To Light the Bonfire

Although Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day, have passed, there’s still reason to celebrate today since November 5th is known as Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Day.

These are actually two different things that occurred around the same time of year, but centuries apart. The most recent celebration is Guy Fawkes Day. Guy Fawkes was a Catholic who, in 1605, helped lead an assassination plot against King James I in England in order to restore the Catholic monarchy. The plot was discovered and Guy Fawkes, along with his associates, were executed. When Parliament met again in 1606, they passed the Observance of 5th November Act 1605 which codified annual services and church sermons commemorating the plot so no one would ever forget. Since there was already a much, much earlier pagan tradition of lighting fires on the night of November 5, this law made it an even bigger celebration.

Over the years, people also rang church bells and set off fireworks and burned effigies of Guy Fawkes made out of hay and old clothing. Before the American Revolution, celebrating Guy Fawkes day in Boston became a symbol of rebellion and it was outlawed for a while. Now, in England, November 5 is called Bonfire Night, Fireworks Night, or Guy Fawkes Night. Interesting side note, the word “guy”, in the 19th century, came to mean a strangely dressed person. Then, in the 20th century, the word “guy” came to mean any male person.

There is even an old nursery rhyme about this event:

Remember, remember,
The Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
For I see no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

But, centuries before Guy Fawkes’ Gunpowder Plot was foiled in 1605, people in northern England, Wales, and the Scottish Highlands used to light massive bonfires and eat Soul Cakes between Nov. 1 (All Saints Day) and Nov. 5 (Bonfire Night). In Northern Wales, these autumnal fires were called Cool Coeth. People, young and old, would leap through the flames, throw hazelnuts into the fire to divine the future, and bite apples suspended from a string to determine who would be the next to marry.

Why did they do such things? Especially since these people had just celebrated Samhain/All Hallows Eve, and then spent the next two days honoring the dead. Since I wasn’t sure myself, I started at the beginning. First, with the help of Merriam-Webster, I researched the origins of the word “bonfire”. According to Merriam-Webster, the word is derived from the Middle English bonefire which literally means “a fire of bones”. Now things were getting interesting. An even earlier appearance is from the Latin “ignis osmium” which also means “fire of bones”. Here’s a citation from the 15th century that proves I’m not making this up. The words in parentheses are my translations.

But in worshipp of seinte iohan (Saint John the Baptist) the people woke at home & made iij maner of fyres. On was clene bones & no wode & that is callid a bone fyre. A nothir is clene wode & no bones & that is callid a wode fyre fore people to sitte & to wake there by.
—John Mirk, Liber Festivalis, 1486

Still, why burn bones? The simplest answer is that in the fall, after the animals had been slaughtered and the meat stored away for the winter, the druids burned the animal bones as part of a gratitude sacrifice. They believed that by burning the bones and spreading the ashes in the field, they would have an even better crop the next year. Considering bone ash can be a great fertilizer for certain vegetables, they were actually on to something.

There’s also a more mythical answer. In the Fenican Cycle of Irish Poetry, there’s a story about the mythical Irish Chieftan Fionn Mac Cumhaill and his battle against Aillén Mac Midgna, a fire-breathing goblin from the underworld. For 23 years Aillén Mac Midgna terrorized the Hill of Tara, Ireland’s most sacred location and the seat of Ireland’s High King. Every year on Samhain, Aillén would come up from the underworld and play his Irish harp which would put everyone to sleep. Then he’d set fire to the great halls of every lord and the King, leaving nothing behind except ash. Then Aillén would return to his fairy mount as sídh Finnachaid. Those who survived would then have to rebuild the great halls.

Not sure what to do, the King put out a fall for help and Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the mythical Irish warrior and chieftain, answered. Fionn had just become a Fian warrior (the training of which had a 90% death rate) and taken over as chieftain of Clan Baiscne. When he learned about the terrorizing goblin, Fionn went to the High King to make a deal. If Fionn could get rid of the goblin, he wanted to take over as leader of the Fianna, a band of brutal Fion warriors. Since no one else offered to help, the king agreed. Except Fionn had a problem. How was he to get by the spells cast by the goblin’s harp? Fionn took a famous poisoned spear from another warrior. And, since Fionn had eaten the Salmon of Knowledge, he figured out how to trick the goblin.

On Samhain’s Eve, Fionn held the spear to his head and inhaled its magical fumes. These poisonous fumes made him immune to the spell cast by Aillén’s harp. Fionn hid and waited until Aillén appeared and then stabbed him with the poisoned spear. The goblin died and everyone celebrated by burning his body. The king made Fionn leader of the Fianna warrior and every year since, a few days after Samhain, the Irish burn bonfires deep within the mountains to commemorate Fionn’s defeat of Aillén Mac Midgna.

To lighten things up (pun intended) on this story, there’s another related tradition that goes with this druid night of burning bones and defeating evil. Centuries ago, in poor Catholic Lancashire, people baked soul cakes called Parkin. A delicious combination of oatmeal and treacle. In parts of Yorkshire, Halloween was also known as Cake Night and people would go “a-soul-ing” to beg for these treats in return for protection prayers against the dead who roamed the earth. In the remotest parts of the Scottish Highlands and Western Ireland, people believed that if you left soul cakes for the departed souls wandering around between All Hallows Eve and All Souls Day. (Nov. 2), that the ghosts could speak and eat. Now, as centuries have passed, if you visit Yorkshire on Bonfire Night you will be offered a piece of Parkin. You can either eat it or use it to barter for your life with a wandering soul looking for a way back to the living.

I hope you all enjoy Bonfire Night and, since I love celebrations that have food in them, I’ve posted a recipe for Parkin Cakes below. Enjoy!

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