Bonfire night, is it still happening in your area?

judeboy101

As a kid I looked fwd to bonfire night, it meant summer was here. We would go on night raids to silage pits to steal tires and place guards on our stashes to stop rival bonfires stealing. My auld fella told me he isn't doing one this year due to no interest among kids in the home place. Is it a dying tradition?

biko

No, it doesn't really happen around here.

alchemist33

I used to love it too, growing up in Sligo. But I haven't seen it happen anywhere else in the country and I don't think it's happening back home still either.

The_Valeyard

Never around my area


Is it more of a Protestant thing?

judeboy101

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Never around my area


Is it more of a Protestant thing?

No, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John%27s_Eve

murpho999

Never heard of this tradition.

Don't like bonfires anyhow. It's often a skangerfest.

Throwing tyres and mattresses etc on is just releasing poison in the air.

whisky_galore

Happens in Cork.

In the northside it's 'Burn your rubbish you can't be arsed bringing to the recycling centre Night'

It can be traced back to worship of the Celtic god, Lug, god of refuse and filth.

Markcheese

Still a big deal in Cork city... Don't know if it's a county thing though (wasn't where I grew up, just west of the city)

retalivity

Oiche Fheile Eoin still going strong in the donegal gaeltacht as well...

topper75

Limerick and Clare not too gone on this Christian John fella.

More likely to offer up tyres and pallets to Baal PBUH on April 31/May1. Beal tine.

Mrs OBumble

biko wrote: »

No, it doesn't really happen around here.

Have you moved?

It happens in the poorer areas of Galway. Cat and mouse game between the kids and guards in the days leading up to it: kids collecting stuff, guards removing it.

I reckon it could be stopped in an instant if officialdom started calling them St John's night fires and saying that it's a religious thing to do.

seamus

You mean Halloween? That's not for a few months yet.

WesternZulu

Used to happen when I was younger in Mayo and it was always something to look forward to.

As far as I know it still happens, but unfortunately not to the same extent as before.

judeboy101

seamus wrote: »

You mean Halloween? That's not for a few months yet.

No, bonfire night was always june where I grew up. Never heard of bonfires at Halloween til I moved to Dublin.

jmayo

Isn't St Johns on June 23rd.

I don't ever remember having a bonfire at halloween.
Or any of that other muck like trick or treat.

seamus

judeboy101 wrote: »

No, bonfire night was always june where I grew up. Never heard of bonfires at Halloween til I moved to Dublin.

Bonfire night was only ever something the Brits or the Nordies did when I was growing up.

Never heard of another bonfire night in Ireland except for Halloween.

Goes to show.

Mrs OBumble

Bonfire night in England and its former colonies was traditionally on 5 November, in celebration of the unsuccessful nature of Irishman, Mr Guy Fawkes', explosive plans. "Burning the guy" was popular where i grew up. This has tended to merge with Halloween in many places because the two are so close.

Ireland, for obvious reasons, doesn't see this as something to celebtate

harry Bailey esq

seamus wrote: »

You mean Halloween? That's not for a few months yet.

That's the only bonfire night where I grew up,I do know that limerick have one on 30th April but I didn't think it had spread across the country. Or maybe yer man is from the north,they have loads of bonfire nights up there.

rossie1977

Still a big deal in west Roscommon. You might have up to a dozen big bonfires within a few miles on the night of June 23rd

Sofiztikated

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Bonfire night in England and its former colonies was traditionally on 5 November, in celebration of the unsuccessful nature of Irishman, Mr Guy Fawkes', explosive plans. "Burning the guy" was popular where i grew up. This has tended to merge with Halloween in many places because the two are so close.

Ireland, for obvious reasons, doesn't see this as something to celebtate

Guy Fawkes wasn't Irish.

seamus

Sofiztikated wrote: »

Guy Fawkes wasn't Irish.

Indeed, a popular misconception. He was Catholic and did conspire with some Irish-based rebels, but he was no more Irish than Oliver Cromwell.

He was posthumously canonised by many of the Irish Republicans who regarded their fight against the British as a fight of Catholics -v- Protestants as much as Irish -v- English. As a result people here in Ireland (and indeed in the UK) often mistake him as an Irish rebel who was executed by the British.

Sofiztikated

seamus wrote: »

Indeed, a popular misconception. He was Catholic and did conspire with some Irish-based rebels, but he was no more Irish than Oliver Cromwell.

