Need-fire
In European folklore, a need-fire (Albanian: zjarri i gjallë; German: Notfeuer, Old High German: nodfyr, Scottish Gaelic: tein'-éigin, Russian: Живой огонь) is a fire kindled by friction, which is lit in a ritual and used as protective magic against murrain (infectious diseases affecting cattle), plague and witchcraft. It was a tradition in parts of Europe, practiced by Germanic, Gaelic and Slavic peoples until the 19th century,[1] and by Albanians until the 20th century.[2]
A need-fire would usually be lit when there was an epidemic such as an outbreak of plague or cattle disease. In some regions, a need-fire was lit yearly to prevent such disasters.[1] In the Scottish Highlands they were lit each year at Beltane (1 May),[3] in Poland they were lit on Saint Roch's Day, and in parts of Germany they were also lit yearly.[1]
The need-fire could only be kindled by friction between wood, usually with a large fire drill made from oak.[1] Usually an upright pole would be spun against a level plank until it catches fire. The pole would be spun by pulling a rope wound around it. This would all be held together by a square frame. Both the wooden parts and the rope should be new; if possible, it should be woven of strands taken from a gallows rope.[1]
The need-fire could only be lit after all other fires were doused.[1][3] In one case, the kindling of the need-fire in a village near Quedlinburg, Germany was hindered by a night light burning in the parsonage.[4] In parts of the Scottish Highlands, the rule that all other fires be doused applied only to the land between the two nearest streams.[5]
Only certain people could make the need-fire. In the Scottish Highlands, usually it had to be kindled by nine men, after they had removed all metal.[3] In one account from Caithness, a large need-fire had to be kindled by eighty-one men, divided into nine shifts of nine.[3] In some regions, the rope should always be pulled by two brothers, while in Silesia, the tree used to make the need-fire had to be felled by a pair of twin brothers.[1] In Serbia, the need-fire was sometimes kindled by a boy and girl, between eleven and fourteen years of age, who worked naked in a dark room.[1] In Bulgaria, two naked men would kindle the fire by rubbing dry branches together in the forest, and with the flame they light two fires, one on each side of a crossroad haunted by wolves.[6]
When the need-fire was kindled, a bonfire was lit from it. The flames, smoke and ashes were believed to protect and purify.[1][3] Livestock would be driven around the bonfire, or over its embers once it had died down somewhat.[1][3] The ashes would be scattered over fields to protect crops, and young people would mark each other with them.[1][3] Torches from the bonfire would be carried home and used to rekindle the hearth fires.[1][3] In the Scottish Highlands, a pot of water was heated with the new fire, mixed with some of the ash, and sprinkled on sick people and cattle.[1] According to Sir James George Frazer, on the Isle of Mull, a sick heifer would be cut up and burned as a sacrifice.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Need-Fire". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 338.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Frazer, James George (1922). The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Chapter 62, Section 8: The Need-fire. Internet Sacred Text Archive.
- ^ Xhemaj, Ukë (1983). "Zjarri në besimet popullore shqiptare" [The Fire in Albanian Folk Beliefs]. In Mark Krasniqi, Ukë Xhemaj (ed.). Trashëgimia dhe tranformimi i kulturës popullore: materiala nga sesioni shkencor, mbajtur në Prishtinë më 7-8 shtator 1979. Albanological Institute of Prishtina. pp. 104–121. p. 108.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press, 1996. pp. 220–225
- ^ Heinrich Pröhle, Harzbilder, Leipzig, 1855
- ^ Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folklore, p. 53 seq.
- ^ A Strauss, Die Bulgaren, p. 198
Further reading
[edit]
- Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, i. 50, sqq.
- Walter Keating Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folklore, p. 48 sqq.
- Charles Isaac Elton, Origins of English History, p. 293 sqq.
- James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, iii. 301.