is customary, as is receiving of a bucket of water.

Ancient Persians celebrated the last 5 days of the year in their annual obligation feast of all souls,

Hamaspathmaedaya
(Farvardigan or popularly Forodigan). They believed Faravahar, the guardian angels for humans and also the spirits of dead would come back for reunion. There are the seven Amesha Spenta, that are represented as the haft-sin (literally, seven S's). These spirits were entertained as honored guests in their old homes, and were bidden a formal ritual farewell at the dawn of the New Year. The festival also coincided with festivals celebrating the creation of fire and humans. In Sassanid period the festival was divided into two distinct pentads, known as the lesser and the greater Pentad, or Panji as it is called today. Gradually the belief developed that the 'Lesser Panji' belonged to the souls of children and those who died without sin, whereas 'Greater Panji' was truly for all souls.

Iraq

In Iraq, Assyrian Christians light bonfires to celebrate the Feast of the Cross. In addition to the bonfire, every household traditionally hangs a lighted fire in the roof of their house.

Ireland

Throughout Ireland bonfires are lit on the night of 31 October to celebrate

Bealtaine and on St. John's eve, 23 June, to celebrate Midsummer's eve, particularly in County Cork where it is also known as 'Bonna Night'.[11]

In

Catholic communities on 9 August since 1972 to protest and commemorate Internment
.

Israel

Lag BaOmer kumzits in Israel, 1972. Dan Hadani collection, National Library of Israel
Lag BaOmer kumzits in Israel, 1972. Dan Hadani collection, National Library of Israel

In Israel, on the eve of

Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Roman Empire (132–135 CE), Lag BaOmer
is very popularly observed and celebrated as a symbol for the fighting Jewish spirit. As Lag Ba'Omer draws near, children begin collecting material for the bonfire: wood boards and planks, old doors, and anything else made of wood. On the night itself, families and friends gather round the fires and youths will burn their bonfires till daybreak.

Italy

In Northeast Italy the celebration Panevin (in English "bread and wine"), Foghera and Pignarûl is held on the evening of Epiphany (5 January). A straw witch dressed with old clothes is placed on a bonfire and burned to ash. The witch symbolizes the past and the direction of the smoke indicates whether the new year is going to be good or bad.

The Northern Italian La vecchia ("the old lady") is a version of the wicker man bonfire effigy, which is burned once a year as part of town festivals. As depicted in the film Amarcord by Federico Fellini, it has a more pagan-Christian connotation when it is burned on Mid-Lent Thursday.

In Abbadia San Salvatore, a village in the south of Tuscany, bonfires called fiaccole up to seven meters high are burned during Christmas Eve to warm up people around them waiting for the midnight, following a millenary tradition.

In Southern Italy, traditionally bonfires are lit in the night between 16 and 17 January, thought to be the darkest and longest night of the year. The celebration is also linked to the cult of Saint Anthony The Great.

Japan

Every 16 August the ancient city of

O-Bon
season.

Luxembourg

The Luxembourgish town of Remich annually holds a three-day-long celebration for Carnival (called Fuesend Karneval in Luxembourgish). The celebration of the Remich Fuesend Karneval celebrations concludes with the Buergbrennen, a bonfire that marks the end of winter. Such bonfires are also organised by others towns and villages throughout Luxembourg around the same time, although they only last an evening.

Nepal

Preparations for Holika Dahan Kathmandu, Nepal

Bonfires in Nepal are taken almost synonymous with camp-fire. During winter months it is quite common to have a bonfire in hotels, resorts, and residential areas, as well as private properties.

Bonfires are also lit during Siva ratri in the evening. This holiday is based on the lunar calendar and often falls during month of February.

Nordic Countries

In Iceland, bonfires are traditional on New Year's Eve, and on 6 January, which is the last day of the Icelandic Christmas season.[citation needed] In Norway and Denmark,[citation needed] large bonfires are lit on 23 June to celebrate Jonsok or St Hansaften the evening before John the Baptist's birthday. As with many other traditions in Scandinavia, St. Hans is believed to have a pagan origin, the celebration of midsummer's eve.

