Tag Archives: bonfire

Scary Story

Age: 22

Text:
“I went to sleepaway camp in Maine for seven summers, and I started when I was nine in 2013, and I went until 2019 when I was fifteen. The first three or four summers, obviously, I was pretty young. We would tell these scary stories after our Friday night campfires. Basically the whole camp would go and we’d do camp songs and cheers or whatnot. Then after we’d go and make s’mores by the bunk and sit outside by the lake and tell scary stories. One of the stories that stuck with me literally to this day was ‘Click, Click, Drag.’ It was one of the first horror stories that I was told by one of my counselors, who was an ex-camper. Basically, theres a girl and a guy walking outside, maybe it’s two girls or two campers, and they start hearing this sound: click, click, drag, click, click, drag. It follows them all the way home and picks up the longer they walk, eventually grabbing the girl by the foot and dragging her away. The boy sprints home, and shortly after, he hears knocking on the door. The voice of the monster talks as if it’s the girl, screaming, ‘Help! Help! Open the door! Open the door!’ The boy opens the door and is dragged out. He was never seen again.”

Context:
A girl from Palm Beach, FL who went to sleep-away summer camp in Maine every summer while growing up. She recalls a scary story that she learned from her counselor, who also went to the same camp when she was a kid.

Analysis:
This is a demonstration of folklore being passed through generations through storytelling. She learned this story from a former camper, suggesting that her counselor also learned the story in a similar setting. She also noted that she doesn’t remember the story completely and that some details were likely lost in her memory, which is what often leads to multiplicity and variation between the same stories. It is also interesting that scary stories are quintessential parts of summer camp and sitting around bondfires.

Beach Bonfires/Senior Sunrise and Sunset

Age: 21

1. Senior Sunrise and Sunset (ft. a bonfire) to mark the beginning and end of the final year of high school. 

2. Growing up in Huntington Beach, this participant went through a special tradition in high school, called the senior sunrise and senior sunset. When the participant first “officially” became a senior (that is, the weekend right before school started for the year, he explained), he and his graduating class drove down to the beach and lit a giant bonfire and waited for the sun to rise so they could all watch it together. Then, at the very end of the year, right before graduation, the class all drove down to the same spot, lit a bonfire, and watched the sunset together. At the very end of the year, during the sunset trip, some kids brought all of the school work they had done throughout the year and burned it in the large fire pit they had going. The participant explained that he thought this ritual – done every year by the graduating seniors at his high school – was supposed to be symbolic of how special the year was supposed to be for them, and how at the end of it, it was almost as if the sunset was not only concluding the day, but their year as seniors and time together. 

3. Interviewer’s Interpretation: Upon hearing this ritual from the participant, I believe that I agree with his interpretation. The sun – often used as a representation of the life cycle of something – is used here as a symbol for their time at high school, and the experience of the bonfire retreat was obviously meant to unite them all in this feeling of great achievement – unifying them in their shared accomplishment of making it to the end of high school. The bonfire itself I think is also symbolic, especially at the sunset event where kids would burn their old homework. If we are to consider fire in its traditional symbolic sense as a way of cleansing, I would argue that the graduating seniors were, in a sense, cleansing themselves not only from their past work but also from their former selves. Leaving high school, they enter a transitional period in which they’re meant to go on and become adults; as such I think it could be seen that the bonfire is also meant to represent their cleansing or rebirth of themselves – no longer children.

Rival Bonfire

festival:

“A festival that I loved at [boarding school] was our bonfire night. It was so weird though because our grade had the absolute worst luck. For 3 out of the 4 years of high school, we weren’t able to do it. The first two years it was raining on the day the bonfire was scheduled, then we finally got to do it junior year, but then senior year COVID cancelled it. But the one year we were able to do it was really fun!

Essentially, the bonfire happens after the pep rally the night before our [rival school]’s Day, which is basically our biggest sports event of the year where we spend the entire day just doing fall sports against our rival school. Their mascot is literally a door. Which is so goofy, like they are just asking to be made fun of. Anyways, during the pep rally, our mascot breaks down the door painted in their colors, and then afterwards we all go outside and light fire to the wood from the door. Its really fun, there was music, hot chocolate, we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. And curfew was extended which is always a plus.”

Context:

AH is a current college student, and attended a new england preparatory boarding school for high school. 

“Well, I first heard about it from all of the older students freshman year leading up to what was supposed to be our first bonfire night. They all just said it was so much fun.

