Bonfire on the Eve of St. John The Baptist

The evening of the 23rd of June is the Vigil of John the Baptist, and the tradition around here in East Galway is to light a bonfire on this night (they love bonfires around here, and have one burning for any excuse!! Another really lovely tradition is to light little fires outside your gate when someone gets married- you can always tell when there has been a wedding as there are little (tended) fires burning for miles along the roadside for when the couple drives past).

So last night we were invited over to my friend Bernadette’s home-place to celebrate with them. Never ones to miss a party, we went over for a great evening under a pergola, (complete with bunting!!)

for delicious food, wonderful chat, songs and memories from long ago. The children ran around the field for hours, then retired to Granny Beedie and Grandad Tom’s (we’ve kind of adopted them) where they played card games and ate Granny Beedies stash of “Snack” bars until the early hours of the morning!!