Hello Friends,
This blog is my response to the task assigned to us by our Prof.Dr.DilipSir on Bonfire and how it is celebrated worldwide in different ways. So let's read and enjoy, Happy Learning!
Happy Holi to everyone on the festival of colours...colours indeed have the magic to paint our lives and make them super amazing....
Let's have a look at the poem on colours-
"It's a splash of colours with red, white and blue.
Many times life is tough and we hardly have a clue.
A dash of red with mostly grey, Wonder why we're fated to become destiny's prey.
Memories play games with minds leaving us brazen,
The wrong choice of colours can often put us off the meezan.
The colours of the rainbow seem perfect enough....
But isn't perfection a utopia dismissed over a laugh?
Still we seek to adorn ourselves with colour,
Fuchsia, purple or pink with a deathly pallor?
Is there a colour that can rightly validate valour?
The chase for the impossible will never end....
Though colours do try to bend,
The drabness, that an everyday rut portends."
Bonfire Night is a name given to various annual celebrations characterised by bonfires and fireworks. The event celebrates different traditions on different dates, depending on the country. Some of the most popular instances include Guy Fawkes Night (5 November) in Great Britain, which is also celebrated in some Commonwealth countries; Northern Ireland's Eleventh Night (11 July), and 5 November in Newfoundland and Labrador. In various parts of Ireland, Bonfire Nights are held on St John's Eve (23 June), Bealtaine eve (30 April) and Halloween (31 October). In Scandinavia it is known as Walpurgis Night (30 April) and in Denmark also sankthansaften (23 June). St John's Eve is also a very important celebration in Spain and Northern Portugal. Several other cultures also include night-time celebrations involving bonfires and/or fireworks.
Bonfire Night is also celebrated in Northern Ireland on 15 August in Catholic communities to mark the Feast of the Assumption.
☆ Social Impact
Bonfire celebrations can pose a risk to public safety due to the possibility of fires, injuries, or fights. For example, in London, calls to firefighting services are nearly tripled on Bonfire Night. In Belfast, the July 2003 Eleventh Night resulted in £10,000 worth of damage to a park. The use of fireworks may lead to dangerous pyrotechnic incidents. In parts of the Caribbean, laws banning fireworks and explosives have muted the occasion, and safety concerns in New Zealand have resulted in restrictions on fireworks use, although public firework displays remain popular there.
The tradition of Bonfire Night has been criticised for its environmental impact. A 1994 study conducted in Oxford, England, found a four-fold increase in dioxin and furan concentration in the air after a Bonfire Night celebration. In 2005 a Bonfire Night in Newfoundland prompted the provincial Minister of Environment and Conservation to remind the general public of their responsibilities for safety and the environment.
A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration.
In many regions of continental Europe, bonfires are made traditionally on 16 January, the solemnity of John the Baptist, as well as on Saturday night before Easter. Bonfires are also a feature of Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, and the celebrations on the eve of St. John's Day in Spain. In Finland and Norway bonfires are tradition on Midsummer Eve and to a lesser degree in Easter. In Sweden bonfires are lit on Walpurgis Night celebrations on the last day of April.
☆ Alpine and Central Europe
Bonfire traditions of early spring, lit on the Sunday following Ash Wednesday (Funkensonntag), are widespread throughout the Alemannic German speaking regions of Europe and in parts of France. The burning of "winter in effigy" at the Sechseläuten in Zürich (introduced in 1902) is inspired by this Alemannic tradition. In Austria "Osterfeuer", Easter fires, are widespread, but also regulated in some cities, districts and countries to hold down the resulting annual peak of PM10-dust immission. 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.
In the Czech Republic, the festival called "Burning the Witches" (also Philp & 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 on the 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 in order to ensure youth and fertility. The ash from these fires supposedly had a special power to raise crops, and people also walked the cattle through the ashes to ensure fertility.
☆ Ireland
Throughout Ireland, bonfires are lit on the night of 31 October to celebrate Halloween or Samhain. Bonfires are also held on 30 April, particularly in Limerick to celebrate the festival of 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'.