To me, it’s really just about school spirit and community. That entire week there are events going on that are super fun, which just encourage us to really like the school (which is sometimes hard when you’re constantly on the grind) and just get us in the mind set for the sports day.”

Analysis:

This is a celebration of community. It is a cyclical folk festival as it happens once a year in the Fall athletic season. It is really interesting to see miscellaneous events such as these at schools because they don’t have much to do with education, and instead are solely focused on interpersonal life and relationships. This event is also essentially a celebration of the athletes in the community, and their accomplishments. It is a notable pattern that many communities, regardless of original or main intent, always resort to celebration of athleticism. At jobs there are often recreational sports leagues and even countries play sports against each other. All typically culminating, with celebration. This is a phenomenon of folk all around the world, and it is interesting to see it on even such a small scale as an academic institution with a supposed focus on education.

German Easter Fire Tradition

Nationality: German/USA
Age: 56
Occupation: Accountant
Residence: Seattle
Performance Date: 4/10/22
Primary Language: German
Language: English

Context:

AH grew up in Westergellersen, a small village in northern Germany and attended these Easter fires throughout her childhood.

Main Piece:

“Leute in vor allem ländlichen Gegenden sammeln Holzmaterial und Buschwerk und türmen es möglichst hoch auf. Es soll weithin sichtbar sein. Es entsteht ein Wettstreit um das höchste Feuer. Am Karsamstag wird es angezündet. Das Dorf versammelt sich dann um das Feuer, es gibt Bier, Glühwein und Würstchen.”

Translation:

People from all the surrounding rural areas gather wooden material and shrubbery and pile it as high as possible. It should be able to be seen from far and wide. There is a contest for the highest fire. On Karsamstag (Holy Saturday, the day before Easter) it is lit. The village gathers around the fire, there’s beer, mulled wine, and sausages.

Analysis:

This part of the Easter festival celebration in northern Germany seems very useful for promoting unity and connection within a town. Because the villages compete for the tallest fire, the one that can be seen from the farthest distance away, this creates an in-group out-group boundary. Also, since gathering the materials for the highest bonfire takes time and work, the townspeople must work together, as they wouldn’t be able to achieve this highest fire on their own. Then, on the evening before Easter, when the fire is lit, this festival ritual turns into a communal gathering place for the village people. Beer, mulled wine, and sausages are all extremely common foods in northern Germany, and are generally associated with any festivals and gatherings, or seen as something like ‘fair food.’

The Aggie Bonfire

Nationality: Iranian-American
Age: 62
Occupation: Pediatric Anesthesiologist
Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Performance Date: April 21st, 2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi

Main description:

RA: “The biggest tradition I remember from going to A&M is the Aggie bonfire. I’m pretty sure I went every year. That was… such an event. A&M was always known for being a very spirited school, but the bonfire was the biggest sort of school spirit celebration we had, and it’s the only one I can really remember going to. We had the bonfire the night before a football game usually, not one our of rivals but one we knew that we would win against. It’s a really old tradition, by now they’ve probably done it for at least a hundred years. I think the bonfire started out small, and I don’t think anyone knows why, other than as a way to support the football team. But by the time I was at A&M it had grown a lot, and there were even multiple bonfires. There was one main one that students would plan, but there were also lots of smaller ones that people would have with their friends. There was also usually an alumni fire. At the bonfires we cheer and drink and burn effigies of the other team’s mascot. There also, um, more exciting things that happen, that I can’t talk with my son about. (I had my first hook-up there). But the fires got even bigger after I left, and I think it became an official school tradition. There was a board that organized it and you had apply to be an organizer on it. When I was there anyone could volunteer. Makes sense, because at that point the fires were so big you needed to think about architecture and physics of the whole thing to make sure it lights up and stays standing. Eventually in the ‘90s there was a tragedy and the bonfire collapsed. I don’t remember how many people died, but the school had to ban the bonfires for a long time. People would try to throw little, secret ones sometimes, but there weren’t any big bonfires for a long time. At some point an Alumnus group got together and started throwing the bonfires again, but they’re kept a lot smaller and I think they have actual engineers help to design the bonfires.”

Informant’s interpretation:

AB: “Why were the bonfires so important to you and to the school?”

RA: “I was never a very spirited person, but my friends and I always went to the bonfires. It was fun to be together with everyone yelling and dancing around a fire. Going to the bonfire was apart of being an Aggie.”

Personal interpretation:

School spirit traditions are important at many schools, not just as a way of building excitement and attention for sporting events, usually football, but they also serve as an important community building tool. The informant primarily attended for social reasons, and indeed it appears that the bonfire is an important part of school social life.