Halloween Fire Rituals
In some regions of Scotland and Ireland, Halloween celebrations start by kindling fire on top of hills and on plains by young people, which is known as ‘Halloween Bleeze’, as a part of the holiday ritual. In the past, a circular trench to symbolize sun surrounded these sacred bonfires. Then, youths kindle faggot’ made up of heath, broom and dressings of flax tied to the end of a pole from this bonfire and carry on the shoulders to the village to rekindle old hearths with new ceremonial fire. If the faggot gets burnt out in the way, a second one is ties to the pole, before the fire dies. Thus, several blazing faggots being carried through the villages look quite beautiful.
The natives of Hebrides used to pour ale into sea for a marine God called Shony on Celtic Samhain or Halloween, so that he sends seaweed to the shore, which is a good fertilizer. The sacred bonfires of Samhain are similar to Solar fire festivals of Solstices and Equinoxes, except that it was timed with the lunar calendar and were called ‘Samhanagan’. Each household used to compete each other to have the ‘Biggest one. Later these traditions moved on to Nwe Year Celebrations but still a traditional Scottish Halloween song called ‘Hogmanay’ mentions these rituals. Fire rituals of Halloween also include the Nutcracker ritual, predominant in the north of England.
One of the Halloween rituals related to these fire rituals indicate that when the fire dies down, its ashes are used to form a circle and one stone for each member of the household is kept inside this circle near the circumference. If any stone is displaced or seems broken by next morning, then the person to whom that stone belongs is believed to die within a year. A similar rite in north Wales includes a great bonfire called ‘Coel Coeth’ being built for each family on Halloween. Later, the members of the household throw a white stone in the ashes marked in their name. Next morning, all the stones are searched for and if any stone is missing, then the person who threw that stone, is believed to die before next Halloween.
Tags: fire, Halloween, Rituals