THE CUSTOM of kindling bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent has
prevailed in Belgium, the north of France, and many parts of
Germany. Thus in the Belgian Ardennes for a week or a fortnight
before the day of the great fire, as it is called, children go
about from farm to farm collecting fuel. At Grand Halleux any
one who refuses their request is pursued next day by the
children, who try to blacken his face with the ashes of the
extinct fire. When the day has come, they cut down bushes,
especially juniper and broom, and in the evening great bonfires
blaze on all the heights. It is a common saying that seven
bonfires should be seen if the village is to be safe from
conflagrations. If the Meuse happens to be frozen hard at the
time, bonfires are lit also on the ice. At Grand Halleux they
set up a pole called makral, or the witch, in the midst of the
pile, and the fire is kindled by the man who was last married in
the village. In the neighbourhood of Morlanwelz a straw man is
burnt in the fire. Young people and ch