In Sweden Walpurgis Night is celebrated on 30 April, and festivities include the burning of a bonfire. In Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Midsummer Eve is celebrated with large bonfires.[12]

Lithuania

In

St John's Eve (aka: Rasos (Dew Holiday)) during the midsummer
festival. Bonfires may be lit to keep witches and evil spirits away.

Poland

Midsummer fire (sobótka) at San (river), (Poland).

In

Podlasie
) on 23/24 June. On 23 and 24 June, according to ancient custom, an immense number of Polish persons of both sexes repaired to the banks of the
Palilia, celebrated in honour of the goddess Pales, on 20 April, the anniversary of the foundation of Rome, the young Romans leaped over burning bundles of hay. In modern Italy, this kind of saltation is continued by the name of Sabatina,[15] though Pope Sergius III
prohibited it.

Romania

In Romania, in Argeș County, a bonfire is lit on the night of 25 October every year, as a tradition said to be done since the Dacians. It consists in burning of a tall tree, which resembles the body of a god. It is usually done on a high peak, to be seen from far away.

Slavic Europe

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, bonfires are traditionally lit on the evening before 1 May, commemorating Labour Day[citation needed] . Bonfires are also being built on the eve of the Christian holiday Easter on so called Holy Saturday and are lit next day early in the morning. This bonfires are called vuzmenka, or vazmenka. The root, Vazam is the Serbo-Croatian word for Easter. Their burning symbolizes the Resurrection of Jesus. In villages far from cities, this tradition is still active. Young men and children all gather on some plane remote from village and start building a bonfire by collecting logs of wood, or pruned branches from vineyards and orchards. Bonfires are also lit on the evening before Saint George's Day on so called Jurjevo (in Croatia, on 24 April according to Gregorian calendar) or Đurđevdan (in Serbia, on 6 May according to Julian calendar). Idea for all this bonfires are probably taken from old Slavic tradition where bonfires were lit to celebrate the arrival of Spring.[16]

In Russia, bonfires are traditionally burned on 17 November.[citation needed]

Czech Republic and Slovakia

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, bonfires are also held on the last night of April and are called 'Phillip-Jakob's Night' (FilipoJakubská noc) or "Burning of the Witches" (pálení čarodějnic). They are considered to be historically linked with Walpurgis Night and Beltane.

Turkey

In Turkey bonfires are lit on Kakava believed to be the awakening day of nature at the beginning of spring. Kakava is celebrated by the Romani people in Turkey on the night of 5–6 May.

United Kingdom

An effigy of Guy Fawkes, burnt on a Guy Fawkes Night bonfire

In the United Kingdom and some

conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the House of Lords
in London.

In

Catholic communities on 9 August since 1972 to protest and commemorate Internment.[20]

Historically in England, some time before 1400, fires were lit around

St John the Baptist.[2] Folk would awake in the evening, and make three manners of fire: one with only clean bones ("bonys") and no wood called a "bonnefyre", one with clean wood and no bones called a "wakefyre", and the third with both bones and wood, called "Saynt Ionys Fyre". Apparently the original wake fell into "lechery and gluttony", so the church deemed it instead as a fast.[2]

Wicker man effigy on fire at the Archaeolink outdoor museum, Oyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

The annual rock and dance music

The Wicker Man
, a film itself inspired by the Roman accounts of the Celtic Druids ritual burning of a wicker effigy.

A ship is also burnt as part of the mid-winter Up Helly Aa festival.

In Biggar, Lanarkshire, a bonfire is lit on Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) to celebrate the end of the old year and the beginning of the New Year. The bonfire takes almost a month to build using whatever combustible materials can be found. It is lit by a senior citizen of the town who is accompanied to the bonfire site (which is by the Corn Exchange in the centre of the town) by the local pipe band and several torchbearers. The celebrations are attended by hundreds of drinking and dancing revellers. During the war years, when a bonfire wasn't allowed, a candle was lit in a biscuit tin to keep the tradition of "burnin' oot the auld year" alive.