In Northern Ireland, bonfires are lit on Halloween, 31 October. and each 11 July, bonfires are lit by many Protestant communities to celebrate the victory of Williamite forces at the Battle of the Boyne, which took place on 12 July 1690. This is often called the "Eleventh night". Bonfires have also been lit by Catholic communities on 9 August since 1972 to protest and commemorate Internment.
☆ India
In India, particularly in Punjab, people gather around a bonfire and eat peanuts and sweets during the festival of Lohri to celebrate the winter solstice which occurred during the Indian month of Magh. People have bonfires on communal land. If there has been a recent wedding or a new born in the family, people will have a bonfire outside their house to celebrate this event. The festival falls in the second week of January every year. In Assam in the northeastern part of India, a harvest festival called Bhogali Bihu is celebrated to mark the end of the harvest season in mid-January. In southern parts of India, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai, the Bhogi festival is celebrated on the last day of 'Maarkali', which is also the first day of the farmer festival Pongal. People collect unwanted items from their houses and set them on fire in a bonfire to celebrate. During the ten days of Vijayadashami, effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghanad are erected and burnt by enthusiastic youths at sunset. Traditionally a bonfire on the day of Holi marks the symbolic annihilation of Holika the demoness as described above.
☆ Farm and garden bonfires
Bonfires are used on farms, in large gardens and allotments to dispose of waste plant material that is not readily composted. This includes woody material, pernicious weeds, diseased material and material treated with persistent pesticides 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. Garden and farm bonfires are frequently smoky and can cause local nuisance if poorly managed or lit in unsuitable weather conditions.
☆ Diwali - India
The best-known Hindu festival is known as the “festival of lights.” Diwali (or Deepavali) means “rows of lighted lamps” and, during this time, houses, shops and public places are decorated with diyas (small earthenware oil lamps), elaborate feasts are prepared and spectacular fireworks displays light up the skies.
The five-day festival (November 13-17 this year) celebrates the triumph of good over evil and is celebrated throughout India and around the world (in Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius, Myanmar and London among many others).
☆ Sadeh - Iran
Sadeh (or Jashn-e Sadeh) is an ancient Zoroastrian festival. While it refers to 100 days and nights before the New Year (Nowruz, which falls on the Vernal Equinox, March 20 or 21), it is celebrated 50 days earlier - around the end of January. It honours the discovery of fire that defeated the forces of darkness and cold.
Traditionally, festivities went on for three days and gifts of food were given to the poor. Today, Zoroastrians light bonfires, perform religious rituals around them and thank God for his blessings. It’s usually celebrated in the Kushk-e Varjavand gardens in Karaj (in Tehran province) where members of the Zoroastrian community congregate for the festivities.
☆ Jeongwol Daeboreum Deulbul Festival - Jeju, S. Korea
In early February, the Jeongwol Daeboreum Deulbul Festival takes place on the island of Jeju off the coast of South Korea. It’s a fairly new festival, younger than 20 years old, but its origins go back to the time when families kept cows.
To keep the grass grazeable, farmers set fire to the fields in the mountains to destroy old grass and kill harmful insects. Today, a hilltop is set alight to pray for health and a good harvest in the coming year. There’s a torchlight march, straw-rope making competition and deumdol (rock) lifting.
☆ Story behind Holi
Holi also celebrates the Hindu god Krishna and the legend of Holika and Prahlad. Hiranyakashipu was an evil king. He had special powers that made him nearly invincible and he wanted everyone in his kingdom to worship him. ... Prahlad was safe and Vishnu then defeated the evil king.
1,810 Words.
Works Cited
• Poetic witch. instagram.com/poetic_witch?igshid=pe5zxk2ahgva.
• Staff, Reuters. "Top 10 Fire Festivals Around the World." U.S, 2 Nov. 2012, www.reuters.com/article/uk-travel-picks-firefestivals/top-10-fire-festivals-around-the-world-idUKLNE8A101N20121102.