He was posthumously canonised by many of the Irish Republicans who regarded their fight against the British as a fight of Catholics -v- Protestants as much as Irish -v- English. As a result people here in Ireland (and indeed in the UK) often mistake him as an Irish rebel who was executed by the British.

Spent a fair whack of time in Spain as well, like a typical Brit. Time share villa in Marbs, bit of fighting, the usual.
I always associate bonfire night with the 12th July.

If you ignore the twaddle on flags and banners, and the stupid ****ing places they build them, they're impressive enough structures!

Fr Tod Umptious

In Mayo we always had bonfire night on June​ 23rd.

Down here in Kerry they never heard of it.

The Backwards Man

Not as big as it used to be up here, but there still are a fair few bonfires on the 23rd

Madagascan

We love our Bonfires up here in the North.
Where else could you dump all those old cookers etc to get burnt?

Persephone kindness

I shall be setting lots of things on fire. I do most nights. MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa

LordSutch

judeboy101 wrote: »

Bonfire night, is it still happening in your area?

Aren't you about five months too early?

Widdershins

I've never heard of June bonfires, only Halloween bonfires. They are still happening every year. I'm not sure if the community have a public bonfire but people have their own private bonfires with a few friends.

imme

murpho999 wrote: »

Never heard of this tradition.

Don't like bonfires anyhow. It's often a skangerfest.

Throwing tyres and mattresses etc on is just releasing poison in the air.

Never heard of this feast/event OP
Did you just make it all up and create that detailed wikip page😉

Never heard of it

Yes in urban areas bonfires can be an excuse for wasters/ delinquent kids to set fire to their own rubbish

They observe this tradition at times other than Halloween

I'm sure they've never heard of St Johns feast either 😣

Riddle101

The only time we saw bonfires was on Halloween. But I haven't seen any bonfires in years in my area. The residents all kicked up a fuss years ago, and they seemed to have stopped now.

Its on May eve here in Limerick. Was widespread throughout the city when I was younger when community spirit was alive and well. It disappeared over the last 10 or 15 years though but the rougher areas still have them.

Murrisk

rossie1977 wrote: »

Still a big deal in west Roscommon. You might have up to a dozen big bonfires within a few miles on the night of June 23rd

And East Mayo, where I'm from. My Dad has kept our village's yearly one alive. I loved bonfire night as a child. It'd finish up around 3am and on a clear night, you'd see that it never got pitch dark, being midsummer. Definitely not a skanger-fest like some people have said on this thread. That might be more an issue in city areas. Just all the neighbours getting together for a natter and some food and drink.

Markcheese

I really should do one this year... (as in organise a few few friends for a bon fire, barbecue...ect.. Not just burn loads of ****e...

Irish Guitarist

I think it's more of a housing estate tradition. I never saw the appeal of setting fire to a pile of stuff myself. When I was a child it went along with Halloween and not with bonfire night in the UK. I don't know why Irish people would celebrate the death of the man who tried to blow up the houses of parliament.

nice_guy80

I intend to exercise my cultural heritage

bring your flammable rubbish around to my gaff

nice_guy80

bonfire night in Ireland is a RURAL tradition in the west

St John's Eve
23rd June

oh the fun we had collecting stuff to make the biggest bonfires

buried

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I think it's more of a housing estate tradition. I never saw the appeal of setting fire to a pile of stuff myself. When I was a child it went along with Halloween and not with bonfire night in the UK. I don't know why Irish people would celebrate the death of the man who tried to blow up the houses of parliament.

It has nothing to do with that thing. It's an ancient pagan summer solstice ceremony of sun worship, not some background prop event you saw in eastenders street last November

LordSutch

nice_guy80 wrote: »

bonfire night in Ireland is a RURAL tradition in the west

St John's Eve
23rd June

Fascinating, in all my born days (many decades) this is the 1st time I've ever heard about this.
Mind you, I live on the East coast ....

Tokyo

nice_guy80 wrote: »

bonfire night in Ireland is a RURAL tradition in the west

St John's Eve
23rd June

oh the fun we had collecting stuff to make the biggest bonfires

Indeed - I remember as a kid, gathering told tyres, pallets, and pretty much anything else that would burn, for St. Johns night. If you looked across the horizon, you could see the smoke plumes from different parish bonfires.

It still happens where I'm from, but on a much smaller scale...

BlinkingLights

Time to book a hotel anywhere that isn't Cork City.

The smoke usually makes me get all sorts of respitory problems so, I usually avoid Cork City entirely that evening...