Fire!

Don't make me mad!

This is the midsummer bonfire celebration at Laksevåg, in Bergen. They burn a 60 foot tall, 500 barrel tower of used herring barrels. Building it is a feat in itself. Lighting it is a real production. And then keeping it from falling outward onto the spectators... well, you can imagine! They've been practicing for 106 years at this barrel burning.

Midsummer bonfire paintings by Nikolai Astrup show the dancing and joy of the longest day celebration.

Midsummer bonfires story in Norway Post explains why this is done on June 23rd - NOT midsummer. The bonfires are on St. Hans Aften, or the eve of John the Baptist day. Those clever Catholics spread their religion by incorporating heathen rituals into their religious days.

"In Norway, the evening is celebrated with partying, good food, music and dancing, and the burning of huge bonfires. The burning of bonfires has of course survived from heathen times, when it was believed that the fire had special cleansing powers, and was also used to drive away evil powers, witches included."

Ed was really hoping for a witch burning, but they didn't have that. What they did have was a clown, a band that won a contest earlier this year, a young and talented singer, a midway, cotton candy, hot dogs, ice cream, etc. Tons of people avoided paying by sailing up close on the fjord, or covering the lawn of Damsgård Manor, right up the hill. But tons of people supported the community and paid to get in.

Fire is a deep part of Bergen's psyche. The town has been destroyed by fire many times. It is so powerful a force that the soccer team is named Brann, or Fire. (They won last night, incidentally.) On Jan. 15, 1916, a sleety, stormy day, a fire started in a warehouse near where our apartment stands. The workers tried to throw the burning material out into the fjord, but the wind whipped it asay and soon the whole warehouse district was on fire. Before you knew it, the firestorm engulfed the whole middle of town. 27,000 people were left homeless. Only 2 died - one who was injured fighting the fire and died the next day, and one who went back after being evacuated, we'll never know why.

Last night, we went to the top of Floyen for a one-woman play, "Three Kinds of Fire". It was about the 1916 fire from the perspective of an eight-year old girl who watched the town burn and her family collapse on the same night. The three kinds of fire are the kind in the stove that warms our food, the kind that burns down houses, and the kind caused by words that burn our hearts. The actress/playwrite is Ingvill Skjold Thorkildsen. She did a great job, especially considering she performed outside with only a chair, a teddy bear, and a backdrop screen that had 3 rolls - one of the city before, one black, and one of the devastation.