Bonfire Night

When I grew up in Cork, I can think of several memorable events that marked the year and their associated customs.

• Saint Patrick’s Day – March
• Easter – March/April
• Bonfire Night – June
• Halloween (Snap Apple Night) – October
• Christmas – December

Perhaps the most interesting is bonfire night or “bonna night” as we used to call it in Cork. All the kids in the area would collect junk and light a bonfire in a local green area. It was often controversial because people would call out the fire brigade. I never wondered what its purpose was. It was just something that we all did. I can’t remember being involved in gathering material or lighting the fire, but there was a strong sense of occasion. You’d always go and watch the local fires.

I don’t know if it still goes on. That was back in the 1960s and 1970s for me. I just asked my friend Microsoft Co-Pilate about it. It seems that it began as a pre‑Christian midsummer festival marking the summer solstice (around 21 June). Fires were lit to greet the sun at its strongest and to promote fertility, protection, and good fortune for crops and animals. When Christianity spread, the midsummer fire festival was absorbed into the Feast of St. John the Baptist. But I don’t remember any religious connection. For me, it seemed like a local urban thing that could easily have just started 20 years earlier. But I don’t know. Perhaps it was a rural custom that some brought with them when the migrated to the cities. But in my time, it was just kids and teenagers. I never recall any adults at local fires. And no-one ever bothered wondering what it was all about.

If you’re keen to know more about it, here’s an RTE article:
Why bonfires blaze across Ireland on June 23rd

Saint Patrick’s Day was more fun because we used to get Saint Patrick’s Day badges and go in town to watch the parade. But I didn’t see that as a purely local custom. When I look back now, it doesn’t seem very impressive, but it was a huge occasion for me as a child.

But now, I’m more interested in Patrick himself. I can understand why there might be some legendary elements to his story, but I think that there’s a good bit of truth too. It’s astonishing that he returned to the land that enslaved him to bring the gospel to them. And it’s fascinating that he became so well known around the world. We’re so proud of him, but he wasn’t Irish. He was from somewhere in what is now the UK 😀.

But much of our modern, and perhaps older, culture comes from elsewhere. I grew up listening to UK and American music and watching UK and American movies and TV. And of course, we’ve exported aspects of our culture to these countries too, and to many other nations. And nowadays, we have people from all over the world in Ireland, so that’ll change things. But I probably feel a little bit more Irish now than I did when I was young, and I get nostalgic about all the Irish folk and country and western artists that I despised back in the 1970s 😀.

Anyway, here are some hymns related to the writings of Patrick: