Moate bonfire

Again my suspicion that the Irish tradition of bonfire burning was dying out (hehe – get it? “dying out” . . . nevermind) has taken another blow.

Witness, if you will, the gleeful children to the left clambering over that heap of inflammables. I spotted a report in a local paper about Halloween bonfires and was struck dumb by how far off my perceptions of their decline were. This Halloween bonfire in Woodland Grove last Tuesday was the result of two weeks of building and collecting of materials by the local community.

I have to comment that it looks a bit like an environmentalists nightmare, what with . . . is that a tire? . . . and other questionable objects in among the bits of wooden pallettes, but I did get a wistful feeling when I saw it, as I’ve yet to be ringside at a proper Irish bonfire.

Ah well, maybe next year . . .