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A brief view of the customs in question
will bring out the traces of human sacrifice, and will serve at the
same time to throw light on their meaning.
The seasons of the year when these bonfires are most commonly lit
are spring and midsummer; but in some places they are kindled also
at the end of autumn or during the course of the winter,
particularly on Hallow E'en (the thirty-first of October), Christmas
Day, and the Eve of Twelfth Day. Space forbids me to describe all
these festivals at length; a few specimens must serve to illustrate
their general character. We shall begin with the fire-festivals of
spring, which usually fall on the first Sunday of Lent
(_Quadragesima_ or _Invocavit_), Easter Eve, and May Day.

2. The Lenten Fires
THE CUSTOM of kindling bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent has
prevailed in Belgium, the north of France, and many parts of
Germany. Thus in the Belgian Ardennes for a week or a fortnight
before the "day of the great fire," as it is called, children go
about from farm to farm collecting fuel.


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