Three bonfires registered in the US for the Night of Ancient Bonfires
Three bonfires have been registered in the United States for this year’s Night of Ancient Bonfires. Reports have also been received of bonfires in Latvia, Sweden and Finland, as well as on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Finland.
More than 100 markers on the map
Night of Ancient Bonfires organizer Mairold Vaik told Vikerraadio that the shared map currently shows around 50 public and another 45–50 private bonfires — slightly more than a hundred in total. In his assessment, the actual number of bonfires may be about ten times higher, as the map is no longer as popular as the event itself.
Vaik began collecting reports of bonfires from acquaintances in 2009. At first, a simple Google Maps map was used for this purpose, and later a separate website was created. Speaking about the three bonfires in the United States, he noted that local Estonians will also gather to spend the evening together.
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A tradition since the early 1990s
As ERR News reports, the tradition emerged in the early 1990s. Two friends — one on the Tahkuna Peninsula on Estonia’s Hiiumaa island, the other near Turku in Finland — agreed to light bonfires simultaneously and send each other good thoughts across the sea.
According to Vaik, there is no mandatory way to celebrate the Night of Ancient Bonfires. He believes it is best to light a bonfire in one’s own place and in a small circle of loved ones. Bonfires are traditionally lit at sunset on the last Saturday of August. Vaik also noted that over the past 18 years, rain has fallen in some parts of Estonia on the evening of the event only twice.
