Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Lag B'Omer Is Bonfire Night - All Night

Tonight is Lag B'Omer. It's a day of celebration in the middle of seven weeks of restricted fun from Passover until Pentecost. There are various stories, myths and customs connected to this whole period - I suggest you google The Omer and Lag B'omer if you're interested. I'm merely going to offer you a glimpse of what tonight means in Israel today: bonfire night!

About two weeks before the kids start collecting wood. They collect from the recently pruned trees left by the side of the roads for the rubbish trucks, they raid building sites and the back of supermarkets for delivery palettes, they scour the neighbourhood behind buildings and anywhere they might find discarded wooden doors or furniture. And they "borrow" the supermarket trolleys to aid the collection.

DD and I set out to the wasteground at the bottom of our street at about 6.30pm. On the way we met teams of supermarket managers going round with big vans to collect up their trolleys. "It costs them 5 shekels," one of them told me, "but it costs us a fortune." I asked him why he didn't wait until the morning as the older kids don't even start until about 9 or 10pm. "We're out all night," he told me. "We need to grab them before some of the stupid ones try to burn them on the fire."




At 6.30 it's still light and the younger children are out with their class or families for an earlier bonfire.



However, the older ones who start much later and stay out all night, have sent scouts ahead to secure their spot. They also guard the wood as it comes in. Parents drive up with boot-loads, more trolleys... the amount of wood collected is phenominal. And it just kept on coming.

Some of the bonfire structures were works of art.


And some of the bigger ones can be quite scary when alight.


But Israelis are good about putting them out afterwards. By the time it was getting dark some of the younger parties were already done.


DD and I found some friends who kindly invited us to join them. In fact there's a lot of comraderie. As 'our' fire was lit quite early we had a lot of requests to take a starter flame from us.


Obviously there was a lot of food about (we are Jewish after all). Our lot put marshmallows on skewers and melted them over the fire. After dessert they burnt the sausages and gleefully gobbled them down in bread rolls with ketchup.


Some parties were more elaborate.










DD stuck to marshmallows which she enjoyed cooking but declined to eat after they were all black.


Then the big boys started to arrive and they came with their music and more wood.

After that things just got crazy.





And at about 8.15 there was a tug at my shirt and a tired little voice said, "I want to go home now." So we did.


14 comments:

  1. There is an art to roasting marshmallows. You hold them above the fire until they start to get a little bit brown. Don't let them catch on fire and turn black because then they're yucky.

    How late did you stay out? My kids were in bed by 7:30. (Ami's gan bonfire was from 4-6.)

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    1. Till 8.15. Staright home and we both stripped off for showers and hairwash. DD fell asleep at 9pm as her head hit the pillow.

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    2. Re marshmellows: I guess you have to be American.

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  2. We stayed out till 10.15 when Talia started to complain and I brought her home - put her on my bed and she was asleep while I brushed my teeth. Our fire was in the forest with our shul - quite a controlled affair set back from the more important part of food preparation and eating - in fact I didn't even go near it. On the way home we followed a fire engine - who stopped off at at a nearby piece of wasteland where a fire seemed to be out of control.... I have seen fire engines several times a day for the last few days as they have been patrolling the local forest...

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    1. I have to admit that the larger fires, though excitong to watch, did look a bit like disasters waiting to happen.

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  3. Really reminds me of Sankt Hans in Denmark when fires are lit all over the country in the middle of June... Off to google Omer now. My Five year old has a best friend of that very same name! :)

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    1. I guess every culture has it's bonfire night. Out 8yo neighbour upstairs is called Omer - I think it's a lovely name.

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  4. Sounds like a great day! seems to be well organised and safe too.

    xx Jazzy

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    1. Each fire is organised by a school class or group of friends. In the early evening it's safe enough because there are always adults supervising the younger children's bonfires. Later when the teenagers are on their own it can get a bit out of hand. Especially when they start putting pinted doors or formica tables onto the fire. It's a disaster witing to happen buit somehow it rarely does.

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  5. *painted doors *waiting to happen *but it rarely does

    Note to self: don't be so quick to press 'publish'. Proofread first!

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  6. That looks fantastic - a great story told in words and fantastic pictures. Your little girl is so gorgeous!

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    1. Thank you for the compliments. It is a load of fun. The kids wait all year for it.

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  7. "And at about 8.15 there was a tug at my shirt and a tired little voice said, "I want to go home now." "

    Awwww! Bless!

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