United States

A bonfire burns during a night event in the US

In

casks. They were lit at nightfall, to usher in the celebration. The highest were in Salem, Massachusetts, composed of as many as forty tiers of barrels. The practice flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, and can still be found in some New England towns.[22]

On Christmas Eve in Southern

Cajun canoe) pulled by eight alligators. This tradition is an annual event in St. James Parish, Louisiana.[23]

(See Aggie Bonfire) One of the oldest traditions at

Student Bonfire
began building an annual bonfire in the spirit of the original.

Farm and garden bonfires

Bonfires are used on farms, in large gardens and

herbicides. Such bonfires may be quite small but are often designed to burn slowly for several days so that wet and green material may be reduced to ash by frequently turning the unburnt material into the centre. Such bonfires can also deal with turf and other earthy material. The ash from garden bonfires is a useful source of potash and may be beneficial in improving the soil structure of some soils although such fires must be managed with safety in mind.[24] Garden and farm bonfires are frequently smoky and can cause local nuisance if poorly managed or lit in unsuitable weather conditions.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ Largest bonfire, Guinness World Records. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Mirk, John; Erbe, Theodor (1905). Mirk's Festial: a collection of homilies. p. 182. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  3. ^ "The Secret History of 'Bonfire'". Words at Play. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  4. ^ Liberman, Anatoly (25 March 2015). "While dancing around a bonfire, beware of analogy". The Oxford Etymologist. Oxford University Press.
  5. ^ "Etymology Corner – 'bonfire'". Language Lovers. Collins Dictionary. 28 October 2016.
  6. ^ Organizers of "Feuer in den Alpen", see: "Hintergründe"
  7. ^ "Bush Fire Danger Period and Fire Permits". NSW Rural Fire Service. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  8. ^ Canberra. "Bonfires in the ACT". www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  9. ^ Origins of Holi BBC.
  10. ^ Allison Bray (2 November 2010). "Council faces €1m clean-up bill after Halloween horror". Independent.ie.
  11. ^ "Crackdown after €66k Cork bonfire clean-up". City Local – Cork. 24 May 2013. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013.
  12. ^ Dunford, George (15 June 2011). "Finland's Midsummer Madness". LonelyPlanet.com. BBC Worldwide. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  13. ^ "sobótka ognisko palone w wigilie św. Jana, przy którym odbywały się obrzędy i zabawy związane z odejściem wiosny i nadejściem lata, kontynuacja pogańskiego zwyczaju ludowego. " in: Marian Kucała. Słownik polszczyzny Jana Kochanowskiego. 1994 s. 560
  14. ^ "In the south of Poland, from the Silesian frontier as far as the bend of the San river including the districts of mountains and foothills, Whitsun and Saint John's fires were customary. In the low country both kinds of annual fires were called sobótki; in the mountains term like ognie, fakty, składanie watry, and palenie watry were usedes sobótki." in: Zeitschrift für Ostforschung, t. 22, Johann Gottfried Herder-Forschungsrat. wyd. 1, 1973, str. 115
  15. Samuel Bogumił Linde
    . Słownik języka polskiego R-T;
  16. ^ "Easter Bonfire Vuzmenka/vazmenka/vuzmenjak". hrčak. 23 June 2006.
  17. ^ "Guy Fawkes Night". Bonfirenight.net. 13 April 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  18. UTV News
  19. ^ [1] "Quotes Library – Most Beautiful love & inspirational". Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  20. ^ "Internment Bonfires". 9 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  21. ^ Gallery Archived 29 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Thewickermanfestival.co.uk
  22. ^ "The Night Before the Fourth". The Atlantic. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  23. ^ Stjamesparish.com Archived 20 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ "Bonfire safety". Safegardening.co.uk. 29 October 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  25. ^ "What's wrong with Bonfires?". Environmental-protection.org.uk. Retrieved 13 September 2010.

External links