Easter Fires in Holland

The tradition of the Easter Fires goes back as long as we can find written history. In ancient times, people used to light these fires in the spring to ask the gods for good and healthy crops. The fire, together with its smoke would lead to fertility. People would jump through the fire and cattle would be led through it to enforce their fertility.

Somewhere in the 17th century, the Christian church tried to end these heathen fires. When they did not succeed to ban the fires, they decided to make them into a Christian tradition and now they are known as Easter Fires, the light of Easter, sign for the resurrection of the son of God.

We find these fires in a large part of Europe, going from Denmark to Switzerland and Austria and from eastern Holland to the middle of Germany.The most famous are the fires in a region in the Netherlands, called Twente. This region is famous because the fires are very close together and numerous. Almost every village has its own Easter fire and many people go from fire to fire on the evening of Easter Sunday to see the fires and to meet up with friends and family. The region is also famous because one of the villages holds the Worldrecord of having the largest Easter Fire. The fire in Esperlo this year was almost 46 meters high and had a circumference of approximately 160 meter.

Since 18 months we live in this region. Even though we have some mixed feelings about the traditions in this region, this tradition is one that we quite like. Easter Fires are usually a real village gathering. Even though we did not grow up in this village, we do feel quite at home here and the fire brought back memories of our childhood where we would run and play around this huge mountain of fire and find all our neighbors and classmates with their families.

At dawn on Easter Sunday, the children of the village come together at the church square. With torches in their hands, they walk in procession to the “Poasbult” (Easterbump), a huge pile of wood, hay and branches. Most villages take months to built the highest possible pile, on a meadow just outside the village. Once arrived at the Poasbult, the procession has grown into hundreds of villagers that all gather around the pile of wood. A marching band is playing music to increase the excitement. When the music stops, all children get to throw their torches at the Poasbult, which is then set to fire. With a big whoosh the whole pile is on fire within seconds. Depending on the weather and the height and width of the pile, the fire keeps burning for hours. It all ends when the burning barrel of tar that is set in the top of the pile, falls down. According to tradition, the longer it takes for the barrel to come down, the more prosperous the crops will be that year…..